Synodality comes from the Spirit: Towards a Christian Life Faithful to the Spirit

Abstract

This reflection paper aims to show how synodality comes from the action of the Holy Spirit in us. Christian life is driven by the Spirit to recover the meaning of following Jesus Christ. Allowing the Spirit to lead and transform us as a Church through his faithful and creative action will help us make synodality a reality, a vital ecclesial dimension already present in the first Christian communities, a fact that the epistles bear witness to. It is the action of the Spirit that makes a Church go on the move with a prophetic attitude of acting from the inside out, from the bottom up, reading the signs of the times. The action of the Spirit makes us men and women of prayer, a praying church in search of God’s will. It is the Spirit who makes us capable of listening from the bottom of our heart to the voice of diversity, plurality, even criticism and opposition. The Spirit enables us to reach out to others, letting ourselves be found, and being there to meet with others. These are all real dynamics of listening to others. It is the Spirit who grants us the gift of discernment. The Spirit makes us capable of reading reality and discovering God’s action in it. The action of the Spirit prepares us to have an atti-tude of service and dedication, to come out of ourselves and reach out to others, especially to the most vulnerable and unprotected. It moves us to liberation by making solidarity, justice, and peace real. We get to examine our behavior as believers by the action of the Spirit which makes us realize the characteristics and dimensions of our synodal experience as seen from a baptismal vocation perspective.