Archbishop Hebda: Like St. Philip Neri, let Holy Spirit enflame the heart during Synod Assembly

Archbishop Bernard Hebda said he wondered, ahead of the Synod Assembly, who would attend as parish delegates.

He said realized that some of the participants may have felt like their pastor — or even the archbishop — had twisted their arms to get them to attend, but in reality, it was the Holy Spirit’s invitation.

And he expects the Holy Spirit to move powerfully through the Synod Assembly, which is drawing Catholics from across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to help shape the future of the local Church.

He spoke to those delegates gathered in the field house of Cretin-Derham Hall high school June 3 during eucharistic adoration. Just prior to adoration, he presided at 7 p.m. Mass at the adjacent Holy Spirit Church. Mass transitioned into a eucharistic procession from the church to the field house, where Synod Assembly delegates will spend the majority of the three-day event. Together, the 500 delegates walked slowly behind the Eucharist in a monstrance, covered by a canopy, while singing hymns.

“I’m moved to see how much the Holy Spirit loves our Church — that he would place that kind of generosity in your hearts to say, ‘Yes,’” he said. “We’re blessed to have you here this evening, and indeed, throughout this weekend.”

It was “no accident” that the Synod Assembly began with Mass and a eucharistic procession, Archbishop Hebda said. “All of the work that we will be doing this weekend is to build up the unity of this local Church. For us as Catholic Christians, the Eucharist is a sign that we are all united in Jesus in the Eucharist. … The Holy Spirit makes us one.”

The Church has faced challenges and controversies “from the very beginning,” Archbishop Hebda said. “Our job is to try to overcome those obstacles to unity, to be so open to the Holy Spirit that we’re able to be his instruments to bring about unity in the Church.”

The Church describes a synod as being a help for a bishop, Archbishop Hebda said. “I must need an awful lot of help, with all of you here,” he quipped.

“But I do,” he continued, turning serious. “We’ve been trying throughout these years of preparation to involve all of you, to hear those voices that need to be heard, as we strive to model in our archdiocese the unity that Christ desires.”

During the Assembly, participants will pray, discuss, and listen to talks about three focus areas before voting on which propositions, or action items, they believe will best achieve the focus area’s goal. The focus areas are: 1. Forming parishes that are in the service of evangelization, 2. Forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’ love and respond to his call, and 3. Forming youth and young adults in and for a Church that is always young.

The 40 prepositions have been developed and refined through a process that began with a six-part Parish Consultation with Small Group series in the fall at most parishes in the archdiocese, which was followed by a daylong Parish Leadership Team Consultation, held in February and March.

Speaking during adoration, Archbishop Hebda said that during Mass, he was heartened to find an unexpected image facing him in the presider’s chair: A vivid stained-glass window of St. Philip Neri, his favorite saint, who also has an important tie to Pentecost. The Church celebrates Pentecost on Sunday June 5, and the liturgical feast is the reason the Synod Assembly was scheduled for June 3-5.

St. Philip experienced the Holy Spirit as a fireball that lodged in his heart. Penitents who had him as a confessor reported feeling warmth radiating from his chest. After he died, medical examiners observed that his rib cage had expanded.

“My brothers and sisters, I hope and pray that we might have that kind of experience this weekend, that we might feel the Holy Spirit lodge within us, that he might expand us in ways far beyond our imagination. And that we might be able to … allow the Holy Spirit to generate heat and light and energy in our lives, so that our Church can be rekindled as that vessel of the Holy Spirit that is a beacon for our brothers and sisters who are searching for Jesus, even those who don’t understand the search.”

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