Apostles for Today
September 2022
Authority and Participation
First of all, I would like to thank all those who have written before me here on Apostles Today, and put myself in the same path as them to present these reflections on the theme that has been proposed to me. In communion therefore with all the writers and readers, I introduce myself: I am Corrado Montaldo, an Italian and a member of the Community of the Fifth Dimension, in the Union.
I am convinced that the synodal path we are all walking is a decisive step for the implementation of the Second Vatican Council and, more generally, for the life of the entire Christian community. This path, which is the fruit of the Spirit, is in simple terms the will of God; therefore we are all striving to achieve it, each in our own sphere, with our own characteristics, with our own will and with the grace with which the Lord assists us. We have also become aware that the synodal path is not an invention of modernity, not someone's brilliant idea today, but is a life already undertaken by Jesus with his disciples gathered with him and then continued in the first communities.
We are thus impelled to live a new and ancient experience, sometimes not lived in its fullness, but always present. I am convinced that there is no other way for us than to live this 'journey together' (synod): we know that this 'togetherness' is not just occasional, it is not just being all in the same room, it is not just being members of the same association, it is not just all signing the same document. It is much more: to make us understand this, Pope Francis was very clear: the Synod is not just an event, it is a process; I would say an experience that is prolonged over time, certainly made up of words, but above all of listening. The word 'together' seems to dominate over everything. What value do we want to give to it? How can this journey, in which everyone is involved, overcome differences and distances; how can it be a true service to unity? When we say 'together' we immediately have the image of a community Church, gathered in the Name of Jesus, where everyone finds a place. This is the People of God, the people of the baptized, which is also open to the unbaptized, to the distant; here there are all vocations, conditions of life, ministries, responsibilities, charisms. In this people there is no contradiction between participation and authority. I remember as if it were today, 13 March 2013, in the evening, when the announcement was made in St Peter's Square of the election of Pope Francis. There were many people there, mostly Romans. The new bishop of Rome said: “And now, let us begin this journey: bishop and people. This journey of the Church of Rome, which is the one that presides in charity over all the Churches. A journey of brotherhood, of love, of trust between us. Let us always pray for each other. Let us pray for the whole world, that there may be a great brotherhood”. The highest expression of authority was addressing us all, proposing a path, made of brotherhood and mutual prayer. It cannot escape us from these words that Charity is what allows us to preside over the Churches. St Vincent had written the same in his 1835 Appeal. For him, charity was the only substantial constitutive that allows us to walk together and stay together. For charity is God himself.
When the first steps on the road of the Gospel were being taken, when the journey of the community to which I belonged began, we always heard this exhortation repeated: we are all different, we have different characters, often different opinions and even different life experiences among us: everything can fall but charity never falls... we renounce everything but never charity; with charity we always start again, let us ask the Lord for it and practise it concretely among ourselves. We understood that this had to be translated into concrete facts, into gestures, into life, and not remain a beautiful superficial reflection. We discovered that we were little capable of being faithful and so we asked God, because everything came from Him. We thus seemed to sense, just a little, what St Vincent had experienced in his life. For this I must always give thanks. In this fundamental relationship that was based on the New Commandment of Jesus:
"This is my commandment:
that you love one another as I have loved you" (Jn 13:12), among other things, there were also reference figures, group leaders, both for individuals and for the various activities. At the centre was the priest, for it was he who had initiated our experience. Were these figures at odds with being communion? Certainly not, if everything was lived in the New Commandment of Christ. It was understood that charity, concretely, translated into listening, into patience, ultimately also into obedience, knowing how to lose one's own opinion or desire. It was a school, a gymnasium, not to learn to be perfect but to learn to love. All this is based on a convergence of all towards a common path, in which authority also has its place. The synodal path helps us to distinguish authority from power: indeed if we understand power as the possibility to act, this is very good because it gives the tools to try to do a lot of good. But it could be a negative, self-centered power, which does not produce life but pain, which imposes its own will, its own tastes and thoughts, without asking what God's will is. Authority is a great possibility to work for good and help everyone to do the same. This is why it is necessary to always remember that every authority, every ministry, every role, only makes sense within a people in which we recognize ourselves as brothers and sisters, and this not only in theory. I would also add that this is also a remedy for the loneliness of those who exercise any ministry: alone one does not go far, one often loses one's way; in the Christian community one helps one another towards the goal, one is saved together. Participation in the common journey is also a very serious matter. In fact, participating is certainly a right, but it is above all a necessity; everyone's contribution to the journey cannot be lacking: to be part as a subject, a protagonist, and this applies to every vocation. In my experiences over the past year, within the synodal path, I have seen how the presence of everyone, even the one who never comes to Church or the one who is very critical of Christians, the person who has no interest or the priest who does not feel involved, is always an important presence. In addition, many new relationships have been created between people, born precisely from listening to each other and sharing, always starting from the Word of God and from lived life. There has been fatigue, certainly, a lot of work, but also joy.
We know that in the first phase of consultation the entire people of God (hence all the baptized, all the ministries, everyone!) listens and makes its voice heard. At the end of the process, when all voices have reached the pastors, they will give the final directions and also make decisions. This is their charisma and in this they will be the interpreters of the voice of the Holy Spirit, to which they will have to give the utmost attention. We will all pray for them and be in communion.
I believe that the synodal path poses a question for us: are we committed to a path of communion? Let us ask ourselves again: was that Jesus whom we met on our way, whom St Vincent loved so much that he wanted everyone to meet Him, communicated to us His life, the life lived with the Father and the Spirit, the life of His family, Love? Have we understood that, even if we are all sinners, the Love of Jesus among us saves us and makes us Church? Outside of this, what else do we have to do? Perhaps to communion we need to form together, because it is like a water that we all need to drink, religious, clergy, laity, families, communities, schools, parishes... Perhaps we should have shared formation experiences where we humbly learn communion, learn to walk together, all needing to learn, from the smallest to the largest. "There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28)". Was it not one of St. Vincent's greatest desires that all, all without distinction, work together to awaken in everyone the presence of Jesus Christ? How can we achieve this? Only by organizing ourselves well, only by giving ourselves regulations, only in a hierarchical structure? All these things are important but not decisive, they do not guarantee that we walk together. Vincent knew this and placed Charity as the constitutive element of his work.
Today the Church walks in communion, in synodality: do we want to learn among ourselves and with everyone how to ask for, receive and live the gift of communion? I think this is a great need, as well as a great desire.
I would like to thank all of you, members and friends of the Union, for your testimony and for this common journey. I would like to extend to everyone what Pope John Paul II said, in Roman dialect, in an audience to the priests of Rome (he was already very ill): Let us give ourselves, let us love each other, let us be Romans! (in dialect it was: 'Damose da fa' e volemose bene, semo romani!'). I could say now: we are brothers and sisters, on the road, 'together'. Are we naive to desire this? Mary, Queen of Apostles, gather us in unity.
Mr. Corrado Montaldo
No comments:
Post a Comment