In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus invites his contemporaries to look at the signs of the times (Matthew 16:3).

"Let us take the century as the Revolution gave birth to it : we are entering a new era !” These are the words of Louis-Marie Baudouin, priest and founder of the Ursulines of Jesus, around 1800, at the end of the French Revolution. This priest was aware that he had to adapt to a new era. The needs of the women and men of his generation were very different from those of the years before the Revolution. This man knew how to read the signs of his time, and invented a religious life outside the convents, committed to the people and families affected by the wars of Vendée. We can say today, following his example : "Let us take the 21st century, as it is shaped by our present world”

Today, our world is marked by global warming, and its consequences on already poor populations. There are people migrating to more socially and economically secure countries ; Indigenous people who are ignored by people who colonized their lands ; the pandemic seems to have no end. Globally, internal wars sustain the arms trade, and within and outside the Church we live the pain of sexual abuse… Pope Francis said in his traditional greetings to the Curia in 2019 : This « change of times » requires a « change of pastoral mindset. » He also warned against « rigidity » and « the temptation to fall back on the past » when we must engage in meaningful change.

With the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis is inviting all the women and men of the Church - and even those who are not part of it - to a great consultation about the Church. He knows that change is inevitable, but that it cannot be done without taking into account the whole people of God. He invites us to Listen, Encounter, Dialogue with each other, but also with others who are more on the margins of the Church, as Jesus knew how to do on the roads of Galilee. The institutional Church is not alone in receiving the Holy Spirit to move forward in the search for God’s desires for our time. Let us walk together with Jesus on this new road to Emmaus where he meets Cleopas and his wife Mary (Luke 28:18 and John 19:25)

The Pope has appointed a woman under-secretary, a Religious, with the right to vote ! We must realise what this appointment brings to the whole Church ; it is the first time a woman has been given the right to vote in Church governance for 2,000 years !!!

Let us hope that this Synod on Synodality will realise that we must take this time as it is birthed by the major issues of our time.