Christians are invited to remain united and assured that “a meeting can change a life” affirmed Pope Francis during an audience in the Vatican Apostolic Palace on 14 October.
The Holy Father received the participants in the pastoral days of the French-speaking Catholic communities of the world. During his speech, Pope Francis called for unity and explained that the Church’s synodal process is a sign of communion: “Communion of your local communities with the dioceses in which you are; communion with the Church in France; and communion with the Pope and the universal Church”.
“We too are called to meet and remain united, and to address others, to allow ourselves to be challenged by the questions of our brothers, to help and enrich each other in the diversity of charisms, vocations and ministries”, he then defended.
Starting from this idea, Pope Francis explained to those present that “with local Christians, you are called to form one heart, to be a community not closed in on itself in sterile isolation, but as an active part of the local Church”.
“Meeting faces, meeting gazes, sharing each other’s story: this is the closeness of Jesus that we are called to experience. An encounter can change a life”, he assured.
In this sense, he said that “the Gospel is full of these uplifting and healing encounters with Christ” and added that “the encounter requires openness, courage, willingness to allow oneself to be challenged by the other’s story. The meeting transforms us and always opens new paths that we had not imagined”.
In addition, Pope Francis explained that the Synod “is a path of spiritual discernment, of ecclesial discernment, which is carried out above all in adoration, in prayer, in contact with the Word of God, and not from our own will, our own ideas or our own plans.”
“It is listening to his Word that opens us to discernment and enlightens us. If it is not at the heart and at the base of synodality, we run the risk of reducing this time of grace to one more ecclesial meeting, or to a study colloquium, or to a kind of parliament”, he assured afterwards.
Likewise, he said that “the Synod is a moment of grace, a process guided by the Spirit that makes all things new, that frees us from worldliness, from our closures, from our repetitive pastoral patterns and from fear. It calls us to question ourselves about what God wants to say to us at this time, today, and the direction in which he wants to lead us”.
Finally, he assured that “The Spirit, who dwells in us, protects us from inner aging, makes us brave to bring the Gospel to everyone, in an ever new way”.