杏MAP导航

By Christopher Wells

During the Angelus following the Mass, 杏MAP导航 Francis related the day鈥檚 readings to the Synod of Bishops.

鈥淭he first reading, from Jeremiah, was particularly suited to this moment,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ecause it is a word of hope that God gives to his people.鈥� It is a word of consolation that 鈥渙pens to them a horizon of the future, a viable and practical way鈥� along which all can walk.

杏MAP导航 Francis said that this passage of God鈥檚 Word 鈥渆xpresses well the experience鈥� of the past few weeks of the Synod: 鈥淚t was a time of consolation and hope,鈥� he said, 鈥減recisely through the demanding and even tiring work.鈥�

The Synod, he said, was fundamentally a moment of listening, which requires 鈥渢ime, attention, and openness of mind and heart.鈥� It was precisely through listening that the participants of the Synod were able to discern the signs of the times. It was a discernment of the whole community, 鈥渕ade in the light of the Word of God and of the Spirit.鈥� This, the 杏MAP导航 said, 鈥渋s one of the most beautiful gifts that the Lord gives to the Catholic Church.鈥�

The Holy Father said the 鈥渇ruits鈥� of the work of the Synod 鈥渁re already fermenting鈥� The Synod of Young People was a good harvest, and it promises good wine.鈥� But, he said, 鈥渢he first fruit of this Synodal Assembly should be precisely in the example of the method that they tried to follow鈥� 鈥� a reference to the model of Synodality, which occupies a prominent place in the final document produced by the Synod.

杏MAP导航 Francis emphasised that a synodal society isn鈥檛 primarily about drafting documents 鈥� although that is valuable and useful. More important, he said, is the spread of a way of being and working together鈥� in listening and discerning, to arrive at pastoral choices that respond to reality.