Gordon Rixon, S.J. is a member of the Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology and President of Regis College. He has been a member of the program staff at the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice, a Senior Resident at Massey College at the University of Toronto, a Scholar in Residence at the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota and a lecturer at the Jesuit College of Spirituality in Melbourne, Australia. He has served on the Board of Directors of Covenant House, Toronto, Université St. Paul, Ottawa, and the Lonergan Research Institute, Toronto.
In the recently concluded first session of the Synod, Pope Francis has (re)introduced the Church to spiritual conversation. As an iterative process of prayer, reflection, and structured exchange, this experientially based shared reflection is as ancient and contemporary as practicing faith communities. Such faith-informed dialogue invites profound transformation of individual and shared practice of the faith that brings to light and eclipses ideologies and political positioning. While the description of spiritual conversation sounds simple, and its practice is straightforward, the pursuit and fruits of spiritual conversation depart dramatically from the common polarizing civil discourse that characterizes public exchange today. To appreciate the quiet revolution that Francis is introducing, let’s consider spiritual conversation in its most basic form in small group settings and then highlight its significance for larger faith communities and the universal Church and their engagement of civil society.
In its basic small group form, spiritual conversation could be a three-moment process. The first moment could involve a short period of quiet, reflective prayer. During this time, a person notices their interior, spiritual responses to a prompt, such as recalling times of encouragement, joy, sadness, and discouragement in the past month. Participants could ask themselves: When have I felt drawn into a closer union with Christ, family, friends, and co-workers? When have I felt isolated from Christ and those with whom I live and work? Were there tepid moments when I was drifting away from a closer union? Moments associated with soft addictions such as extended periods of passive media consumption. Were there difficult periods when I was moving into closer union? Moments related to the cost of being in solidarity with those who suffer racism, homophobia, or other forms of social exclusion. What interior or exterior events triggered shifts in the direction of my spiritual movements? Perhaps easily overlooked events sparked the development of dispositions of gratitude and generosity or self-promotion and self-protection. Then, after taking a moment to consider, among the things I have noticed, what I might share with others that would respect others and build trust in the group.
The actual sharing is often relatively brief and structured by a spirit of deeply respectful listening without immediate discussion or challenge. After holding what others shared for a few moments of further reflection, a second round of sharing begins. Here, the invitation is to notice the spiritual movement in the present moment. Where do I see a movement to union with Christ in the sharing? How is the group being moved in the present moment? Cultivating this heightened awareness takes time, practice, and a willingness to make, notice, and learn from mistakes. The valuable fruit is the gathering of reflective data and the increased capacity to enter further and continuing conversations that nurture the intellectual flexibility, affective freedom, and thoughtful discernment required to walk with others in the service of a divine project beyond the definitive grasp of any isolated participant.
A Synodal Church in Mission, the Synthesis Report of the recent synod, clearly affirms that the Church does not have a mission but is a mission (section 8). This enigmatic phrase draws attention by contrast to the distance separating the story we tell about religion from the spiritual intimacy expressed in the events of our daily lives. As individuals and communities, we participate in the creative contention of Spirit and Word. The Spirit is the very life force, the breath we received as gift. The Word shapes breath in the events gathered into the Christian tradition, most centrally those conveyed in and by the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection. For us, a fuller resonance between spirit and word, interior movement and self-disclosure in conversation and action, cultivated in spiritual conversation, is a constant aspiration. Our lives are a pilgrimage—sometimes penitential as we acknowledge evident shortcomings, sometimes searching for a God still unknown, sometimes savoring the quiet intimacy of interior movements at the dusk of day. Only in the life of Christ do we see a perfect, harmonic resonance between the gift of Breath and its eloquent Expression in history.
In the synodal process, Pope Francis reminds us that we do not travel the path alone. The first phase has been a gathering of those who journey together, an admonishment not to leave companions to the side, and an invitation to listen carefully to the voicing of the Spirit in human experience. The second phase, coming in a year, will undoubtedly continue to draw our discerning attention to the immediacy and urgency of the Spirit calling us to serve a world in need of hope.
As part of the spiritual conversation that is part of the Synod, InsightOut will be sharing posts from various community voices, touching on key topics that have arisen during the synodal process .
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