Synodal Pathway: Spare change please.

Synodal Pathway: Spare change please.

There is a shabbily dressed man in our town,

in fact, there are many out there, women too,

in the centre, sitting on the cold wet streets, begging.

Hoping for the spirit of giving.

“Spare change?”

One desperate question addressed to the passing pilgrims,

some of whom scurry on by with a million things to do,

with problems of their own to stress about,

some pass by with no break in conversations on smart mobile phones,

some dig into tightly pressed pockets,

dropping coins downwards,

barely seeing them spiralling towards a crumb of comfort,

while others stop and talk,

placing hands on weary shoulders,

offering a word, an offer of hope;

smiles exchange,

while the cardboard box beneath, welcomes a little more spare change.

Poverty is alive, not concealed or confined to the unfortunate few,

Walking the streets of towns, of cities, of rural parks and empty building steps,

walking through the doors of ancient and modern churches, taking refuge on a pew.

It is nearly November and the cold blows down the corridors of the ornate,

howling through the sprawling grasslands and the built-up city buildings of concrete.

Today the Church sits solemnly,

triumphantly, with pontificate humility,

in synod sessions, discovering new ways of listening,

tip toeing towards not offending,

while leaning towards constantly apologising,

creating pathways of synodality,

where towering intellect and burgeoning ignorance meet.

As we encounter our common humanity

struggling to find food to feed,

or warmth to soothe,

or a place to live and call their own, are we still listening?

Do we hear the cries of the broken,

the bruised and battered, the baffled,

the addicted the confused? Are we still listening?

Are we discerning ways of helping,

offering a sheltering hand to the poor?

These don’t care much for the social media flames of the great and the good,

or the meandering arguments of the worthy,

the saintly, the holy, and even the forthright ordinary, anymore.

The synod mentality?

A clamour for change,

walking beside a quiet plea for spare change

from the feeble, the lost, the down on their luck,

that blessed collection of God’s image and likeness,

our fellow rag tag human family,

who Jesus says is really all our responsibility.

Fr Patrick Brennan 2021 ©

The poor, the straying, the wounded, are at the very heart of the encounter, the listening, and discerning process.