Vatican City, 5 October 2015 (VIS) –
This morning at 9 a.m. the 14th Ordinary General Assembly of the
Synod of Bishops dedicated to “The vocation and mission of the
family in the Church and the contemporary world” commenced in the
Vatican. In the presence of the Holy Father, the first to speak was
the Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, who presented
to the Synod Fathers a brief meditation summarising the intentions
and spirit of the Assembly.
“Brothers, who come from the four
corners of the world summoned by Peter, moved by the love of Jesus
and the Mother Church”, he began. “St. Paul invites us, indeed,
to joy. The joy of the gospel that Pope Francisco tirelessly
proclaims worldwide. But as he himself has told us, the greatest risk
in the world today, with its multiple and overwhelming consumption,
is an individualistic sorrow that springs from the comfortable and
covetous heart, the feeble search for superficial pleasures, the
isolated consciousness. Sometimes it saddens us to hear how the world
has focused on this Synod as if we came together as two opposing
sides to defend entrenched positions. Therefore, with Jesus Christ
joy is always born and reborn'”.
“But let us take heart”, he
continued. “We are not a Church in danger of extinction or indeed
far less. Neither is the family, although it is threatened and
opposed. Nor do we come to mourn or lament the difficulties. Psalm 26
tells us: 'Be brave, take heart. Hope in the Lord'. Let us all have
one mind: let us all seek the unanimity that comes from dialogue, not
ideas defended at all costs. St. Paul reminds us to have same
sentiments as Christ. Live in peace: as Evangelii Gaudium tells us,
dialogue contributes to peace, because the Church proclaims the
'Gospel of peace'. To proclaim Jesus Christ, Who is peace in person,
the Mother Church encourages us to be instruments of peace and
credible witnesses of a reconciled life. It is time to know how to
plan a culture that favours dialogue and the pursuit of consensus and
agreements as a form of encounter. We are not in need of a project of
few and for the few, or an enlightened or minority that appropriates
a collective sentiment”.
“Therefore, we wish to begin the
Synod in peace”, he concluded. “It is not the peace of the world,
made of compromises and commitments that frequently are not
fulfilled. It is the peace of Christ, peace with ourselves. And the
conclusion is clear: 'The God of love and peace will be with you'. So
we can say, 'Stay with us, Lord', not because the day is ending, but
rather because it is beginning. A new day for the families of the
world, believers or not, families tired of the uncertainties and
doubts sown by various ideologies such as deconstruction, cultural
and social contradictions, fragility and loneliness. Abide with us
Lord, so that this Synod indicate a path of joy and hope for all
families”.
The Holy Father than introduced the
work of the first day, explaining that “the Synod is not a
convention or a locutory; it is not a parliament or a senate, where
an accord is sought. The Synod, instead, is an ecclesial expression,
that is, the Church who walks together to read reality with the eyes
of faith, and which therefore does not represent a museum to be
looked at or even to be protected, but is rather a living source from
which the Church slakes her thirst so as to slake the thirst and
enlighten the deposit of life”.
The Synod is, furthermore, “a
protected space where the Church can experience the action of the
Holy Spirit. In the Synod the Spirit speaks through the language of
all those who let themselves be guided by God, Who always surprises
us, by God Who shows to the smallest among us what He hides from the
wise and the intelligent, by God Who created the law and the Sabbath
for man and not vice versa, by God Who leaves his ninety-nine sheep
to seek the one lost sheep, by God Who is always greater than our
logic and our calculations. However, let us remember that the Synod
may be a space for the action of the Holy Spirit only if we
participants clothe ourselves in apostolic courage, evangelical
humility and trustful prayer”.
“Apostolic courage so that we do not
let ourselves be afraid neither before the seductions of the world,
that tend to extinguish in the heart of men the light of the truth,
substituting it will small temporary lights, neither before the
hardening of some hearts that, in spite of good intentions, distance
people from God”, underlined the Pope.
