From inspiration to a working document for the spiritual discernment of the synodal path of the Church
Introduction
In our time, the Church is on the move. Throughout the world she is invited to adopt a synodal attitude: listening to the Holy Spirit, discerning in communion, and bearing shared responsibility for her mission in the world of today. This journey calls for more than organizational adjustments or methodological innovations. It touches the very heart of what it means to be Church and raises the fundamental question of the source from which we live and the goal toward which we are journeying.
This text is intended to serve as inspiration for a possible working document on the synodal path of the Church. It does not seek to offer a fully developed program or a fixed framework, but rather to encourage reflection, prayer, and spiritual discernment. Synodality is therefore not understood merely as a process or a structure, but as a spiritual path of conversion, receptivity, and self-giving.
At the center stands the Cross of Christ: not as an obstacle to renewal, but as the decisive spiritual criterion that gives direction to discernment and to the fruitfulness of ecclesial life. Under the sign of the Cross it becomes clear that true renewal does not arise from human self-construction, but from a life that entrusts itself to God.
In a context of secularization, ecclesial restructuring, and accelerating social change, this text seeks to recall that the vitality of the Church does not spring from activity or organization, but from her living communion with Christ. Where synodality becomes detached from prayer, adoration, and Eucharistic grounding, it risks losing its inner orientation. Where, by contrast, it is lived under the sign of the Cross, it can grow into a path of truth, hope, and love, ordered toward the Resurrection.
The proposed reflections, questions, and practical points are intended as aids to deepen synodal processes and to anchor them in silence, prayer, and shared openness to the working of the Holy Spirit. They seek to open space for listening, discerning, and growing, in trust that the Church on her journey is sustained by the One who gave his life and lives.
Editorial Framework
The synodal path of the Church raises questions worldwide that go beyond method, structure, or organization. While listening, participation, and shared discernment are central, there is a growing awareness that synodality can bear fruit only if it remains rooted in a deeper spiritual criterion.
This possible (global) working document seeks to make a fundamental contribution to that reflection by considering the Cross of Christ as the decisive touchstone for synodal processes. Against the background of secularization, ecclesial restructuring, and accelerating social change, the author explores how synodality can preserve its evangelical identity.
The Cross is not understood as an obstacle to renewal, but as a hermeneutical center that gives direction to discernment, ecclesial fruitfulness, and priestly and parish life. The study brings systematic-theological reflection into dialogue with liturgical and pastoral dimensions and invites a renewed appropriation of synodality as a spiritual path of conversion, receptivity, and self-giving.
Abstract (Summary)
This study explores the Cross as a fundamental spiritual criterion for the synodal path of the Church. Against the background of global synodal processes, which strongly emphasize listening, discernment, and shared responsibility, the article asks what inner compass truly renders these processes evangelical. Its central thesis is that synodality cannot be reduced to method or structure, but essentially requires a conversion of heart.
In dialogue with Scripture, the liturgical tradition, and ecclesial experience, it argues that the Cross is not an obstacle to ecclesial renewal, but its decisive touchstone. Only where synodal discernment is carried out under the sign of Christ’s Cross can the Church grow into a credible community of hope, truth, and love, oriented toward the Resurrection.
Keywords:
Synodality – Cross – Church – discernment – suffering – Eucharist – ecclesiology – conversion
1. Synodality and the Question of the Criterion
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Church finds herself in an intense process of synodal reorientation. Throughout the world, forms of being Church are being sought in which listening, shared discernment, and shared responsibility take center stage. This process is carried by the desire to be Church with people, among people, and in service of the world of today.
At the same time, this synodal path raises fundamental questions. What is the inner criterion that gives direction to this shared journey? By what measure can we test whether synodal processes truly remain evangelical, rather than devolving into purely organizational or sociological trajectories?
In a context of accelerating social change, diminishing self-evidence of faith, and growing sensitivity to vulnerability and suffering, it is insufficient to approach synodality merely as a method or structure. It touches the very core of being Church and presupposes a profound spiritual attitude. Synodality calls for conversion of heart. It is precisely here that the Cross presents itself as the decisive spiritual touchstone.¹
2. The Cross as the Hermeneutical Center of the Christian Faith
The Cross is not a marginal phenomenon of the Christian faith, nor a burden from the past that can be set aside. It is the sign in which the path of Christ himself becomes visible: a path of self-giving, fidelity, and love that does not evade the suffering of the world. In this sense, the Cross functions as the hermeneutical center of the Christian faith.
The liturgical confession, “We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world,” succinctly expresses that redemption does not take place apart from suffering, but precisely in the radical self-gift of Christ.² The Cross thus reveals a paradoxical logic: life springs forth where love gives itself away.
For the Church this means that her identity is not primarily determined by visible strength, social influence, or success, but by fidelity in vulnerability. Where the Church loses this cruciform identity, she risks losing her evangelical sharpness and making herself the measure of all things.
3. Synodality, Secularization, and the Question of the Source
In the contemporary ecclesial context, a subtle yet real danger emerges: that speaking about the Church—her plans, processes, and future scenarios—pushes living from God himself into the background. Not necessarily through conscious rejection, but because God increasingly becomes the object of analysis and organization, while being less explicitly adored and lived.
Where faith is primarily understood as vision, morality, or engagement, its inner dimension is impoverished. Activity, consultation, and policy-making then easily take the place of prayer, silence, and adoration. In this way the core of Christian existence shifts: no longer living from God, but acting about God and around God.
