By Mathew Thankachen O.Praem. –
The Biblical concept of God unlike the god of any natural or other historical religions is simply a ‘Synodality’, viz. ‘a God walking together with man’ intervening from Creation to Redemption. At Creation, we find God doesn’t want man (Adam) to be alone, but someone to “walk with him”, He creates, a helpmeet, Eve. (Gen. Ch2).
Again in Gen Ch. 3, 10; we find a God who comes down to the garden of Eden to ‘walk with’ the first human, anxious about their ‘wellbeing’. This historical intervention of God in the Salvation history is seen throughout the book of Pentateuch, historical books, prophets, psalms, down to the incarnation of Christ and his redemptive mission entrusted to his apostles, finally inaugurated and culminated in the Resurrection and Pentecost, the birthday of the Church in the New Testament.
In the Book of Exodus, we explicitly see Yahweh ‘walking with Moses, the one He chose as leader together with the crowd from Mount Sinai to the promised land as a “cloud in the day and pillar of light in the night”. Even at Yahweh’s command, ‘Moses choses 70 leaders’, (Proto Democracy) a community to ‘walk with God and Moses’ in the pilgrim mission to Canaan, the land of liberation.
It is this ‘transcendent and imminent nature’ of walking with people – leading, guiding, loving, punishing, providing, exhorting, liberating’ that our theologians conceived the twin dimension of God as ‘transcendent and imminent”.’ Accordingly, two ‘theologization method were puts forth viz. Deductive and Inductive. Hitherto, in the church, more emphasize was paid to the ‘Revelation’, the Deductive method in the ‘synod’ and thereby limiting the fruit of the ‘Holy Spirit’ as ‘revealed’ predominantly in ‘Bishops and Cardinals’. The ‘Inductive method’ on the other is based on ‘Imminent nature of God, an Incarnational approach, taking into account the ‘experience of people on the grass-root level’.
The document of the Second Vatican Council was a deep breakthrough to collate and collaborate the “ transcendent with the Imminent”, “ the Deductive with the Inductive”, the ‘Secular with the Sacred’ and thereby, not only the Synod tried to bridge the gap between ‘laity and hierarchy’, but also ‘infuse the collective function of the Holy Spirit’ in ‘Hallowing the Mundane’ as the ‘Holistic Mission of the Church’ which met with only partial success, mainly as the hierarchical, transcendent Church was too orthodox to conceive and integrate the crisis faced by the people from the down to the earth level.
This chasm between the bishops, clergy, religious and laity is much more prevalent in the south Indian Churches where the community is torn by caste, rites, regions and languages. In this era of ‘social media’, many Church leaders go behind ‘cheap popularity’ of ‘petty politics’ of ‘making groups and breaking groups’.
At times, the grievances against the bishops or superiors find opportune expression in ‘leaking out’ of psychic pollution of suppressed emotions in other forms of common interest like ‘liturgical celebration’ or any other innovations brought out by the bishops’ councils. It is also to be admitted that some bishops and superiors are too much autocrats, taking for granted the ‘vow of obedience’ as some alleges as a ‘means of enslavement’. Thus, ‘hoarding up of past grievances against the bishops / superiors’ and ‘denial of self- interests’ of priests/ nuns by the bishops contribute to ‘suppression of freedom’ the true enemy to the synodal virtue of ‘listening, dialogue and Communio”.
The religious priests and nuns too are at times ‘suppressed’ by the bishops in the pretext of the Canon Law provision provided to “co-ordinate the apostolate of the Religious in the diocese’. Thus, there are many ‘Inter-intra personal, cultural, castes, religious, rites and political factors’ coming on the way to implementing ‘synodality in the Indian churches. When such scandals are taken over by the ‘social and electronic media’, the scar stamped on the heart of the Church ‘becomes too deep to be wiped out, affecting the ‘faith and morals’ bearing counter-witness in the society and for the posterity.
The very Christian concept of ‘Trinity’ as the nature of God vindicates a ‘self-giving without self-interest and in fact, a ‘moving, giving, walking together’, a “unity in diversity”, the best example of classical Indian Culture.
According to the Gospel of John, “the Word was with God, the Word was God and the Word became Flesh”. (Jn Ch.1) John the Baptist said, “He was only a “Voice” in the wilderness” which has no “meaning” in itself. “Voice becomes pregnant with meaning when it is wrapped up in Word”. The fact that “Word became Flesh” indicates it’s “visibility, tangibility and movement” (Dabbar Yahweh). In Lk.3, it is further clarified by John the Baptist, the type of Baptism that Jesus, the Word gives will be of “by Spirit and Fire” indicating, capable of “moving from within or “igniting from within” to “embrace the without”, “God – with- us”, “Emmanuel” (Mt.1,23).
