Feast of Visitation: Surrendering the Synodal Process to Mary
This year, the Feast of Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary was a moment of Marian Prayer in preparation for the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. Bishop Sebastian together with Fr. Dominic celebrated the mass dedicating the Synodal Process, Synodal Journey to our Mother Mary at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In his homily, Bishop explained that the four gospels tell us very little of Mary but enough. On this feast day, the focus is on these two women – one is Elizabeth 60 and above and Mary very young teenager. In the incident of Annunciation in Luke -the first person to utter the words of the rosary was Archangel Gabriel – Hail Mary Full of Grace; and the second person was Elizabeth – Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus.
Although the story of Annunciation is very brief, we can understand from the greeting that Mary was highly favoured and a special person in God’s plan. She was troubled and struggled with the message- just as people struggle with divine message. She may have had sleepless nights but her fiat was ‘yes’ to her destiny and the miracle took place. Miracles are not something that happen by chance but are rather part of God’s plan. A miracle is statement about life and miracles govern every part of life.
Quoting Karl Rahner, the theologian when he was asked if he believed in miracles; Rahner replied that “I don’t believe in them, I rely on them to get through each day!”
Bishop Sebastian added that we want to pray for a miracle to happen in the coming Synod- for the universal church. He said that we may think that we are in control of our lives but someday some crisis happens and we realise that we are not in control. For some of us the Synod is a crisis moment for the church and we need to surrender as Mary did to God. She did not know what was going to happen but completely surrendered her destiny. He said Pope Francis has also similar sentiments and has surrendered the outcome of the Synod to the Holy Spirit.
He said, we have come a point where we need to question and reflect if we are where God wants us to be. We need to listen to the Holy Spirit so that we too can respond with haste as Mary did. Mary’s response was sincere and a selfless act to go and visit her cousin when she heard of Elizabeth’s pregnancy.
For us too, as baptized Christians, we are sent on our mission. St. Paul reminds us that it is a curse if we do not preach the gospel. Jesus gave us mission to make disciples of others. How do we make disciples? He explained that “we are sent to be a witness that encounters the world with hope, love mercy and joy. We are to replace the worldly values with values of the gospel- growing together in humility, service and love”. “We are to be missionary disciples- the world needs the joy of the gospel, mercy of the father and hope generated by Holy Spirit and Mary is the embodiment of all this”.
He said, tonight the church prays as one together with Pope Francis to surrender the synodal process and journey to the maternal care of Mary. He quoted Pope Francis that Mission is passion for Jesus and also God’s people. “Love is the root of the mission- always intending the good of the other and thus sacrifice becomes the fruit of mission”. In this mission, Mary is leading the way.
Bishop explained that the Synod has two moments – Oct 2023 and Oct 2024. Pope Francis’ s intention is to make the Synodal way – the way of the church and way of life until the coming of Christ. He has also declared 2025 as the Jubilee Year of hope. In 2026, the 1st Malaysian Pastoral Convention will be held uniting all the churches in Malaysia including Semenanjung Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. There is a plan to introduce a step by step journey as a Synodal church participating in communion and in mission. Bishop stressed that we are a church and the nature of the church is missionary. At the end of the homily, the prayer of consecration of the Synodal Journey was recited.