Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The Holy Spirit has inspired the Universal Church to rediscover the gift of Synodality. It is the blessing of walking together, listening to one another, and assembling again around the table of the Eucharist following the coronavirus pandemic. Our conversations and Synodal listening sessions have allowed us to reach a major milestone, yet we are far from concluding this process. I want to encourage all to keep the momentum alive and continue the Synodal conversation in your movements, groups, parishes, and institutions this time on the topic of primary importance for our identity as Catholics: The Real Presence of Jesus Christ especially as we encounter him in the Sunday Mass celebration.
Impelled by missionary zeal, we must take this conversation to every level of our Assembly as:
“Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that full, conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy”.*
The centrality of the Sunday Mass celebration and the certitude that Jesus IS the Eucharist must be the core of our mission. The words of Jesus are clear and unambiguous: “This is my body” and “This is my blood”. Bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. They become the actual presence of Jesus. It is the risen Lord: Source and Summit of our faith. We each have stories to tell. Our Synodal process continues uninterrupted. These Synodal conversations are paving the way to discern together the future of our Archdiocesan Church.
I commend the efforts of every participant who engaged in Synodal conversations thus far. I invite you to become an ambassador of this model of “being Church” that we embrace. I also invite you to encourage those who have remained silent to come forward and participate. The contribution of each is essential. Resources posted on this website are offered to assist the dialogue to continue. Please email us to share your opinions, ideas, or concerns. As the process continues to unfold you remain in my prayers, and please keep me in yours!
Sincerely yours in Jesus,
Most Reverend Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS
Archbishop of San Antonio
*Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, No. 14—Pope Paul VI, December 4, 1963
For this presence to be properly proclaimed and lived, it is not enough that the disciples of Christ pray individually and commemorate the death and Resurrection of Christ inwardly, in the secrecy of their hearts. Those who have received the grace of baptism are not saved as individuals alone, but as members of the Mystical Body, having become part of the People of God. It is important therefore that they come together to express fully the very identity of the Church, the ekklesia, the assembly called together by the Risen Lord who offered his life “to reunite the scattered children of God” (Jn 11:52). They have become “one” in Christ (cf. Gal 3:28) through the gift of the Spirit.
St. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Dies Domini, No. 31
May 31, 1998
Juan Carlos Rodriguez
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