Sunday April 23, 2023

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER,

(Acts 2:14.22-33; I Peter 1:17-21; Luke 24:13-35)

Disciples walking together: this phrase can describe the background of today's gospel. It also represents how Pope Francis sees the "The Synod on Synodality”. As all of us should know by now, the pope has already launched this new way of being Church. He wants synods, whose Greek root means walking together, to become the way of the Church to share the different perspectives and hopes of its members. In other words, he wants much more dialogue among all who make up the Church. By a close look at this gospel we can identify other characteristics of a synodal Church.

The passage says that Jesus approaches the two disciples and begins to talk to them. Jesus Christ had the primary place at the Second Vatican Council sixty years ago. In fact, the most central document of the council, the dogmatic Constitution on the Church, is called “Lumen gentium”, that is, “the light to the nations”, who is none other than Jesus Christ. By Baptism all kinds of people have been incorporated into him – both women and men; both secular and religious, as well as the ordained. For this reason, Pope Francis wants everyone to be heard in the conversation about how to carry out the mission of the Church in our time.

Some worry that such an expansive conversation will end in changes never imagined in the past. However, we have the Scriptures and the tradition of the Church to keep us on the path marked out by Jesus. This gospel points out how Jesus explained to them all the passages of Scripture that referred to him. These same Scriptures, of course joined by the New Testament, continue to determine what is valid and what is prohibited today. It would betray the Lord to exchange His word for the current ideas of the world.

In the passage Jesus highlights the need for the Messiah to suffer. To gain victory over sin and death Jesus had to suffer the cross. As members of Jesus Christ, it is ours to participate in that cross. The suffering touches on sexual issues that often seem like the biggest concerns in the world today. It is difficult for couples to practice the teaching of the Church on contraceptives. It is difficult for homosexuals as it is for nuns, priests, and the unmarried to maintain chastity with yearnings for intimacy like everyone else. However, by making sacrifices in these ways we can draw closer to the Lord Jesus.

He certainly wants to stay close to us. In the gospel Jesus stays with his companions to break bread. This is not just a cozy dinner but the Eucharist. In it Jesus gives us himself as sustenance for the spiritual life. The Eucharist itself will drive the synodal process forward. It indicates that our objective is not to follow the ways of the world but to conform to the will of God. It teaches that the treasure that stays with us forever is not found in the stock market but in the love shared in the community. It points out that while there are different roles in the functioning of the Church, we are all equally dependent on Christ.

Pope Francis has proposed synods of all types of the faithful as the way of putting the Second Vatican Council into practice. He does not want to change the structures of the Church established in history. Rather, he wants the structures to be more faithful to the ways of Jesus. He sees the synods as footbridges over which we all cross together the troubled waters of this world. He sees them as our communal bridge to Christ.

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