Gathering becomes crucial to the incarnation



We are communal animals. It is in our nature to gather. It is not surprising therefore that the Incarnation manifests itself in human beings gathering. It is our faith that the gathering can become empowered and informed and shaped and led by the Holy Spirit of God. Today’s Gospel – Luke 1:39-45 – is a good example. Mary, prompted by the Angel’s message to her – “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; … And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son” (1:35-37) – goes to Elizabeth. When she greets Elizabeth, John is brought into the gathering – “he leaped in her womb”.

The Greek word for “gathering” is ekklesia. The word quickly took on a specific meaning for those first followers of the Way. Whilst it had a particular organizational and political force at the time, the word ekklesia had been used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew, qahal Yahweh, “the assembly of God”. It thus carries a rich history, an affirmation of God at work in us and through us. What the first followers of the Way called ekklesia, we now call the “Church”.

I suggest that it is better to think of the “gathering” – that is the Church – as a verb rather than a noun. It is an action word! It points to a dynamic, living, evolving reality, like any human gathering. Except that it is “the power from on high” that governs this gathering. In order to participate, therefore, we must first and last be dedicated to listening together in order to say with some realism: “Here we are, the servants of the Lord; let it be with us according to your word.”

Pope Francis has introduced us to a new word – synodality – to describe this ancient reality. Synodality means “journeying together”. Like the word ekklesia, it gets its proper meaning from the Bible rather than secular culture. In 2015, Pope Francis addressed the Synod of Bishops on their fiftieth anniversary: “A synodal church is a listening church, knowing that listening ‘is more than feeling’. It is a mutual listening in which everyone has something to learn. Faithful people, the College of Bishops, the Bishop of Rome: we are one in listening to others; and all are listening to the Holy Spirit, the ‘Spirit of truth’ (Jn 14:17), to know what the Spirit ‘is saying to the Churches’ (Rev 2:7)”.

What happens to a family when the members stop listening to each other, journeying together? The gathering becomes superficial at best. At worst it can become destructive. This also applies to the Church. We lose our way when we stop journeying and listening together. As Pope Francis said in that same Address to the bishops, “synodality  is constitutive of the Church”. In other words, we cannot be Church if we are not journeying and listening together for the guidance of the Spirit.When we do gather primarily as a listening community, submitting our various fears, anxieties and private interests to the work of the Spirit, seeking to open our minds and hearts together to that same Spirit, we truly become Church.



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Date
19 December 2021

Tag 1
Gospel

Tag 2
Teaching

Tag 3
Story

Source Name
Michael Whelan sm

Source URL
https://stpatschurchhill.org/...

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