Synodal processes are valuable in themselves, but their fruitfulness is ultimately determined by the source from which they live. When synodality moves mainly at the level of communication, consensus-building, and structure, it risks becoming detached from its origin. The conversation may be intense and well-intentioned, yet inwardly unmoored: rich in words and poor in adoration.
4. Church History and Discipleship: Fruitfulness through the Cross
A glance at Church history confirms this paradox. The enduring unity of the Church amid division, her universal reach, and her continual fruitfulness in holiness and mercy point to a life-force that transcends any merely human origin.
Closer examination shows that this vitality has not arisen from power or triumph, but from a continual participation in the way of the Cross. Persecution, marginalization, and internal crises have not destroyed the Church, but have again and again purified and renewed her. In this sense, Church history can be understood as a paschal, not triumphalistic, procession of the Cross.
To be Christian means to follow Christ. This discipleship includes sharing in his path of self-giving. “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Mt 10:38).³ Christian faith does not glorify suffering, but acknowledges that where suffering is unavoidable, it can, under the sign of the Cross, become a place of truth and possible fruitfulness. The image of the grain of wheat that dies in order to bear fruit (Jn 12:24) expresses this dynamic in an exemplary way.
5. Priestly and Parish Life as a Testing Ground for Synodality
This dynamic becomes particularly evident in priestly and parish life. The crisis of the priesthood is often described in organizational or sociological terms, but its deepest challenge is spiritual: the question of whether the priest lives from God, or gradually functions primarily for the Church.
In a context of restructuring, the risk is real that words, plans, and consultations take the place of silence, prayer, and inner receptivity. The crisis then is not primarily that too little is being done, but that too little is being received.
The same tension becomes visible in parish life. A parish can be well organized and yet remain inwardly poor. The first task, therefore, is not to save structures, but to open a space in which God can dwell anew.
6. Eucharist and Ecclesial Fruitfulness
At the center of all this stands the liturgy, and in particular the Eucharist. The Eucharist is not a religious service, but the sacramental presence of Christ’s self-gift. In it, the Cross is not merely remembered, but made present as the source and measure of ecclesial life.⁴
From this Eucharistic perspective it becomes clear that the Cross is not a sign of failure, but of direction. Where Christ is received in silence and reverence, synodality gains depth: listening becomes receptivity, and discernment becomes shared openness to a truth that no one possesses, but which is given.
7. Conclusion: Synodality under the Sign of the Cross
This study has argued that the Cross functions as the decisive spiritual touchstone for the synodal path of the Church. Synodality can be truly evangelical only when it is carried out in a cruciform attitude of conversion, receptivity, and self-giving.
The future of the Church does not lie beyond the Cross, but in its depth. Only there can she grow into a credible community of hope, because she knows that the final word does not belong to suffering or rupture, but to the Resurrection. Thus the Church remains on her journey as a pilgrim people, sustained not by her own strength, but by the One who gave his life and lives.
Footnotes
- Cf. Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, no. 8.
- Roman Missal, Veneration of the Cross on Good Friday.
- Biblical quotations according to the Willibrord Translation.
- Cf. Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 47.
Reflection Questions and Practical Points
I. For Priests
Short reflection questions
- Where do I live and act primarily for the Church, and where truly from God?
- How does the Cross shape my way of leadership: correcting, liberating, or primarily burdensome?
- Is my speech more oriented toward explaining and solving, or toward opening space in which God can speak?
- Where does my priestly life call for slowing down and renewed grounding?
- How visible is the Eucharist as the source of my daily action?
Practical points
- Set aside daily, explicit time for silent adoration, apart from pastoral efficiency.
- Let important pastoral decisions be preceded by prayer and inner discernment.
- Practice spiritual leadership that does not seek to control everything, but allows space for growth and maturation.
- Consciously unite personal vulnerability with the Cross, rather than compensating for it with activity.
- Safeguard the Eucharist as the center of the priesthood, not as a functional item on the agenda.
II. For Parishes
Short reflection questions
- Where in our parish is there space for adoration, silence, and receptivity?
- Is our parish dynamic oriented more toward organization or toward spiritual deepening?
- How do we experience the Eucharist: as a source of communion or as a self-evident ritual?
- Where do we speak much about God, but live little with God?
- What in our parish calls for letting go rather than preserving?
Practical points
- Anchor parish meetings in prayer and the reading of Scripture.
- Create regular moments of adoration or silent prayer in parish life.
- Allow liturgical celebrations space for silence and reverence; avoid haste and over-programming.
- Evaluate new initiatives not only for feasibility, but also for spiritual depth.
- Foster a culture in which deepening of faith is more important than visible activity.
III. For Synodal Teams
Short reflection questions
- Who truly speaks in our synodal conversation: ourselves, or also the Spirit?
- Where do we confuse consensus with discernment?
- Is our process sufficiently rooted in prayer and conversion?
- Where does the Cross call for emptying and letting go in our deliberations?
- What are we receiving, rather than organizing?
Practical points
- Begin and end synodal meetings with silence and common prayer.
- Provide explicit moments of reflective silence during deliberations.
- Formulate a spiritual test question rooted in the Cross for important decisions.
- Resist pressure for quick results; allow space for maturation and reconsideration.
- Regularly connect synodal processes with Eucharistic celebration or adoration.
Concluding Prayer – Under the Sign of the Cross
Lord Jesus Christ,
you did not redeem your Church through power or success,
but through the way of the Cross.
Teach us to listen to your voice,
not only in words and processes,
but in silence, conversion, and receptivity.
Make us a Church that does not seek itself,
but lives from your love
and remains on the journey in trust in you. Amen.
Fr. Jack Geudens
Smakt, 19 January 2026
Heer, Jezus Christus 