26/11/2019 -

Anne McCabe was present at UISG last week for an address by Sister Nonata Bezerra, SND observer at the Synod on the Amazon. Anne writes:

Sister Nonata shared something of the spirit and movement of the Synod.

The event was surrounded by prayer – back in the Amazon REPAM (Red Ecclesial Pan Amazonia) prepared and facilitated 40 days of prayer on the Amazon River, navigating through the word of God and inviting others on to the boat to travel into the waters of the synod at this Kairos time.  Meanwhile, in Detroit, our Sisters, led by Eveleen, were insisting we pray the prayer we sent out for the Synod and that we work our way through the preparatory document!

Back in Rome, Pope Francis, in his opening words, reminded all the participants: ‘The Holy Spirit is here. Please keep the Spirit here!  Allow yourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit during these days of the Synod. Allow yourselves to be enveloped by the cloak of the Mother of God, Queen of Amazonia.’ After each set of four inputs or speeches, there was a four-minute silence for personal prayer and, at the conclusion of each day, another period of prayer and the Pope’s blessing.

Nonata gave an explanation for the Synod logo:

A leaf, the green of the forest, an indigenous basket, the cross, a river and the Holy Spirit.
One half recalls the biodiversity of the Amazon and its wealth of natural resources,
while the other half reproduces the texture of typical native baskets
and the colours of all the flags of the countries of South America.
No one colour prevails over the others.
The unity of the region is also represented by means of a river,
a symbol of the journey
and the theme of the Synod, which Pope Francis indicated
“Amazonia: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology”.
The river arrives at the cross.

Nonata also told a beautiful story about one of the indigenous people. When she was commiserating with him about the native statue being thrown into the Tiber, he said "If it was burnt or thrown in with the rubbish, that would be terrible. But for us the river is our life source!

A key word and concept coming from the synod is CONVERSION – and this needs to take place at various levels  - beginning at the synod where the task was to listen attentively, to have a pastoral heart, to contemplate, try to understand, speak your truth , be of service…. And not to lose your sense of humour!

We await the final document in English, although you can get make-do copies in various places they are not the best translation of what was agreed to!

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