Daily Reflection, October 12, 2024

Reflection:

My reflection this week centres around my time in the Brisbane Archdiocese Synod. 

The plenary council was something that the Australian Catholic Church embarked on to see where the spirit wishes to take our Church for the future and one of the outcomes was that every diocese is to have a synod around this process. The Brisbane archdiocese is the 2nd in Australia to do this and it has been interesting to be a part of this process. The synod is relatively straightforward, writing teams put together aspiring action plans and the people gathered vote on whether we want the specific plan to go forward. Following that, the archbishop will make the decision on whether we go ahead with all the voted points. 

Something that has been a sticking point (as it was in the plenary council) has been that people won’t vote yes to something unless they are ABSOLUTELY sure OR agree with EVERYTHING contained within each point. This need for perfection in each individual’s own eyes has meant that things have probably moved slower than expected. 

This has been food for thought in my spiritual life. 

How often will I dismiss myself or the ideas of others because something doesn’t stick out as perfect? How many times will I fail to act because I am scared of making the wrong choice? On both counts, it is more than I care to admit. 

The gospel reading calls us to “Hear the word of God and obey it”. It is a very short passage and while simple, very hard to enact in our lives. How do I know what I am doing is even the correct thing?

Perhaps there is wisdom from my time in the synod. When we try to ensure our actions are perfect, we run the risk of taking no action at all. No action at all might very well be the best thing to do at times but I pray that God gives me the wisdom in my prayer to act rather than to be paralysed by pressures to be perfect.”

Thomas Warren.