Synod'ing

 When I first heard about the Vatican's "Synod on Synodality", I thought it was a parody. When I later learned it was a real thing, and that our local Deanery would be hosting a "listening session" related to the Synod next month and extending the opportunity for parishioners to participate, I groaned. 

"Discussing." "Reflecting." "Sharing." "Journeying together." Who comes up with this stuff? As a normal forty year old man, father and husband, this holds zero attraction. And the artwork and typeset: how can anyone take this seriously? It's embarrassing. Lord, save your Church!

But, in the interest of lending some trad voice to the diocesan conversation, I figured I could swallow my pride and offer a few words as a representative of our parish. So I'm planning to attend in a couple weeks, with the understanding that I don't expect anything I say to change anything. Maybe it will also be a good opportunity to get out of my TLM bubble and see what is going on in the larger Catholic community at the diocesan level. I also hope to offer my contribution charitably and with a smile, while hoping to give voice to those of us who are a minority as a TLM community (probably 1% of the total number of Catholics in our diocese).

These are the questions we are being asked to answer during the "listening session": 

(1) How is this "journeying together" happening together in your local Church? 

(2) What steps does the Spirit invite us to take in order to grow in our "journeying together?"

And this is my written response, which I plan to use if I am selected to attend (I tried to keep it under 200 words, which was tough):

My name is Paul*, and I am a member of St. ____'s Latin Mass community. 

In the Gospel our Lord distills the Decalogue into two fundamental commandments: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Mt 22)

Jesus himself recognizes that the 1st--the commandment to love God above all else--is the greatest. And yet it cannot be divorced from the 2nd, which is like the first: to love neighbor. Anyone who says they love God but hate their brother is a liar (1 Jn 4:20).

How do we express our love for God? We do so through worship first and foremost. Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi ("the law of what is prayed [is] what is believed [is] the law of what is lived"). At St. _____, my parish church, we take this to heart and the fruits of the Spirit are apparent for anyone to see in reverent liturgy, a diverse and welcoming community, an evangelistic ethos, and care and concern for the poor. 

Worship (expressed through the liturgy) points us to what we believe and helps us live it out. That is, when we learn to love God, we are given what we need by grace to truly love our neighbor, not as secular humanists, but as Spirit-filled Christians learning to die to self for the sake of others.

In the interest of brevity, I will be to the point: we must be saints. But we can only do so by the grace God gives us, aided by the sacramental gifts of the Spirit and the Church--baptism, confirmation, Confession, Eucharist, Annointing, matrimony and holy orders. We show God we love him by keeping his commandments (Jn 14:15). We do not do this alone, but by "journeying together" towards Heaven. Love God (through prayer and right worship), love neighbor (by self-sacrifice and willing their good). All the law and prophets hang on this.

*nom de plume