Carla Mae's Blog

We’ve come to the end of the Working Document for the Continental Stage of the Synod. Our last reflection closed with a challenge to explore diversity in worship. Now the working team lays out concrete steps forward.  The first step forward is conversion and reform. Ouch! We will have to change…again…and we flinch at hearing it. We prefer to settle down…we prefer a little do-nothing-normalcy. But no. The People of God have spoken, and they express a desire to be less a Church of maintenance and conservation. They want to be a Church that goes out in mission. They believe that synod communion must lead to a permanent state of mission . (Spanish Report) Because we are a learning church, we need continuous discernment to help us read the Word of God and the signs of the times together, to move forward in the direction the Spirit is pointing us. This sounds like it was taken right out of our Dominican documents. It calls for continual conversion, both personal and communal. As a list...

 The Paschal Mystery and the big Feasts are now behind us. We have entered the ‘green’ season. What does the wise Church want to teach us? Where does she want to lead us? This is called ‘Ordinary Time’ because now we will be entering deeply into the Mysteries we have celebrated. We will be ‘unpacking’ them, and making wonderful discoveries. But you say, “I’ve read these readings before!” Ah…but the ‘you’ reading them now is a different you. You have journeyed further, and the journey has been teaching you.  There are five Sundays in July of 2023. The first Sunday will remind you of your Calling. The second Sunday will face you with a choice for your daily living: the Spirit’s breath or the letter of the law? Then in the next three Sundays, we will be challenged to go deeper into the seed of suffering, the way good and evil are so mixed together, and how little things really count. Finally, we will be reminded to keep our focus: keep your eyes on the pearl. He is the Mystery! ...

We are in the glow of the Easter season. Spring is bursting out all over, and in this North Temperate Zone, nature is dancing with liturgical time.  What are we celebrating? New life, you say? Ah…but why is that so…? Keep watching for the mystery hidden in the readings. They are giving evidence of a wonderful exchange! Keep watch for it in the evening news too, for it is at work there.  In very common language, you might call it a ‘new deal.’ Again, in very common language you might say it this way: We really blew it. We messed things up big time. God had this plan for humanity, and we wrecked it. Now, God, being Love, is not going to settle for us using our freedom to wreck things. God has a Plan B. It goes like this:  “How about a new deal. You give me your DNA. With your DNA I can have a body. If I have a body, I, who am eternal, can die, OK? If I enter death, I am a poison pill. Death will be destroyed. It no longer is final. Then, in exchange, I will give you...

 Sometimes Lent can be quite noisy: daylight savings time clicks in, summer sports teams get active, needs on the news continue to be overwhelming, the president puts out his budget, and I keep trying to keep true to my Lenten practices. But, what’s it all for? Why am I doing all these things?  Thomas Merton wrote some time ago: At the center of my being is a point of pure nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. ( Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, New York: Doubleday, 1966:142)   Maybe, just maybe, I should begin each of the remaining days of Lent just going there, just sitting there. “…the pure glory of God in us.” This means deeper th...

We’ve reflected on the image of ‘Enlarge the space of your tent,’ faced the hesitations voiced by respondents, and identified the ‘pillar’ of the effort in the common dignity of the baptized, as we have considered the insights of this theological working document for the continental   stage of the synod process. This set the context for…you guessed it…touching base with the sacred scriptures. What do we learn? The document goes straight back to the tent image, and offers the sense of exile as a start. There is the call for discernment. The many local reports envision a Church as an expansive, but not homogeneous dwelling, capable of sheltering all, but open, letting in and out, and moving toward embracing the Divine and all of humanity. Enlarging the tent means welcoming others into it, and making room for diversity. This means ‘dying’ in a way out of love to my selfish preferences, and finding myself again in Christ, in his openness and love. This is going to be asked of u...

 We continue our exploration into the latest document from the General Secretariat of the Synod, “ Enlarge the space of your tent” (Is 54:2), Working Document for the Continental Stage.  It is good to keep in mind that there are several stages to this Synodal Process: The Diocesan Stage (where listening sessions have taken place in dioceses all over the world), The Continental Stage (where the diocesan data is gathered at meetings in continental groups: our is Canada/USA), and the Roman Stage (where all of the continental data the from listening will be gathered and discussed in Rome in October of 2024,)  It is also helpful to note that from the beginning of his papacy, ten years ago this year, Francis has quietly been shifting the Church from a hierarchical dominated structure to a synodal body, with intentional attention to the wide gifts of all the baptized. This does not mean that the role of the clergy is to be put aside. It does mean, however, that it will chan...

  The Continental Document: Synodal Life taking Shape, and the Role of Liturgy   It’s good to remember that we are in the second of three stages of a process. The document we are reflecting on (The Working Document for the Continental Stage) is a summary of hundreds of diocesan listening session reports. God bless those who have been going through all this material trying to catch all the emerging concerns and dreams…! The final section, “Next Steps” we will consider next month. This month we take a look at some final emerging concerns and the   question, “What has all this to do with how we pray?” (Sections 60-97)  Are you surprised? There are six whole sections (60-65) on the role of women for the future church. Yes, from all over the world came this huge concern. The call is for women to participate fully in the entire life of the Church, coming from all continents. There is concern that women in some cultures are not understood, and their charisms and contr...