Walking Together In Christ.

To walk together as disciples of Jesus is to walk first with Jesus Christ.

In the Gospel, in John 14:6, we find the confirmation of Jesus: "I am the way, the truth and the life...". Then, in Acts 9:2, Saul uses the term "the path" in reference to following the Lord and His Gospel. So to follow Jesus, to be and live as Christians, means that we finally live as "congregants" and this already happens from the moment of our baptism. We all walk as the Church of Christ on a journey that we do together as Christians of course, but the question that should be asked from the beginning is this: "Journey with whom?"

The word "synod" comes directly from the Greek meaning "to walk with...". However, what is important and the most fundamental (aspect), I would say, that must be clarified immediately in order not to skew our reflection on synodality, is the meaning and the real object of the Greek preposition "plus" (συν). It does not refer to the "process" but to "someone" with whom it is carried out and completed. The meaning of the synod is not that of "all together", but rather that of "I walk with". It is the object or person "with which" the preposition "plus" connects us and brings us together. It does not refer to the road, nor to us Christians, laity, priests, bishops. This "plus", this "with", this Greek preposition connects us Christians and leads us to a Person who is Christ. Therefore, a first clarification should be made: it is not a march of "all together" but rather a "march of all together with Christ". We do not forget that this "with Christ" is completed in the Church, which is nourished and takes life from the Precious Gifts of His precious Body and Blood. - Bishop Manuel Nin, Greek Byzantine Catholic apostolic exarch to Greece.

Remember the disciples on the road to Emmaus? They were lost, despondent. Jesus met them, instructed them, established a relationship with them, and revealed Himself to them in Scripture and in the breaking of bread.

That encounter began with Jesus interpreting "to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." A liturgy of the Word! The encounter culminated at the altar of Jesus, a common table made an altar by the Lord, where He revealed Himself and shared His Presence with the two disciples. A liturgy of the Eucharist!

The disciples walked with Jesus. They listened to Jesus. They received Jesus. They went forth in Jesus' Name to proclaim the Good News.

Let's review.

That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened.  Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?” And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

There, in that encounter, is the model: Jesus, Word, Sacrament, Mission. Jesus teaches, Jesus forms, Jesus enlivens, Jesus restores faith, hope and love; Jesus transforms lives.

Only when we walk with Jesus leading us toward and in and through the Eucharist do we truly walk a worthy path. A synod is not merely a bunch of well-intentioned Catholics rallying to chat nicely, too blind to recognize Jesus in their midst and too deaf to hear His call to keep His commandments (John 14:15-24). Jesus is the true and Principal Actor in the Mass. So, too, is Jesus the Principal Actor in a true synod.

A synod is not a parliament. This we have heard from our Eastern Catholic brethren, whose words, it seems, now echo in the opening to the Synod.

Synodality in all Christian Churches, both East and West, cannot be a kind of reflection of the modern world whereby the Church becomes like a “modern Western democracy, possibly parliamentary, where everyone can say everything,” he warned. The life of the Church, he said, “has never been a form of democracy in which everyone decides everything by majority rules.” - Bishop Manuel Nin: https://elcathex.gr/

And I like to say that the Synod is not a parliament, it is something else; that the Synod is not a meeting of friends to resolve some issues of the moment or to give opinions, it is something else. Do not forget, brothers and sisters, that we are not the protagonists of the Synod: it is the Holy Spirit. And if the Spirit who guides us is in our midst, it will be a good Synod. If among us there are other ways of going forward, for human, personal, or ideological interests, it will not be a Synod, it will be a more parliamentary meeting, which is another thing. A Synod is a journey the Holy Spirit makes. You have been given some papers with patristic texts that will help you in the opening of the Synod. They are taken from Saint Basil, who wrote that beautiful treatise on the Holy Spirit. Why? Because it is necessary to understand this reality, which is not easy; it is not easy. - Opening Of The Works of The XVI Ordinary General Assembly Of The Synod Of Bishops; “For A Synodal Church: Communion, Participation And Mission”. Address Of His Holiness Pope Francis.

Mere sentiment or binding conviction? Let's hope the lay guests are not ordering around the bishops and that the bishops are not ordering around the Holy Spirit.