St. Joseph of the Lakes

The synod of the Amazon bishops that took place in Rome has ended. According to several sources they covered many different issues, including the possibility of ordaining married men and ordaining women as deacons. These have been publicly discussed issues. How the Pope will respond to the recommendations that were passed on to him remains to be seen. His response will come in the form of an Apostolic Exhortation (this is a form of communication from the Pope that encourages a community to undertake a particular activity but it does not define Church doctrine) There are some commentators who are very fearful of the results that will be given by this “very ambiguous” Pope. There are others who expect that there is going to be a real movement started by what this Pope says. Some speak of the Church going into schism (dividing among itself).

I find myself thinking that the Church is a very big place.  There are extremely liberal believers and extremely conservative believers. In every case those individual believers think they have the “right” insight into the mind of God and the Church. It seems to me that these arguments have been around since the beginning of the Church. In different periods of time the Body of Christ has also been divided by the political and religious ambitions of different individuals. 

In the first reading today Wisdom reflects:

  For you love all things that are
  and loathe nothing that you have made;
  for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.
  And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it;
  or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?
  But you spare all things, because they are yours,
  O LORD and lover of souls,

The challenge is to think like God instead of thinking for ourselves. If God loves all He creates isn’t that also thechallenge in front of us, even with those with whom we disagree?