The Holy Spirit is certainly speaking at the Synod, but only through those who exhibit the above heavenly gifts in their interventions. Through those who do not, He is not, for Jesus Himself said, ‘By their fruits, you shall know them’. Is the fruit of the Holy Ghost confusion and error or clarity and truth?

‘But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth.’ ~ St John 16:13

 

Of course, it would be foolish to think that the Holy Spirit is speaking _outside of the Synod Hall_ because, as we all know, He was only given to the the Synod’s chief manipulators (Bishops), who want to re-set the Catholic Church to Year Zero. It’s not like every lay Catholic at Confirmation was sealed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit…

Oh, wait…

‘As we know, the Synod is a walking together with a spirit of collegiality and synodality, adopting the parrhesia, the pastoral and doctrinal zeal, the wisdom, the frankness, and always putting before our eyes the good of the Church, of families and the supreme law, the salus animarum (cf. Can. 1752).

I would like to recall that the Synod is not a congress or a “parlour,” it is not a parliament or a senate, where we come to agreement. Instead, the Synod is an ecclesial expression, that is, it is the Church that walks together to read the reality with the eyes of faith and with the heart of God; it is the Church that questions herself on her fidelity to the deposit of faith, which does not represent for her a museum to look at and even less so to safeguard, but is a living source in which the Church slakes herself and slakes and illumines the deposit of life.

The Synod moves necessarily in the heart of the Church and within the Holy People of God of which we are part in the quality of pastors, that is, servants.

Moreover, the Synod is a protected space where the Church experiences the action of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit speaks in the Synod through the language of all persons that allow themselves to be guided by the God that always surprises, by the God that reveals to little ones what he hides from the wise and the intelligent, by the God that created the Law and the Sabbath for man and not vice versa, by the God that leaves the ninety nine sheep to seek the sheep that was lost, by the God that is always greater than our logic and our calculations.’ ~

Pope FrancisAll together now. “Parrhesia!”

We know it’s the Holy Spirit is speaking when a Bishop says…

“Too many have lost confidence in Jesus’s doctrines and doubt or deny that mercy is found in his hard moral teachings. The crucified Jesus was not afraid to confront society, and he was crucified for his pains, teaching his followers that life is a moral struggle that requires sacrifices, and his followers cannot always take the easy options. He did not tell the adulterous woman to continue in her good work, but to repent and sin no more.” ~ Cardinal George Pell

So, is it the same Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity speaking when a Bishop says…

‘Our flock sometimes finds it hard to reconcile Church teaching with Christ’s commandment to love. Their own moral judgment is jarred by what they perceive as an over-emphasis (in their view) on form rather than substance. Another rule of thumb when parenting: children need both soft-love and firm-love, but loving parents rarely exclude their errant children from the family table.’ ~ Bishop Peter Doyle

The ‘family table’? He can’t be talking about the Eucharistic Banquet can he? It’s unthinkable, but if he is insinuating that, is that the Holy Spirit talking? 

Well, don’t fret. If you’re confused how the Spirit of God can suggest what rather seem like two mutually exclusive positions simultaneously in the same Synod, created so that the Spirit can speak to the Church in such manner as to confuse the flock of Christ, it’s not a problem because…

‘The Jubilee Year of Mercy expects this sign of humble obedience (on the part of the Churches’ shepherds) to the Spirit who speaks to them through Francis.’ ~ Msgr. Pio Vito Pinto

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