by Cardinal Stephen Chow, S.J.
We are once again in the Lenten Season when we are reminded to examine, reflect, and repent for a better alignment with God’s loving desire for us, both individually and as Church.
This alignment process can be understood as conversion; a conversion from a self-referential, ideological, and populist mentality to aligning our thinking with the Church (sentire cum Ecclesia). St. Ignatius of Loyola used this concept in his “Spiritual Exercises,” appreciated by many Christians across generations and denominations for advancing their spiritual lives. In its contemporary applications, the concept may entail at least three dimensions.
Intellectual heritage: This can be understood as a call to understand and appreciate the intellectual heritage of our Church. It is well understood that, for Catholics, both ‘reasoning’ and ‘affectivity’ in psychological and spiritual realms are crucial for faith development. Too much emphasis on one over the other risks weakening the integrity of the faith.
However, we do need to use our reasoning to explore the “deposit of faith.” Without this, relying solely on self-claimed revelations from God should be rather dangerous. Every now and then, we hear politicians making claims that God has sent them to do this or that. And, once in a while, I have people approaching me claiming that they were asked by God to engage in something rather unusual.
We are all ‘philosophers’ to varying degrees and in different styles. And we can use our intellectual capacity, which is a gift from God, to learn and understand what God wants us to know about our Catholic faith. This is for our personal growth as well as for our communion with the Church, and with other Christian denominations in varying degrees.
Sense of belonging: Contemporary scholarship emphasises that sentire implies «feeling» with the Church, which is both a ‘Mother’ and a ‘Community’ where conflict is approached with a loving desire for communion, expressed through her ‘unity in plurality/diversity.’ Unity is not uniformity, precisely because we value plurality and diversity. Through unity, differences are viewed through the lens of a valued commonality, with a keen sense of belonging to each other and to the whole, with respect and inclusiveness.
The latter does not mean we stop working on resolving differences; instead, it means allowing time and space for the parties involved to hold the tensions, while going deeper into discernment. There, mutual and empathic appreciation of the differences, or even conflicts, may lead to further enlightenment or solutions. What the latter requires from us is to engage in fasting from hurting each other through harsh words, slander, distorted facts, and rash judgment.
Synodality: Our late Pope Francis has connected the idea of “thinking with the Church” to the concept of synodality. The Catholic Church, as the People of God, also enjoys a long-standing hierarchy. This People includes all members – lay people, religious, and clerics. Hence, in a synodal Church, we all listen to one another, share the fruits of our prayers and what we have heard from others in the group, and discern together where the Holy Spirit may be leading us. We can have faith that the Holy Spirit is never self-contradictory and can always clarify or deepen the Church’s past understandings.
Yet the discernment in common, which is a decision-making process, may depend on the hierarchy for decision-taking, whenever decisions are mandated for the hierarchy, such as in the Canon Law. However, those in the hierarchy must respect the process and the fruit of the discernment in common. And on top of these, transparency, accountability, and evaluation are to be practiced by the entire People of God, not only by a certain sector, such as the clerics.
Once again, in this Season of Lent, the Spirit of communion and love that dwells within us is calling us to deepen our connection with one another through our thinking with the Church. This is, indeed, a conversion of greater love by leaving our comfort zones and encountering others for who we are, i.e., the People of God, not certain holier-than-thou camps.
+ Cardinal Stephen Chow, S.J.
