“Not a seated Church, but a Church on her feet. Not a silent Church, but a Church that embraces the cry of humanity. Not a blind Church, but a Church, enlightened by Christ, that brings the light of the Gospel to others. Not a static Church, but a missionary Church that walks with her Lord through the streets of the world.” In his homily for Holy Mass celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica at the conclusion of the Bishops’ Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis thus exemplified the defining characteristics of a synodal Church. The Pope drew the attention of the Synod fathers and mothers to the Gospel account of the experience of blind Bartimaeus, who, after regaining his sight, followed Jesus “along the way.” “This is an image of the synodal Church”, Francis explained: “The Lord is calling us, lifting us up when we are seated or fallen down, restoring our sight so that we can perceive the anxieties and sufferings of the world in the light of the Gospel. And when the Lord puts us back on our feet, we experience the joy of following him on the way.”
“Before the questions raised by the women and men of today, before the challenges of our time, the urgency of evangelization and the many wounds that afflict humanity, we cannot afford to sit back.”
Francis said in his opening remarks. “A sedentary Church, that inadvertently withdraws from life and confines itself to the margins of reality, is a Church that risks remaining blind and becoming comfortable with its own unease”, the Pope’s counsel: “If we remain stuck in our blindness, we will continuously fail to grasp the urgency of giving a pastoral response to the many problems of our world.” The example to be followed is that of blind Bartimaeus, whose initial position in the Gospel, “is typical of someone who sits by the side of a road, caught up in his own grief, as if there were nothing else to do but receive something from the many pilgrims passing through the city of Jericho as Passover drew near.” “Yet, we should remember”, the Pope said, that “the Lord always passes by and pauses in order to attend to our blindness.”
“If we are truly to live, we cannot remain seated”, Francis remarked: “Life entails being on the move, setting out, dreaming, planning, opening up to the future”.
Blind Bartimaeus, then, “represents that inner blindness which restrains us, keeps us stuck in one place, holds us back from the dynamism of life and destroys our hope.” “This can help us reflect not only on our own lives, but also on what it means to be the Lord’s Church”, Francis recalled with topical relevance: “So many things along the way can make us blind, incapable of perceiving the presence of the Lord, unprepared to face the challenges of reality, sometimes unable to offer adequate responses to the questions of so many who cry out to us, as Bartimaeus did to Jesus.”
“We do not need a sedentary and defeatist Church, but a Church that hears the cry of the world and that gets its hands dirty in serving”,
argues the Pope, sending out a clear message at the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality: “Whenever we are seated and settled, when as a Church we cannot find the strength, the courage or the boldness to arise and continue along the way, let us always remember to return to the Lord and his Gospel.”
“Today, as we give thanks to the Lord for the journey we have made together, we will be able to see and venerate the relic of the carefully restored ancient Chair of Saint Peter”,
Francis said in the first Mass celebrated in St Peter’s Basilica after the completion of the restoration of Bernini’s Baldachin, the Chair of St Peter and the Gloria above it, which will be on display for public veneration until 8 December. “As we contemplate it with the wonder of faith, let us remember that this is the Chair of love, unity and mercy, according to Jesus’ command to the Apostle Peter not to lord it over others, but to serve them in charity”, the Pope said, referring to the Chair of St.Peter. “And, as we admire the majestic Bernini Baldachin, more sublime than ever, we can rediscover that it frames the true focal point of the entire basilica, namely the glory of the Holy Spirit”, the Pope continued:
“This is the synodal Church: a community whose primacy lies in the gift of the Spirit,”
who makes us all brothers and sisters in Christ and raises us up to him.”
“We follow the Lord along the way, we do not follow him in the mazes of our minds”,
he added off-text, calling on the faithful to “follow the Lord, and walk with Him along the way.” He then called on the faithful not to “stay sitting in our blindness”, which, “in other words can be a worldliness, complacency, or closed heart.” “We should remember that the Lord passes by every day. The Lord always passes by and pauses in order to attend to our blindness”, Francis said: “We should ask ourselves, ‘Do I hear him passing by? Do I have the capacity to hear the Lord’s footsteps? Do I have the capacity to discern when the Lord is passing by? To hear the cry of children who are enslaved in so many parts of the world for work; the broken voice of those who no longer have the strength to cry out to God, either because they have no voice or because they are in despair?”. “Let us always remember to return to the Lord and his Gospel”, the Pope said in his concluding remarks: “Let us continue our journey together with confidence. Today, the word of God speaks to us, as to Bartimaeus: ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ Let us throw off the cloak of resignation; let us entrust our blindness to the Lord; let us stand once more and carry the joy of the Gospel through the streets of the world.”
