Synod will allow us all to hear the Spirit’s voice

I am conducting a Bible Study with parishioners at Our Lady of the Lake Parish on the Acts of the Apostles. One aspect of this book that I have rediscovered with them is the level of enthusiasm for the new Christian faith demonstrated by the apostles and others who accepted the message of Jesus Christ. They allowed that message to transform their lives.
Take, for example, the story of the Ethiopian eunuch from the court of Queen Candace, who was musing about the meaning of the Suffering Servant Canticle in the Book of Isaiah – about the just one led like a lamb to the slaughter. That passage from Isaiah is read every Good Friday. Philip the deacon comes along and explains the story to him, that the just one in the text is none other than Jesus Christ, who was raised a few short years ago.

The eunuch is so excited to hear this news that he is immediately ready to accept baptism from St. Philip in a nearby pond in the desert oasis where they were. St. Philip readily agrees and baptizes him, ending what was surely the briefest catechumenate in church history!

Likewise the Christian community in Joppa benefitted from the loving service rendered it by Dorcas, also known as Tabitha, a woman who must have been of some means but allowed that wealth to be turned into works of charity toward the poor. When she died, the community mourned her loss with great weeping and lamentation, which turned to joy when St. Peter came to Joppa and was shown the many garments that Dorcas had made with her own hands to benefit others. Then, of course, St. Peter raised her from the dead. I am sure that Dorcas went right back to the service that she had performed before, as she has been honored as a saint in both the East and the West from the early centuries of the church’s history, Oct. 25 being her feast day into the Middle Ages.

I could also mention the almost humorous story of Rhoda, a member of the Christian community in Jerusalem, who was so excited to see St. Peter when he was miraculously released from prison that she promptly slams the door in his face!

Lastly, when there was a dispute in the church over the place of the Gentile converts, the apostles gathered in a synod – literally, in Greek meaning, to take a common path – to listen together to each other. There, in dialogue, they heard the voice of the Holy Spirit, who challenged them to welcome the fresh perspective and diversity that the Gentiles were to bring to the church, which would make it open to the whole world, thus truly catholic, in the original sense of the word.

These are ordinary people with very ordinary lives taken up into extraordinary circumstances.

Is it any different in our own day, nearly 2,000 years later, in the Archdiocese of New Orleans?

We are entering into a tremendous time of grace in the upcoming synod in our archdiocese. We have an opportunity to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with renewed vigor and dynamism in our own time, that voice which ever urges us to go forth as disciples of Jesus and transform our broken world into the kingdom of God.

As the eunuch was eager to hear the Word of God and act upon it, there is much hunger to hear the Gospel in our own local church. This applies not only to those who are yet to come to the faith or those among us who are uncatechized. It also applies to those who have heard the words of Christ all our lives, because we can always hear them in new ways and better appreciate them and incorporate them in our daily lives.

In our upcoming synod, we will have that opportunity. With all of the resources that will be offered, we will be able as clergy and laity to allow the Spirit to fill us with an enthusiasm for our faith, as we see in the church’s earliest days.

Likewise as St. Dorcas showed tremendous love for the church in Joppa, we, too, as the community of the archdiocese will recommit ourselves to helping free those in the bondage of poverty and seeking new ways to put an end to violence, murder and racism in our city.

Also, we will gather with Archbishop Aymond as priests and deacons, as religious sisters and brothers, and as parishioners from across the archdiocese to dialogue, to listen to each other, to voice our hopes and frustrations, to share our dreams and our visions for the future.

In that meeting together, we, too, like the apostles gathered in Jerusalem with St. Peter and St. Paul, with St. James and St. Titus, will hear the voice of the Spirit calling us.

May the Spirit bring us to a new degree of authenticity and integrity as the community of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, a large community of brothers and sisters, challenged to be Christ, to say and do what Jesus would for this corner of our world today. As this great opportunity of the synod dawns, let us not close the door to it, nor look back, but embrace and welcome it with joy!

Father Emile “Buddy” Noel is parochial vicar of Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Mandeville.