“Evangelical humility so that we
empty ourselves of our own conventions and prejudices in order to
listen to our brother Bishops and to fill ourselves with God.
Humility that leads us not to point a finger at others to judge them,
but rather to offer them a hand to help them up without ever feeling
superior to them”.
“Trustful prayer is the action of the
heart when it opens to God, when it calms our mood so we hear the
gentle voice of God that speaks in the silence. Without listening to
God, all of our words will remain words alone, that nether satisfy
nor serve. Without allowing ourselves to be guided by the Holy
Spirit, all our decisions will be mere decorations that instead of
exalting the Gospel, cover or conceal it”.
“Dear brothers”, concluded Francis,
“as I said, the Synod is not a parliament where, in order to reach
a consensus or a common accord we resort to negotiation, pacts or
compromise; the only method of the Synod is to open itself to the
Holy Spirit with apostolic courage, with evangelical courage and with
trustful prayer so that He may guide us, enlighten us and let us put
before our eyes not our own personal views, but our faith in God,
fidelity to the Magisterium, the good of the Church and the salus
animarum”.
The president delegate, the cardinal
archbishop of Paris Andre Vingt-Trois, then commented that the Pope's
decision to convoke two sessions of the Synod of Bishops on the
mission of the family in the contemporary world has been fruitful and
that the episcopate has borne witness to this. The particular
Churches have made efforts to contribute to the work by answering to
the questionnaire that informed the Instrumentum Laboris. “Our
Synod is led by the Church”. The cardinal also mentioned the Motu
Proprio Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus, with which the Holy Father has
reformed the canonical procedures regarding the declaration of
nullity of marriage, which offers valuable direction on the spirit
according to which this phase of the Synod should unfold. “Without
casting doubt on the sacramental tradition of our Church, nor its
doctrine on the indissolubility of marriage, you invite us to share
our pastoral experiences and to open the paths of mercy by which the
Lord calls all those who wish to and are able to enter into a space
for conversion with a view to forgiveness”.
Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general
secretary of the Synod, explained the working methods of the Synod of
Bishops in this extraordinary assembly, including the time available
for interventions by the Synod Fathers and the greater space accorded
to the Circuli Minori to foster more intense debate, as well as the
importance conceded to the contributions by couples and the
relationships between the Synod and the media.
Finally, the general rapporteur, the
cardinal archbishop of Ezstergom-Budapest, Peter Erdo, illustrated
the first part of the Instrumentum Laboris, which begins by listening
to the challenges to the family, placing them in the contemporary
socio-cultural context, and its anthropological change, characterised
by a “flight from institutions” leading to institutional
instability and the predominance of individualism and subjectivism.
He then spoke about the discernment of the family vocation, the
divine pedagogy of the family and indissolubility as a gift and a
task, mentioning the family in the Magisterium of the Church and its
missionary dimension, as well as “wounded” families, placing them
in the context of mercy and truth. The cardinal touched upon the
theme of the evangelising dimension of the family and ecclesial
accompaniment of family units, as well as the issue of reproductive
responsibility and the challenges of education.
“Listening to the Word of God, our
response must show the sincere and fraternal attention to the needs
of our contemporaries, to transmit to them the liberating truth and
to be witnesses of our greatest mercy. To face today's challenges to
the family. The Church must convert and become more alive, more
personal, and more community-based, also at the levels of the parish
and the small community. It would appear that a community reawakening
is already in process in many areas. So that it might be more general
and increasingly profound, we ask that the light of the Holy Spirit
show us also the concrete steps we need to take. In this way, the
vocation and the mission of the family in the Church and the
contemporary world, the theme of this Synod, would appear in the
serene and concrete light that enables us to grow in hope and trust
in God's mercy; in that mercy to which Pope Francis wished to
dedicate an extraordinary Jubilee. Let us thank the Holy Father for
this decision of hope and entrust our work to the Holy Family of
Nazareth”.
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