(This article was published on "Siyatfunywa News" - Issue #2)
The synodal process called by Pope Francis – launched in our Diocese on October 17 – is lead by three words which we will always keep in our minds and hearts: “communion, participation, mission”.
Under this light we are called to listen and to talk in a spirit of communion, participating as living stones in the building of our Church (1 Peter 2:5) for the mission entrusted to us as “baptised and sent”.
We need to be aware that both listening and talking are not always easy.
Listening
Some people talk all the time and never listen to anyone. They are like a one way road. They do the talking and expect others to do the listening;
Some seem unable to make time to listen to anyone or anything that is happening around them. They make sure they are always too busy to stop and listen;
Some only listen to those who think like them. This is even encouraged by social media and “search engines” (e.g. “google”) that make sure we live in our own bubble, picking up what we like and giving us more and more of the same;
Some "pick and choose" who they would listen to and who they would not;
Some do not listen because they think they have all the answers. It happened to Peter. Once he proclaimed Jesus as the Son of the living God, he felt having the right to take him aside and tell him what he should or should not say. He thought he knew it all;
Some might have been trained to preach or to teach but not to listen;
Some struggle to specifically listen to Jesus putting him at the centre of their lives. They do listen to Jesus but under pressure from the family, from friends, from culture or society, Jesus’ voice takes second place in their lives.
The quality of our daily listening is important – very important – for this process because, most of all, we want to be able to listen to the voice of the Spirit. As John tells us, we cannot love the God that we do not see unless we love the brothers and sisters we do see. We might be deceiving ourselves thinking we can listen to God when we are not ready to listen to anyone else. Jesus might be that "other" coming to us through whom God wants to talk to us.
Talking
The listening is also linked to the “talking”. In the coming weeks and months, you will hear about the different initiatives being launched to open spaces for “talking” which has its own challenges too:
some have been shared above like thinking one has all the answers stopping others from talking. It also happens when someone wants to impose his or her point of view;
self-censoring. Some refrain from sharing what they think because of fear of the consequences or because they believe it is not appropriate or it is disrespectful (“we cannot say ‘this’ to Sister, Father / the bishop”)
being unaware of the way we look at things. “The lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is clear, your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be darkness” (Mt 6: 22 – 23) There is a risk of looking at things in a negative way;
keeping quiet. Some might choose not to say anything believing what they could say is not important or thinking that, in any case, nothing ever changes.
Our listening and talking is done under a particular spirit. It is not the same as the one done by an NGO, a business, a stokvel or a parliament. It is done under the light of faith, celebrating God’s presence and action. It is a call to “remember” God’s work among us and acknowledging our weaknesses and event hurts.
As we start this journey it is essential that we all understand that the Church that listens and the Church that talks is “us”. All of us: lay people, religious, priests and bishop. We are all called to share and we are called to listen to each other. As Paul says, may our words be for the improvement of others and do good to the listeners (Eph 4:29). Most of all may we allow the Holy Spirit to talk to us and through us and to listen to the Spirit’s voice.
+ José Luis Ponce de León
IMC
Bishop of
Manzini
