The first reading this weekend comes from the book of Wisdom.  “I prayed and understanding was given me; I entreated, and the spirit of Wisdom came to me.”  As I read these opening lines my mind went to the Synod on Synodality which is taking place in Rome, right now.  Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, Deacons and Lay faithful women and men are gathered in Synod around the overarching themes of communion, participation and mission.  The purpose of the Synod is to deepen all three of these in the Church.  In relation to communion the Synod states, “we all have a role to play in discerning and living out God’s call for his people.”  In relation to participation we read, “in a synodal Church the whole community is called together to pray, listen, analyse, dialogue, discern and offer advice on making pastoral decisions which correspond as closely as possible to God’s will.”  In relation to mission the synod is precise in claiming, “it is intended to enable the Church to better witness to the Gospel, especially with those who live on the spiritual, social, economic, political, geographical, and existential peripheries of our world.”  So, the Synod has set itself quite an agenda for developing this three-pronged approach to synodality: communion, participation and mission. 

This week’s first reading should give confidence to the participants and to the whole Church.  The writer of the Book of Wisdom tells us that our prayer and entreaty, our search and our desire for Wisdom is not in vain.  And once found, once experienced, the spirit of Wisdom is to be treasured and esteemed beyond all else.

The second reading may also give pause to the participants.  It is not as comforting!  “The word of God is something alive and active; it cuts like any double-edged sword but more finely; it can slip through the place where the soul is divided from the spirit.”  What can that mean?  What is that place where ‘the soul is divided from the spirit?’  The words ‘soul’ and ‘spirit’ are derived from the Greek word’s ‘psyche’ and ‘pneumatos’.  These are dynamic words.  The word ‘psyche’ has the sense not just of our psychological state but of our ‘life’ in general.  Our ‘psyche’ in this sense is what holds my life together, that which integrates the way that I live in the world.  And ‘pneumatos’ is like the air and the breath that I take in and breathe out.  It also gives me life.  The double-edged sword that slips through ‘psyche’ and ‘pneumatos’ seems to me to be the kind of experience that throws me off my feet!  It takes the breath out of me, it startles me, it shakes to the core the way that I see and understand things and asks me to pick myself up and see things in a new way.  The word of God breaks into us and opens us up.  It exposes our inmost thoughts, presuppositions, prejudices and longings.  And in breaking them open it lays before us a new way forward; the way of the gospel; the way of death and resurrection; the way of laying things down in order to take up life again.

I wonder if the word of God is working like that in the Synod Hall.  Are participants experiencing the sessions of the Synod like a two-edged sword?  Are they being thrown off their usual, well-trod, way of thinking and acting and being asked to consider things in a different way?

I noticed this week that there were reports of some members of the Synod lamenting that ‘niche’ issues were distracting the Synod from its real work.  Some of those ‘niche’ issues were named as the preoccupation with the ‘ordination of women’, and the ‘governance’ of the Church.  These reports claimed that the ‘niche’ issues were a distraction from the real work of better caring for the poor or for our ailing world with its people, land and waterways under threat.  These are indeed serious issues for our Church and world.  But the so called ‘niche’ issues should not be dismissed either.  The word of God acting like a two-edged sword can throw us all off our feet and take our breath away in all sorts of ways.  If ‘communion’ and ‘participation’ are really part of the synodal process than there is no end to where the word of God can cut through the way that we see things and the issues that our God may be calling us to address.  The call for a reflection on women in the Church, women in ministry, women in Church governance shouldn’t be dismissed as a ‘niche’ issue.  It may well be where the double-edged sword is cutting through and throwing our Church off balance.

By Fr Brendan Reed

Published: 11 October 2024