Reflections by: Fr. Chris Byrnes

 

A Spirituality of Communion

 

From Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (#43)

(At the beginning of the new millennium)

 

Witnesses To Love

 

"By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn 13:35). If we have truly contemplated the face of Christ... our pastoral planning will necessarily be inspired by the "new commandment" which He gave us: "Love one another, as I have loved you" (Jn 13:34).

 

There has to be commitment and planning in this important area: the domain of communion (koinonia), which embodies and reveals the very essence of the mystery of the Church. Communion is the fruit and demonstration of that love which springs from the heart of the Eternal Father and is poured out upon us through the Spirit which Jesus gives us (cf. Rom 5:5), to make us all "one heart and one soul" (Acts 4:32). It is in building this communion of love that the Church appears as "sacrament", as the "sign and instrument of intimate union with God and the unity of the human race "(Lumen Gentium #1).

 

The Lord's words on this point are too precise for us to diminish their import. Many things are necessary for the Church's journey through history, not least in this new century; but without charity (agape), all will be m vain. It is again the Apostle Paul who in the hymn to love reminds us: even if we speak the tongues of men and of angels, and if we have faith "to move mountains", but are without love, all will come to "nothing" (cf. I Cor 13:2). Love is truly the "heart" of the Church, as was well understood by Saint Therese of Lisieux: "I understood that the Church had a Heart and that this Heart was aflame with Love. I understood that Love alone stirred the members of the Church to act... I understood that Love encompassed all vocations, that Love was everything."

 

To make the Church the home and the school of communion: that is the great challenge facing us in the millennium which is now beginning, if we wish to be faithful to God's plan and respond to the world's deepest yearnings.

 

But what does this mean in practice? Here too, our thoughts could run immediately to the action to be undertaken, but that would not be the right impulse to follow. Before making practical plans, we need to promote a spirituality of communion, making it the guiding principle of education wherever individuals and Christians are formed, wherever ministers of the altar, consecrated persons, and pastoral workers are trained, wherever families and communities are being built up.

 

A spirituality of communion indicates above all the heart's contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able to see shining on the face of the brothers and sisters around us.

 

A spirituality of communion also means an ability to think of our brothers and sisters in faith within the profound unity of the Mystical Body, and therefore as "those who are a part of me". This makes us able to share their joys and sufferings, to sense their desires and attend to their needs, to offer them deep and genuine friendship. A spirituality of communion implies also the ability to see what is positive in others, to welcome it and prize it as a gift from God: not only as a gift for the brother or sister who has received it directly, but also as a "gift for me

 

A spirituality of communion means, finally, to know how to "make room" for our brothers and sisters, bearing "each other's burdens" (Gal 6:2) and resisting the selfish temptations which constantly beset us and provoke competition, careerism, distrust and jealousy.

 

Let us have no illusions: unless we follow this spiritual path, external structures of communion will serve very little purpose. They would become mechanisms without a soul, "masks" of communion rather than its means of expression and growth.

 

 

From Pope John Paul II's

Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia In America (#33)

 

We must proclaim with joy and firm faith that God is communion, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, unity in distinction, and that He calls all people to share in the same Trinitarian communion.

We must proclaim that this communion is the magnificent plan of God the Father; that Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Lord, is the heart of this communion, and that the Holy Spirit works ceaselessly to create communion and to restore it when it is broken.

We must proclaim that the Church is the sign and instrument of the communion willed by God, begun in time and destined for completion in the fullness of the Kingdom.

The Church is the sign of communion because her members, like branches, share the life of Christ, the true vine (cf. Jn 15:5). Through communion with Christ, Head of the Mystical Body, we enter into living communion with all believers.

 

Pope John Paul II's Pastoral Priorities in Novo Millennio Ineunte

 

Holiness: "all pastoral initiatives must be set in relation to holiness." (#30-31)

 

Prayer: "training in holiness calls for a Christian life distinguished above all in the art of prayer. "(#32-34)

 

The Sunday Eucharist and the Lord's Day: "our principal attention must be to the liturgy as "the summit towards which the Church's action tends and same time the source from which comes all her strength"." (#35-36; SC # 10.)

 

The Sacrament of Reconciliation: "the ordinary way of obtaining forgiveness and the remission of sins committed after Baptism." (#37)

 

The Primacy of Grace: "without Christ we can do nothing" (#38; cf. Jn 15:5.)

 

Listening to the Word: "holiness and prayer inconceivable without a renewed listening to the Word of God."(Lectio Divina) (#39)

 

Proclaiming the Word: "to nourish ourselves with the word in order to be "servants of the word" in the work of evangelization: this is surely a priority for the Church at the dawn of the new millennium." (#40)

 

Communion in the diversity of vocations

 

Such a vision of communion is closely linked to the Christian community's ability to make room for all the gifts of the Spirit. The unity of the Church is not uniformity, but an organic blending of legitimate diversities. It is the reality of many members joined in a single body, the one Body of Christ (cf. 1 Cor 12:12). Therefore the Church of the Third Millennium will need to encourage all the baptized and confirmed to be aware of their active responsibility in the Church's life. Together with the ordained ministry, other ministries, whether formally instituted or simply recognized, can flourish for the good of the whole community, sustaining it in all its many needs: from catechesis to liturgy, from education of the young to the widest array of charitable works.

 

Prayer, commitment and promotion are needed in the following areas: vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life, the specific vocation of the laity, promotion of forms of association, the pastoral care of the family, the ecumenical commitment, ecological crisis, problems of peace, fundamental human rights, respect for the life of every human being from conception until natural death, dialogue and mission.

 

Dialogue and mission

 

A new century, a new millennium are opening in the light of Christ. But not everyone can see this light. Ours is the wonderful and demanding task of becoming its "reflection".

 

This is a daunting task if we consider our human weakness, which so often renders us opaque and full of shadows. But it is a task which we can accomplish if we turn to the light of Christ and open ourselves to the grace which makes us a new creation.

 

In the light of the Council

 

What a treasure there is in the guidelines offered to us by the Second Vatican Council! With the passing of years, the Council documents have lost nothing of their value or brilliance. They need to be read correctly, to be widely known and taken to heart as important and normative texts of the Magisterium, within the Church's tradition. Pope John Paul II points to the Council as the great grace bestowed on the Church in the twentieth century: There we find a sure compass by which to take our bearings in the century now beginning.

 

Put out into the deep!

 

Let us go forward in hope! A new millennium is opening before the Church like a vast ocean upon which we shall venture, relying on the help of Christ. The Son of God, who became incarnate two thousand years ago out of love for humanity, is at work even today: we need discerning eyes to see this and, above all, a generous heart to become the instruments of His work. Did we not celebrate the Jubilee Year in order to refresh our contact with this living source of hope? Now, the Christ whom we have contemplated and loved bids us to set out once more on our journey: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 28:19). The missionary mandate accompanies us into the Third Millennium and urges us to share the enthusiasm of the very first Christians: we can count on the power of the same Spirit who was poured out at Pentecost and who impels us today to start out anew, sustained by the hope "which does not disappoint" (Rom 5:5).

 

The Risen Jesus accompanies us on our way and enables us to recognize Him, as the disciples of Emmaus did, "in the breaking of the bread" (Lk 24:35). May He find us watchful, ready to recognize His face and run to our brothers and sisters with the good news: "We have seen the Lord!" (Jn 20:-25).