VATICAN CITY — Synod members must imitate Jesus’ patience and acceptance toward others as they prepare to exchange contrasting visions for the future of the Catholic Church, an archbishop and synod member said.
“We cannot afford to be ignorant of Christ, or forgetful of Him, as we seek to discern together just what it is that God is asking of the Church at this time,” said Archbishop Timothy Costelloe of Perth, Australia, a president delegate at the Synod of Bishops.
In his homily during Mass with synod members Sept. 30, the archbishop urged synod participants to look to Jesus’ many relationships and interactions recounted in the Gospels “to get glimpses of what truly and deeply human encounters look like.”
“We can think of the endless patience which Jesus demonstrates toward those, especially toward His closest disciples, who continually fail to understand Him and who so often disappoint Him,” he said. “His patience prevents them from giving up.”
The 368 members of the Synod of Bishops were gathered at the Vatican for a two-day retreat ahead of the opening of the second session of the synod Oct. 2 and celebrated Mass together at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica.The synod process, which began in 2021 and included the first session of the Synod of Bishops a year ago, has led the Church to “a deeper understanding of the meaning of synodality,” Archbishop Costelloe said in his homily. “Now, at this stage of the journey, we are being asked to reflect not so much on what synodality is but rather on how we are to live it at every level of the life of the Church,” as individuals and in communities.
The archbishop said the synodal journey thus far “has confirmed for us this profound truth: that in the creative design of God we are made for each other, that we are meant to depend on each other, and that it is in and through our relationships that we come to be the people God has created us to be.”
Moving forward, to become a “welcoming and hospitable Church,” a “poor and humble Church,” a Church “in mission” and a “listening Church,” synod members must look to Christ as their model, he said.
Following Christ along the synodal journey “will console us, at times it will confuse us, and at times it may even confront or frighten us,” but “the Church is Christ’s, not ours,” he said, citing St. John XXIII, the pope who convened the Second Vatican Council.
