The Holy Spirit in

the Life of the

Synodal Church
Rev. Fr. Paul J. Marquez, SSP
WHO IS THE HOLY
SPIRIT?
Who is the Holy Spirit?
• Paul “…[came] down to Ephesus where he
found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you
receive the holy Spirit when you became
believers?” They answered him, “We have
never even heard that there is a holy Spirit.”
(Acts 19:1-2)
Who is the Holy Spirit?
• After his resurrection and just before his ascension,
Christ told his disciples not to go out and preach his
gospel but to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit,
because only then would they have the power for
this world-changing work (see Acts 1:4-5, 8). They
couldn’t do divine deeds with only human power.
(Neither can we.)
Who is the Holy Spirit?
• The Kingdom of God could not be built with the tools
of men. The Church (visible and invisible) is the
Kingdom of God, and God gave her the “three power
tools”:
• Creed, Code, and Cult;
• Words, Worship, and Works;
• Truth, Way, and Life.
• And it is the Holy Spirit who is the energy behind
these power tools.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
• The Holy Spirit is not something vague and ethereal
and abstract, like “the spirit of the times” or “the
spirit of democracy” or “school spirit.” He is a
Person. He is Almighty God!
Who is the Holy Spirit?
• The Eastern churches use the Greek word theosis
(“divinization”) for the Spirit’s essential work in us:
“that you may… become partakers of the divine
nature” (2 Pt 1:4). He enables us to share in the very
life of God himself – not just the ideals or principles
of that life, not just God’s “lifestyle”.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
• This transformation, from merely human life to
participating in divine life, is as great a
transformation as the ones in the fairy tales from a
frog to a prince, or from a wooden puppet to a boy.
• This transformation – this sharing in the life of God –
is what we call “sanctifying grace” or “the state of
grace”. This is when we truly become a “temple of
the Holy Spirit” (cf. 1 Cor 6:19-20).
Who is the Holy Spirit?
• The word for “spirit” in both Hebrew (ruach) and
Greek (pneuma) also means “breath.” The Spirit is
God’s “breath.”
• When we breathe, the air actually enters into our
lungs and becomes one with us. When the Spirit
comes, he enters into us and becomes one with us…
He is that intimate! – and intimacy always involves
LOVE.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
• What the world noticed above all was a new kind of
love. The New Testament calls it agape. Greek before
the New Testament rarely used the word agape, for
it meant then only ‘some kind of love,’ not any
specific kind. It now got a new, specific meaning: the
love Christ showed and lived, to the Cross – and
poured out on the world through his Spirit. This was
the kind of love that often led to martyrdom.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
• The image Scripture uses for this love that “turned
the world upside down” is fire. The early Christians
were on fire with love: the fire Jesus said he came to
earth to kindle: “I am come to cast fire upon the
earth, and would that it were already kindled!” (Lk
12:49).
• It is the Holy Spirit who kindles this fire: “Come Holy
Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and enkindle in
them the fire of your love!”
Who is the Holy Spirit?
• Everyone wants “true love.” “True love” is agape, the
honest, self-forgetful love of the other for the sake of
the other.
• Where does this love come from? The answer is the
Holy Spirit: “God’s love has been poured into our
hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to
us” (Rom 5:5).
• Love is the first fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). To get the
fruit, you need the plant.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
• The fire of the Holy Spirit’s love produces light – the
gift of wisdom and understanding.
• The mind of God can be understood only through the
heart of God. (The Son of God, the “Word of God,” is
understood through the Spirit of God, who is the
love of God.) Thus Jesus says that the way to
understand his teaching is to will (love) his Father’s
will (Jn 7:17). The heart leads the head here.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
• How does one get the Holy Spirit?
• We can’t “get” him; we can only let him “get” us. He is
God. Only God can give him. He comes from the Father
through the Son.
• There is nothing we can do to “get” him; we must simply
ask, in faith, like a child trusting his father’s love. The
same is true of the Spirit’s gifts: we get them simply by
asking and believing: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him
ask God… and it will be given him. But let him ask in
faith” (Jas 1:5-6).
Who is the Holy Spirit?
• How does one get the Holy Spirit?
• The Spirit’s work is to sanctify, to make saints, and saints
are not safe! Rabbi Abraham Heschel says: “God is not
nice. God is not an uncle. God is an earthquake.”
• Sainthood is the culmination of God’s work in us. And
this end – sanctification, saintmaking – is especially the
work of the Holy Spirit.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
• The essence of sanctity is intimacy with God, “knowing”
God. This is also the essence of eternal life (Jn 17:3), what
we will be doing in Heaven forever.
• Intimacy is the ultimate aim of love. What love seeks is
always union with the loved object or person, whether it is
ice cream, sports, music, friendship, romance, marriage, or
God. And intimacy with us is the ultimate aim of God’s love
throughout history and throughout our lives.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
• The Holy Spirit is the culmination of God’s loving plan for
us:
• God is love. Love seeks intimacy. Therefore God seeks
intimacy with us. He does this in 3 stages:
• Throughout Old Testament history, the Father enters into the
daily life of his children.
• In the Gospels, the Son becomes man and dwells with us.
• After Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is sent and dwells within us.
This is the ultimate goal of love: to get into the beloved’s
heart.
WHAT IS
THE SYNODAL
CHURCH?
What is the Synodal Church?
• “Synod” is an ancient and venerable word in the Tradition
of the Church, whose meaning draws on the deepest
themes of Revelation.