It is needless to state the whole historical life of Jesus from birth to death on the Cross was one of ‘walking together with Crowd’, a process of ‘self-emptying’, ‘Kenosis’ especially with the Sinners, poor and the marginalized, moving within them the ‘water of life’, blossoming within them “the flower of Resurrection’, “building within them the bridge and ladder of Love” to experience the “compassion of a forgiving God”.
Even in the Indian Culture, “Word and Listening “is integral elements of Salvation and hence the symbol of ‘OM”, the first word uttered by God known as the “Aadi Shabda” and “Hearing “(Shravana) as the means of salvation (Moksha). In the historical Jesus, we find such an “active listening” that he “heard” more than what was spoken. We see such “Dialogue” with the “Samaritan woman” whose “hidden truth were revealed” by his listening that the woman ran to the village to tell the good news that she had seen the Messiah.
Immediately after the ‘Resurrection’ of Christ, we find him “walking with two disciples on the way to Emmaus’, identifying fully with them as a “co-traveler”, listening, clarifying, responding, collaborating and ultimately identifying as “Christ” at the “Breaking of the Bread”. The culmination of ‘Kenosis’ on the Cross “which had a ‘deep impact’ in the heart of disciples might have itself made the “greater Revelation” of ‘the Glory of Jesus as Christ” during this “walking together”, the true ‘Synodality’, to “make their heart Burn” on the way.
The early Church, immediately after the Resurrection era, we find such ‘Kenosis among the Apostles who were shattered and battered with none to depend on other than the promise of Christ of the ‘Helper’ and of his ‘Second coming’. And no wonder, they were made ‘bold’ by “bestowing the Holy Spirit” on the day of Pentecost. A close look at the animation of the ‘Holy Spirit” in the early Church (Acts, Chs.10,13 etc.) vindicates “the individual revelation receives a collective affirmation” to tide over the various issues of the time like “the circumcision of the gentiles”, adapting and renewing the customs of the days like non- prohibition of foods etc.
It is a historical fact to note that “Church as a Movement- walking together without discrimination, an’ inclusive Church’ with Jews and gentiles, men and women, old men (Elders) and Youth, that gave witness to the ‘unity in Christ’ to an extent that the pagans and Jews equally agreed, “ How nice for Brothers and Sisters dwelling in Unity”, calling them the “people of the Way” in the Acts of the Apostles gets gradually polluted by ‘ conflict for domination” among the Jews and Greeks, reflected in the ‘complaints of the Greek widows’ that they don’t get sufficient foods and the exhortation of Paul not to ‘pollute the Eucharistic meal ‘ with their “Egoism and Domination”. In all these crisis situation, we find the “collective, dialogical, listening, Discerning, collaborating, Responding “role of the Holy spirit”, the backbone of Synodality.
It is equally to be admitted that in the post Constantine era made Church More Institutional and Royal, limiting the working of the Holy Spirit valid only in the Hierarchy and Ordained Ministry, building a wall against the Laity which still hangs on today. Although many Revolutions made the Church to change its structural composition, the ‘mind – set’ of Bishops and clergy for an inclusive Church still remains a distant dream.
The 16th Synod on ‘Synodality’ to be held in 2023 is an effort to return to the root of the attributes of Synodality as revealed in the nature of God, in the Incarnation and Life of Christ which was Transmitted by the Apostolic Community as the very nature in the Early Missionary Church as ‘Listening, Community-Discerning, Reciprocity through Cultural and anthropological Dialogue” with special emphasize on the ‘role of the Holy Spirit’ revealed through the whole community with collective decision making rather than only through the hierarchical Church. Synodality also embraces the whole Anthropology, ecology. Economy and other human sectors of health and Education, in fact an “Integral, global Dialoguing Pilgrim Church for the posterity”. Ultimately, a Church without “walls” where “Lambs and Lions dwells together”, another euphoric dream the ‘kingdom of God ‘aims to realize here on earth.
In the above context of ‘Synodality’ reflecting the very nature of God, Christ, Early Church, the challenges before the present Pilgrim Church is to “embody the ideals of Incarnation like Mary and Jesus viz. Listening the will of God, have Dialogue with in case of conflict/ doubts, collaborate with God and co-workers and give a Response” viz. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your Word”. “Not my will, but Thy will be done”. I wish this synod be made fruitful in realizing “Peace on earth for men of good Will”, the “Embodiment of the essence of the Word viz. Listening, (shravana), Meditating/ Integrating (Manana), Living the Reality of Communion (Nithithyasana) not only on Vertical level with God, but also horizontal level with humanity, thereby, welcoming the Word to become Flesh in the concrete reality of life of the Church and the World.
Pope Francis makes an attempt to ‘feel the smell of the sheep” in the “heart of the Shepherd”, going back to the “root”, the original spirit of the Vatican II. It is just a ‘Natural Law’ any ‘slip of Equilibrium’ would leads to hazardous and opposite result. For instance, an ‘imbalance in the chemicals in body ‘will lead to diseases and hence, the diet is named, ‘Balanced diet’. Similarly, Ecology and the adverse effect we face today.