Homily proclaimed during Synod Retreat's Final Mass

Homily of Archbishop Jaime Spengler

Metropolitan Archbishop of Porto Alegre, Brazil; and President of CELAM

3 October 2023

In these days we meet here to build a deeper syntony with the Spirit of the Lord: He wants to speak to the Church! He always speaks to the Church! Retreat! To make a retreat implies listening to the voice of the Spirit.

In these last times, at the request of the Holy Father, we also made a lengthy journey of listening: listening to our communities; listening to the People.

This listening presented the opportunity to let ourselves be guided by the "firm decision" to advance along the synodal path with Peter (cum Petrus) and under the authority of Peter (sub Petrus).

We are here because we were chosen! Chosen so that, in harmony with the whole Church, we can reflect, meditate, pray, dialogue and build possible ways for the Church to be more and more a reflection of the Holy Trinity: communion, mission and participation.

Here we are enlightened by faith! Faith that tells us that the Lord is with us. The Crucified and Risen One accompanies us and asks us to listen to one another. And listening to one another, to sound out what horizons, paths, ways, ways the Spirit inspires for the Church of the present and of the future.

The Western mentality, which places the human being and his or her material demands at the center, challenges us: does the Christian faith still find space in today's society? Does the community of faith find a place and a space in today's culture? What idiom or language should we use to transmit the message? What are the necessary would be the means necessary for us to reinforce communion, mission and participation? What ministries are needed?

The Lord is with us! With him we understand that our task is to seek "to open horizons of hope for the fulfillment of the Church's mission."

Let us ask for the necessary grace to be able to carry out the mission in which we participate!