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[Praying to Holy Spirit]
Everyone's eyes are turned towards me.
In my homily, I'd like to focus on four subjects.
One is the synod.
Then, there will be two sentences regarding two things from the Gospel.
And finally, I want to pray and bless.
So firstly, about the synod.
When we use various terms, it's good to think of what their meaning is first.
The word "synod" is of Greek origin.
It comes from words "syn-" and "hodos".
"Syn-" means "together", and "hodos" means "a going, a way", thus "together on the way".
This is the best translation of what a synod is, "together on the way".
For a long time, we've been together on the road with our brothers in Poland, both live and via Internet.
What strikes me is that despite the distance we get to know and learn from one another.
We learn one another's weaknesses as well as virtues and self-reliance.
We discover and think of our faith independently but also live it and celebrate it together.
Actually, all of us being the Church should be like a synod.
This is a reference to the Church of the first Apostles, which was a Church on the way, a synod.
So this was my first thought which I wanted to share regarding the synod.
The following sentences make us confront ourselves, as Jesus says: "Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven".
Therefore I ask myself what it means to "do the will of My Father".
The question we have to put to ourselves is: Who does know the will of Father?
This is a dangerous question, because many people would say they know the will of Father. So we have to confront and verify it.
To be able to say we know the will of Father, there is no other way to do it than through observing Christ.
Yesterday evening, I experienced grace.
I got to know the answer to the question of what the will of Father is.
It was when Tomasz came and gave me this icon.
I took a look at the icon. You can later come and look closer at the icon too.
It pictures the will of Father and how Father wants us to be a community.
The icon shows life where everyone depends on one another.
It signifies our vocation for being a community, being a Church.
The icon points out we ought to carry one another.
A Christian community should be like that where everyone carries one another.
Saint Benedict wrote a section about this in his Rule.
One of rules states that brothers should carry spiritual and physical weights of one another.
It is surely an extraordinary challenge to us
the challenge is to carry those weights with the utmost patience.
The first disciples were recognised by the love they had for one another.
And so the essence of building the community is to love and edify one another.