• Composed of a preposition συν (with) and the noun όδός
(path), it indicates the path along which the People of God
walk together. Equally, it refers to the Lord Jesus, who
presents Himself as “the way, the truth and the life”
(Jn 14,6), and to the fact that Christians, His followers, were
originally called “followers of the Way” (cf. Acts 9,2;
19,9.23; 22,4; 24,14.22).
What is the Synodal Church?
• Since the first centuries, the word “synod”
has been applied, with a specific meaning,
to the ecclesial assemblies convoked on
various levels (diocesan, provincial,
regional, patriarchal or universal) to
discern, by the light of the Word of God and
listening to the Holy Spirit, the doctrinal,
liturgical, canonical and pastoral questions
that arise as time goes by.
What is the Synodal Church?
• It refers to the involvement and participation
of the whole People of God in the life and
mission of the Church. (International Theological
Commission, Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church, 7)
• It is a way of living the faith in a permanent manner at
every level in the life of the Church and is rooted in the
Paschal Mystery beginning with baptism, through which
individuals share in the communion of the Trinity. (Fr.
Earl K. Fernandez, Synodality: Walking with Christ, the Holy Spirit, and
the Virgin Mary, The Catholic Telegraph, October 21, 2021)
What is the Synodal Church?
• Baptism as Communion and Participation:
• Baptism involves the human response to the call to live
in union with Christ through the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 1:9).
This communion purifies the person from sin, making
him or her a new creation, an adopted child of God and
member of the Church, opening the door to the other
sacraments, including the Eucharist. (Fr. Earl K. Fernandez,
Synodality: Walking with Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Virgin Mary, The
Catholic Telegraph, October 21, 2021)
What is the Synodal Church?
• The Holy Eucharist as Communion:
• It is the Church which makes the Eucharist, just as the
Eucharist makes the Church. In virtue of the Eucharist,
the People of God as the Body of Christ journey together
with diverse members (1 Cor. 10:17) under the headship
of Christ. Christ, the Good Shepherd, leads the flock on
its journey. (Fr. Earl K. Fernandez, Synodality: Walking with Christ, the
Holy Spirit, and the Virgin Mary, The Catholic Telegraph, October 21, 2021)
What is the Synodal Church?
• The Holy Eucharist as Communion and Participation:
• In the reception of Holy Communion, communion with
God is deepened vertically and horizontally. God’s own
agape is received bodily, so that His saving work may
continue in and through the Church.
• Conscious of the gift, the Church goes forth to draw all of
humanity together in unity. A parish must remain
intimately connected to Christ in the Eucharist,
prioritizing Sunday Mass and access to the Eucharist.
(Fr. Earl K. Fernandez, Synodality: Walking with Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the
Virgin Mary, The Catholic Telegraph, October 21, 2021)
What is the Synodal Church?
• A synodal Church is a Church which listens, which
realizes that listening ‘is more than just hearing.’ It is
a mutual listening in which everyone has something
to learn. The faithful people, the college of bishops,
the Bishop of Rome: all listening to each other, and
all listening to the Holy Spirit.” (Pope Francis, Address at
the ceremony commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Institution
of the Synod of Bishops, October 17, 2015)
What is the Synodal Church?
• How does one listen to the Holy Spirit and to each
other?
• Discernment is the key. We learn to love by loving. We
learn to listen to God’s Spirit by prayer.
• Listening [and responding] to God’s Spirit in prayer must
lead to listening [and responding] to one another; put
simply, dialogue.
• Authentic dialogue, springing from prayer, is always
grounded on Truth because Jesus is way, truth, and life.
What is the Synodal Church?
• How is discernment carried out? (International
Theological Commission, Synodality in the Life and Mission of the
Church, 114)
• in a space of prayer, meditation, reflection and study,
which we need to hear the voice of the Spirit;
• by means of sincere, serene and objective dialogue with
our brothers and sisters;
• by paying attention to the real experiences and
challenges of every community and every situation;
What is the Synodal Church?
• How is discernment carried out? (International
Theological Commission, Synodality in the Life and Mission of the
Church, 114)
• in the exchange of gifts and in the convergence of all
energies in view of building up the Body of Christ and
proclaiming the Gospel;
• in the melting-pot of feelings and thoughts that enable
us to understand the Lord’s will;
• by searching to be set free by the Gospel from any
obstacle that might weaken our openness to the Spirit.
What is the role of the Holy Spirit vis-
à-vis the Synodal Church?
• The Holy Spirit introduces order (1 Cor. 12:1-20) amid the
diversity of members and charisms in the Body of Christ so
that members work together for the good of the whole
Church (1 Cor. 12:14-31). Each member is given some
manifestation of the Spirit in view of the good of the body.
The gifts of the Spirit are gathered in the Church, where
members serve and listen to one another reciprocally. The
Church understands herself as a collective “we” in prayer,
liturgy and discernment. (Fr. Earl K. Fernandez, Synodality:
Walking with Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Virgin Mary, The Catholic
Telegraph, October 21, 2021)
All in all:
• The Holy Spirit is God’s love poured into our hearts so
that while we live and serve one another here on
earth, we may realize God’s dream for us: our
sanctification.
• As we grow in holiness, we help others grow in
holiness as well through the Spirit who dwells in all of
us in a spirit of humility, gentleness, and love.
• The more we love, the more we are intimate; our
growth as a synodal Church lies in our capacity to love.