Synod Reflections with Sr Maria Ignazia Angelini OSB and Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP

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Source: Vatican Media, Synod Newsletter

During the two-day retreat prior to the opening of the Assembly, on 29 September and 1 October, Synod members from all over the world present in the Synod Hall, listened to the reflections of Sr Maria Ignazia Angelini, OSB and Fr Timothy Radcliffe, OP.

Mother Maria Ignazia Angelini in her meditation at Lauds on the feast of St Jerome emphasized the thirst for God, the hidden source of the synodal dialogues. In this search, she invited us to "make room for the astonished listening that repositions us and prepares us for this new beginning of walking together".

On 1 October, also at Lauds, Mother Angelini highlighted the value of silence: "Silence is the struggle against banality, it is the search for truth, it is the acceptance of the mystery hidden in every person and in every living being. It does not explain the suffering, but it goes through it. Silence can help us rediscover the true and authentic rhythm of synodal dialogue".

Fr Radcliffe chose four resurrection scenes from St John's Gospel that he said would help "shed light on how to be a missionary synodal Church in our crucified world": "Searching in the Darkness," "The Locked Room," "The Stranger on the Beach" and "Breakfast with the Lord".

In his first intervention, he invited the members of the synod to see one another not as "representatives of parties in the Church," but as "fellow seekers, wounded but joyful." To Mary Magdalene, the Beloved disciple and Simon Peter, Jesus responded to "three forms of searching": the search for love, the search for meaning and the search for forgiveness. Each needs the other, he said, adding that the Synod "needs all the ways we love and seek the Lord, just as we need the seekers of our time, even if they do not share our faith." Noting that people come to the Synod with "many questions, for example about the role of women in the Church," Father Radcliffe said these "cannot be seen only as questions about whether something will be allowed or rejected," for "that would be to remain in the same kind of Church." Instead, the questions "should look more like those in the Gospels, which invite us to live the risen life more deeply together."

In his second meditation, Fr Radcliffe said that "we will only be preachers of the Resurrection if we are alive in God" and invited the Synod to name the fears that impede this fullness of life: the fear of being hurt, the fear of rejection, the fear that hopes in the Church will be scorned. But these fears have no reason to exist, he said, because "the Church is in the hands of the Lord." The Synod, he said, "is not a place for negotiations about structural changes, but for choosing life, for conversion and forgiveness." Good theology, he said, "opens the doors of closed rooms," and like St Thomas, "is passionate and fearless." A synodal Church in mission, he said, "dares to teach with boldness and humility."

"We do not gather in synod to negotiate compromises or bash opponents," Fr Radcliffe said in his third meditation. "We are here to learn from one another what the meaning of this strange word 'love' is." When he came to the Synod last year, Fr Radcliffe said he had believed the great challenge was to overcome the opposition between traditionalists and progressives; but he said he saw the greater challenge as how the Church can embrace all the diverse cultures of the world while remaining united. Noting that "no one culture can unite us," he invited the Synod to "listen to one another with humility." Different cultures are called to unity while remaining distinct, with none dominating another. "Peter's net," he said, "is full of space and united by truth, delight and joy."

LINKS to the full reflections on Vatican News

Sr Maria Ignazia Angelini, OSB

Reflection at Morning Prayer
www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2024-09/synod-retreat-day-1-reflection-at-morning-prayer.html

Retreat Day One
www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2023-10/retreat-day-1-sister-angelini-meditaiton-mass.html

Fr Timothy Radcliffe, OP

Synod Retreat Meditation: 'The Locked Room'
www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2024-09/synod-retreat-meditation-the-locked-room.html

Synod Retreat Meditation: 'Resurrection: Searching in the Dark'
www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2024-09/synod-retreat-meditation-resurrection-searching-in-the-dark.html

Synod Retreat Meditation: 'Resurrection Fishing'
www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2024-10/synod-retreat-meditation-resurrection-fishing.html

Synod Retreat Meditation: 'Resurrection & Breakfast Conversation'
www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2024-10/synod-retreat-meditation-radcliffe-resurrection-2-breakfast.html