Learning to Listen Through Synodality

Synodality has become a bit of a buzz word in the church.

Pope Francis has been talking about synodality since the beginning of his pontificate. He believes it is “the path that God expects of the church in the third millennium,” a “constitutive,” or essential, element of the church.

The pope’s focus on synodality is a call to deepen our roots as the People of God journeying together in a common mission.

The Synod on Synodality is a multi-year, worldwide undertaking in its preparation and Catholics were invited to participate by submitting feedback to their local dioceses on how they believe the Spirit is urging us to grow in our “journeying together.”

Vatican officials report a robust participation in this effort with 112 out of 114 of the world’s Catholic bishops’ conferences contributing to the diocesan listening phase of the Synod.

The second and final session of the Synod is taking place this October at the Vatican.

I recently had a unique opportunity to participate in an experience of synodality at the motherhouse of my Congregation, the Little Sisters of the Poor.

At the recommendation of the Vatican office that guides institutes of consecrated life, in 2021 all the Little Sisters around the world participated in a process of discernment and dialogue aimed at updating our Constitutions, our foundational code of holiness.

The revised texts were approved by the Vatican after our General Chapter of 2022 and then each Sister received a copy of them last December on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Since the beginning of this year, groups of about 50 Little Sisters at a time have been going to our motherhouse in France to deepen our understanding of these new Constitutions. I was invited to participate in one of these sessions in September 2024.

The centerpiece of this program is a series of “conversations in the Spirit,” a specific form of dialogue derived from the methodology being used at the Synod in Rome.

Two Spanish Jesuits recently penned a book on conversation in the Spirit. Pope Francis wrote the preface for their book.

“Conversation in the Spirit, discernment and synodality consist, above all, in listening,” the pope wrote. “The synodal path undertaken by the church is a path of in-depth listening. The attitude … of ‘open and vulnerable listening,’ is fundamental and very necessary, in fact it allows the Spirit to move us and make us change … to lead us to concrete decisions.”

Pope Francis asserts that if we remain locked in our previously-held positions, we will be unable to engage in true conversation, to learn anything from others or to welcome decisions that require change.

“It is only when we truly listen to each other that we emerge enriched and deepen our communion and mission,” he wrote.

We need to dislodge ourselves from the center of our lives and allow God, through his Spirit, to take center stage.

Listening to the Spirit requires of us certain internal attitudes.

To fill ourselves with the Spirit, the pope wrote, we need to empty ourselves and “loosen our material, ideological and emotional moorings, allowing the Spirit to guide us more effectively.”

We need to cultivate within ourselves attitudes of humility, hospitality and welcome, ridding ourselves of self-sufficiency and self-referentiality.

In other words, we need to dislodge ourselves from the center of our lives and allow God, through his Spirit, to take center stage.

By entering into the spirit of synodality during my stay at our motherhouse, I was able to receive much more than I could have ever imagined from my fellow Sisters, who represented a variety of ages, cultures, and experiences.

I realized the difference between listening to buttress my own preconceived ideas and listening to truly understand the other and where they are coming from, with a view to expanding my own perspective.

At our motherhouse, I learned that when we are willing to let go of our own judgments and priorities, we can, together with others, dream of new possibilities and discern the path to greater fruitfulness in the Spirit. This was such a beautiful and unexpected experience!

There is so much polarization and discord in the world around us, even in the life of the church. You may have read about the Synod on Synodality in skeptical or politicized terms.

But regardless of where we stand on certain hot-button issues in the church and the world, I think we could all benefit from adopting a synodal approach to listening to God and others with an open mind and heart that seeks his will for our world. 
 
Sister Constance Veit is the communications director for the Little Sisters of the Poor in the United States and an occupational therapist.