Synodality: God’s dream for Consecrated Life today

To all the Brothers and Communities of the Order

Dear Brothers,

I send you all my best wishes on the World Day for Consecrated Life, which we celebrate on 2 February throughout the Church. And I invite you to celebrate it by giving thanks to Our Lord for the gift of the Consecrated Life which he continually gives to the Church and in particular to each of us as Brothers as members of our Order.

In this time of preparation for the Synod, with synodality as its main theme, we Religious men and women are being called upon to reach out from our houses, to break down the barriers of the walls which isolate us, even if they appear to provide us with security, and to walk together with the whole Church, the People of God, of which we are members. To be open communities.

Here are a few of the implications of Synodality for Consecrated Life: The dreams of synodality raise important and demanding implications for Consecrated Life in our age, as the General Governments of female and male Institutes of Consecrated Life have made clear:

1. Synodality must be rooted in the Holy Spirit:  The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church and of Consecrated Life, the Spirit shows us the Risen Jesus as the Way, and urges us to follow Him. Synodality demands a change of heart, which will be possible under the guidance and in the presence of the Spirit. Synodality thereby becomes our path of formation and spirituality.

2. The appeal for a new kind of mutual relations: While the Covid-19 pandemic has isolated us so much, it has at the same time been a stimulus to open up new areas of communication thanks to the new technologies available to us. A special model of intercommunication and synodality has emerged. We have sensed – more powerfully than before – the importance of engaging in meaningful conversations with one another. Many Institutes are plainly appealing for cross-cultural and intergenerational listening and dialogue. We are becoming increasingly aware of the need for formation in this regard. Its impact on the way we discharge our mission will be evident. Sharing has created opportunities to name our wounds and to voice our longing for healing and reconciliation on many levels.

3. Readiness to collaborate: Consecrated Life – on every continent – gives voice to the desire for greater collaboration and partnership with all the laity, including them in more functions within their charismatic Institutes and families. The aim is greater mutual appreciation and the possibility of enriching and learning from each other. This is something which we still have to investigate and put into practice. There are deeper and more comprehensive ways of co-working that we have not yet thought of, and we must work together to achieve them.  Given the desire to work together on the projects of the Kingdom of God, synodality teaches that it is not a matter of duplicating them, but of finding  forms of inter-Congregational convergence. At the same time, forms of ecclesial convergence are also necessary, with diocesan clergy and bishops. Religious Sisters, who are unjustly treated, discriminated against and even mistreated in the dioceses of some countries, are crying out to be heard and heeded.

4. Formation in synodality: Synodality must shape initial and continuing formation in Consecrated Life. Educating in synodality requires wisdom, openness, practice and learning; we need virtues such as generosity, openness to others, participation, collaboration, humility and the renunciation of self-referentiality. Synodality must be incorporated into seminary formation (and formation centres for Religious men and women) in order to prevent the spread of patriarchy and clericalism. Synodality opens up new horizons in the way we understand and embody today the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience, the shaping of our community life and spirituality, and the way we integrate our mission – according to our Charism – within the one mission of the Church.

These are just a few of the precious contributions of Religious men and women in preparation for the Synod. I call upon you to read, reflect on and study in the community the valuable document which the female and male Unions of Superiors General have submitted to the Synod Secretariat.

My dear Brothers, synodality is defining the present and the future of the Church, and hence of Consecrated Life and our life. In October 2024 our Order will be celebrating the 70th General Chapter, in a House next to the Shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Poland. Some of you may have already heard the news, which I am now making public for the whole Hospitaller Family of St John of God, although the announcement and convocation of the Chapter will be made at a later date. Preparations for the Chapter have already begun and the relevant commissions have been set up and are already at work. A few reports have already been sent out, and more will continue to follow.    

I call upon the entire Hospitaller Family of St John of God to experience this time of preparation for the Chapter and its subsequent celebration in a synodal manner. I hope that it will be an experience of synodality for all of us, in which we journey on together, participate, listen to one another, and pay heed to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, that He may help us to discern the paths of Gospel-inspired Hospitality in the manner of St John of God, which we are being called upon to tread over the coming years, at the service of the sick, the poor and the needy, wherever we are in the world.

Congratulations to all the Brothers of the Order and to all the Religious men and women members of our St John of God Family, for the gift of our vocation. Let us live up to it joyfully, thanking God for it! 

United in Our Lord and in St John of God I send you my fraternal and hospitaller best wishes.

Brother Jesús Etayo