The method of discernment «seeing, judging, acting» was elaborated in the JOC (Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne, Christian Workers’ Youth) in Belgium and promoted by Cardinal Joseph Cardijn, in the 1920s. In the forties it was called «Revision of Life», and defined by Yves Congar the first spirituality «born of the laity, outside monasteries and ecclesiastical environments», a sign of hope for the reconstruction of a Christian humanity in the active participation of all.

John XXIII suggested his practice in the Mater et Magistra, and Paul VI came to define the Second Vatican Council as «the Review of the Life of the Whole Church».

The Latin American Church applied the Revision of Life as a method of discerning its path, in the episcopal conferences of Medellín (1968) and Puebla (1979), and shelved it in that of Santo Domingo (1992) for the ideological drift of many ecclesial and political groups and movements that had adopted it.

But the Holy Spirit blows where he wants and this method was prophetically completed in Santo Domingo. In the concluding document in paragraph 1.3.6 «Adolescents and Young People», conclusion 119 reads: «to promote the protagonism [of young people] through the methodology of seeing, judging, acting, verifying and celebrating».

The Conference of Aparecida (2007) recovered the method and valued it in the final document coordinated by Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio. As Pope he reproposed it to the whole Church for evangelical discernment (cf. Evangelii Gaudium 50-51) for «an outgoing Church». In the Laudato sii he used it, giving great importance to «celebrating».

«Seeing, judging and acting» could also be used by a multinational corporation, by a party. Christian discernment differs thanks to the prophetic moments, when the Holy Spirit intervenes. For this reason the celebration is very important: «The Church which “goes forth” is a community of missionary disciples who take the first step, who are involved and supportive, who bear fruit and rejoice. ... An evangelizing community is filled with joy; it knows how to rejoice always. ... The Church evangelizes and is herself evangelized through the beauty of the liturgy, which is both a celebration of the task of evangelization and the source of her renewed self-giving» (Evangelii Gaudium 24).

This time of great hardship in the pandemic for the celebration of the sacraments must be transformed into an opportunity to better discern the profound union between faith and life in direct contact with the Paschal Mystery on the part of the whole community.

The Second Vatican Council favors the «actuosa participatio», the active and fruitful participation of the people of God. In Sacrosantum concilium 7 it is made clear that Christ is always present «to his Church, especially in liturgical actions» (Christus Ecclesiae suae semper adest, praesertim in actionibus liturgicis): a Latin expression that highlights the reciprocity of relationship, compared to the English translation «present in his Church», which could simply mean that he is represented by someone. Instead he is present through an extraordinary relationship with his entire Church, defined as his beloved Bride (Christus Ecclesiam, sponsam suam dilectissimam, sibi semper consociat).

The time par excellence of the liturgical celebration is Easter, in which the community celebrates together the «great works of God» and thanks. The gifts received freely by the Lord make us rejoice and give us strength and light to make our lives a commitment for others, especially for the poor and the rejected (cf. Laudato sii 237). Synodality (σύν - with; and ὁδός - path, «walking together») is undoubtedly one of those «magnalia Dei», great works of God on Easter, which He has already given us but which is still waiting to be realized.

If we can celebrate together as people of God, we will become Synodal Church.

Synodality is not a human construction. We must make room for the Holy Spirit to dissolve the hardness of hearts. Otherwise, as happened to the method of Revision of Life, improperly used in an ideological way, to create an apparent synodality one could resort to sociological and political solutions. It is not a question of moving from monarchy to democracy, confusing the Church with the Vatican State.

It is a matter of putting Jesus Christ at the centre of community life and of living a new Pentecost. The paradigm remains the Second Vatican Council: once it began, at the moment of real sharing, precisely on the subject of the «liturgical celebration», it was no longer possible to harness the Holy Spirit and keep him under the control of a few, and so the novelty could enter the world.

In this Easter period, the Church rereads the book of the Acts of the Apostles, where the free action of the Holy Spirit is clearly perceived in evangelization and in creating and forming the communities of the nascent Church. This is the liturgical moment and the favorable time to strongly resume the synodal discourse. It will be much easier, more beautiful and joyful to carry out this ecclesial journey. Never as in this aspect can we discover the value of the ancient principle «lex orandi, lex credendi», adding also «lex vivendi».

A synod on «synodality» will be held in Rome in October 2022. Synodal prophecy by the Catholic Church as dew could quench the thirst of the whole Christian world, and teach us to truly live, in participation. An anthropological leap never fully realized until now, although clearly inspired by Jesus.

* Fr. Paolo Scarafoni and Filomena Rizzo teach theology together in Italy and Africa, in Addis Ababa. They are authors of books and articles of theology.

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