Synod Opening Mass

Homily

Dear brothers and sisters

Welcome to this Opening Mass of Our Paisley Synod. Those words are sweet on the lips and honey on the tongue. After much effort and preparation we have reached this auspicious moment in the life of the diocese and, at this stage, I want to thank all the members of our Preparatory Commission –not forgetting bishop Brian who got us up and running and Mgr Carlin who took over the reins - for their faithful commitment, especially those who have worked long hours, right up to the last minute, in organising our Synod events. I want to thank our clergy, their parishes and parish liaisons for their generous promotion of Our Synod at the local level of our diocese where it matters most, as well as all those who took part in Catechesis and Consultation meetings around our diocese. Finally a special thanks to our Delegates here this evening who have accepted the call to be our representatives and have thereby taken on such momentous responsibility.

Convening a diocesan synod is a way of spiritually re-founding a diocese, and opening up a new and hopeful chapter in our life and history. But, before it is about changing things, it must be about changing ourselves. Above all, any diocesan synod aims to help us rediscover our identity as God’s people. So my first hope for Our Synod is that every one of us –clergy, religious and laity- will recognise in Our Paisley Synod an invitation from the Holy Spirit to begin our vocation anew, this time as an even more wonderful recreation of the mercy of God. God’s first dream from any synod is for each one of us to be personally re-conformed to his Son and for us all together, as a diocese, to become radiant icons of Our Lord, Jesus Christ

From Her earliest days, our Church has come together in Synod, invoking the Holy Spirit in prayer to help us understand who we are and rediscover our mission amid the challenges of our times. In the Acts of the Apostles, we read about the first Synod when the whole Church gathered to work out whether it was to remain within the confines of the Jewish religion or be opened to the whole world. It was a moment of crisis, a crossroads for the Church but, in prayer and dialogue, they discovered what seemed good to them and the Holy Spirit. The resolutions of that Synod brought the Church beyond that crisis and changed the course of history such that the little community became the Universal Catholic Church of which we are a part today.

Ever since then the Church has enjoyed the benefit of coming together in Synod: of the bishop together with his clergy and people to help him govern his diocese. Like most Synods, Our Synod, after consultation, dialogue, and discernment, will issue decrees that bind the whole people of our diocese in a common vision as to how to bring about the fullest participation of our laity in the life and mission of our diocese for the generation ahead.

Today your bishop has lost his voice. I apology that I am a bit croaky. But I see in this an eloquent sign of what is at hand in this moment of Our Synod. During it –and in the times to come- our bishop speaks a little less so that the People of God can speak a lot. At the time of the birth of Jesus, the father of John the Baptist, the priest Zachariah, was struck dumb so that his wife Elizabeth, a lay woman, could be moved by the Spirit and cry out His prophetic word and so the Good News began to be preached.

Our Synod reminds us that the Holy Spirit speaks through the whole body of Christ - clergy, religious and lay faithful, men and women, young and old, married or single, rich and poor, sick and marginalised – and not just through the bishop. When we were baptised and confirmed the Holy Spirit came down upon each of us with the gifts of courage, knowledge and wisdom so that when the whole Church gathers with its talents, hopes and fears then the same Holy Spirit is present. In Our Synod, He will surely come to guide and strength us to face the challenges of our times.

Now a word to our Delegates. You are taking on a sacred responsibility. Please do so without fear and with trust that the Lord will be close to you to guide and support you.

The First Reading shows the attitude you bring to Our Synod. Moses tells the people to strive to obey the Lord God, observing His decrees and to turn to the Lord God with all their heart. So you are not coming to Synod to say what you think but to listen to the Lord and ask Him to put His prophetic words in your hearts and on your lips. Enter Our Synod process through prayer, contemplation and little daily sacrifices and God’s word reassures you your task will be not too hard for you. You soon know what it is to listen for the stirrings of the Holy Spirit and find His word very near you; in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.

The Gospel reminds you that part of your task is to correct what is wrong. Where the members of the Church have gone wrong you must point out this fault. In Our Synod, you must have the courage to speak the truth .to the whole Church. Our Synod cannot avoid its responsibility to be a forum of honest correction.

Yet, in the Second Reading St. Paul reminds us that Our Synod should be, above all, a place of encouragement in Christ, of consolation in love and sharing in the Spirit so as to be a great outpouring of compassion to make our joy complete.

So, as well as urging you to be courageous, to have the parrhesia of the Holy Spirit, I appeal to you to try to keep the unity of our diocese in your hearts and minds. St. Paul’s advice cannot be improved. He says to us: Be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but, in humility, regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others.

In the Gospel, the Lord Jesus reveals to us the remarkable fruit of such communion. Not only will our decrees have authority in our diocese but they will have weight in Heaven itself. Whatever we bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven Jesus goes on to assure us that when our Church is agreed on anything, it will be done by His Father in heaven because where we gather in His name He, Himself, will be there among us.

For Our Synod to yield fruit much depends on how well we apply the conclusions we have reached in our parishes and groups, under the guidance of our clergy. Our post-Synod phase will require just as much care and I trust the whole people of our diocese to carry our resolutions into effect with patience and courage, with creativity and faithfulness, in the months and years to come

We have already spoken on the first synod of the Church mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. But there was another gathering even before that, at the very beginnings of the Church, when the community devoted itself to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus. This gathering with Mary brought an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in which they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke to their fellow citizen in a language they could understand and welcome. The same Spirit brought them together in common life where the Church even sold its goods to distribute to those in need. Day by day, they spent much time together in prayer and Eucharist t, eating with glad and generous hearts, praising God and winning the goodwill of all. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

We pray for the same Mother of God and Our Lady of Paisley to unite with us in prayer for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit and a fresh flourishing of our diocese for the new evangelisation of our nation.

Now is the time of favour. This is the day of salvation. Arise let us be on our way.