I have vivid memories of my first road trip to the Cumana Retreat House of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, Cumana, Trinidad and Tobago. I was generously gifted with clear instructions to locate it. “Pay keen attention to the concrete milestones along the roadway. The most important one is milestone number 33.5”. Driving along the winding, mountainous and coastal roadway at night, my journey was slow and deliberate, eyeing the various inconspicuous and poorly maintained milestone posts along the route.
Finding the location was possible because the engineers who designed and built the road used milestone posts as the principal guide for travellers.
In like manner is the synodal journey.
Synod is a journey
- Not a lonesome journey,
- communal journey:
“We are companions on a journey.”
Synod is a journey
- not individuals making singular decisions,
- communal listening, discerning, and deciding.
“We are companions on a journey.”
Synod is a journey
- a route,
- a stony, rugged, winding, dirty, muddy, ascending, and descending route.
Synod is a journey.
The engineer of God’s Spirit goes before us
To prepare the route,
A route with milestones.
Synod is a journey,
A journey inviting openness,
Listening to the Spirit,
Listening to the community for instructions:
“Pay attention to the milestones.”
Synod is a journey. Littered with . . .
. . . ideological distractions,
. . . emotional distractions,
. . . religious distractions,
. . . socio-economic distractions.
Synod is a journey.
Now is the time to listen, dialogue, and discern,
Paying close attention to milestones – the signs of the times,
Equipping community with Scripture and Tradition.
“He has risen from the dead and now he is going before you to Galilee; it is there you will see him” (Matthew 28:7).
Beloved Reflections 
Very well said. Thanks for helping me to understand Synodal journey.
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The people who are there to discern often do not listen and are also greatly affected by the list of distractions.
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