A unique opportunity to get to know each other, to share and to rediscover the beauty of being a collective  witness to the Resurrection. This is what the Ecclesial Movements and the new communities  in the Holy Land were able to experience on the journey they began together at Pentecost a year ago. Communion, participation and mission: these are the three key words related to the Synodal Pathway that was launched in October 2021. At its inauguration, Pope Francis invited followers of the Universal Church to listen and be close to others; this created the context of the local phase of the Synod.  At the invitation of Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch  of Jerusalem,  the Ecclesial Movements and the new communities present in the Holy Land were able to meet, listen to each other and work in communion in preparing the 2022 Pentecost Vigil.  This was a special occasion when many people experienced the joy of feeling they were one body in the Church, enlivened and renewed by the Holy Spirit.  Within the sociopolitical and cultural context of the Holy Land, there was possibility of generating “unity,” learning from each other’s charism and putting one’s own at the service of all. Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa said, “I think that if we are to feel that we are one body, the first thing to do is to speak, to communicate but, above all, to listen. Listening does not mean only hearing, it means expecting to receive from the other person who becomes the subject –  I am not the subject,  the other person is.” Pentecost marks the time when the Church on  its pilgrimage to meet the Lord, constantly receives  the Spirit from him. The same Spirit  gathers it in faith and charity, sanctifies it  and sends it on mission. At Pentecost 2023 we share an account of this experience of communion.

Maria Grazia Berretta

Watch the video (activate English subtitles) https://youtu.be/I8aQgmAPBOg