The dioceses of Huesca and Jaca experienced a day of unity and work this Saturday, January 17, in light of the presence of Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín, undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, invited by our bishop, Father Pedro Aguado Cuesta. Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín outlined the fundamental aspects of implementing the Synod in the dioceses, the current phase of the synodal process that will culminate in the ecclesial assembly in October 2028 in Rome.
More than a hundred priests, religious, and lay people attended the auditorium of the Santa Rosa de Huesca School, with the presence of the working synodal teams of both dioceses. The day began with a prayer and the bishop’s reflection on the reading of the Gospel of Sunday, January 11th, which leads to considering that Christ is the center of the synodal path we are carrying out. We are children of God and the Holy Spirit be present, he added.
Msgr. Luis Marín de San Martín began his intervention with the idea that synodality happily expresses the way the Holy Spirit molds the Church, because God is never solitude; he is Trinity. **”A Christian can never live his faith in solitude, the Church is the body of Christ,”** he emphasized. Hence the importance of communion among Christians, “no one is saved alone, they are saved in Christ and in the Church.”
Communion leads us to responsibility and “to continue the vocation to which we have been called as baptized: priests, religious, or laypeople.” It is a shared and active responsibility, “not to contemplate ourselves, but to evangelize. My mission is where Christ has not yet reached the risen Christ. We must not wait passively but be active in my family, in my school, in my diocese.”
The Synod of Bishops is in the implementation phase in the dioceses. During this time, Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín has found the most important aspects to be “a living Church,” with great vitality. “I have found, as Pope Francis said, the saints next door.” Also, “much love, people who love the Church.” It is necessary to begin, before faith, with “love” in evangelization.
He also referred to the importance that has been gained by the dimension of listening, of discernment among ourselves and listening to the Holy Spirit: “The Lord speaks in the gathered community“. To the “greater” participation is added the assumption of responsibilities proper to the lay faithful. He advocates for the importance of the Christian community, of “together; if not, there is no Church”. He advocates for “the integration of differences, as in a family”.
“The urgency of evangelization” is being discovered, because “we cannot limit ourselves to complaining. We are the answer, we are the presence of Christ in the world.”
Difficulties begin with “a deficient understanding of what constitutes synodality: **”It is being consistent with our Christian life, not clericalizing the layperson.** It is living the true Church of Christ, far from ideologies foreign to the Gospel and from group interests.” Fear and complacency are also enemies of synodality.
He added that we are “in need of conversion,” that “the Spirit reaches hearts. The Church is alive, it takes us out of our communities and puts us on the way. It is about being alive and being Christians.” All of this, to open us to the experience of God revealed in Christ. This reality opens us to a path of synodality and we must all become involved in the process oriented towards spiritual renewal, a coherent and dynamic Church, open to structural reform. “Strengthening participation and promoting the mission from communion” is the mission of synodality.
Sometimes we have a Christ “too normative, trapped in definitions, and is a living person with whom I can and must relate. I must not know Him only through books and what they have told me about Him,” he confirmed.
“There are no universal recipes”
Next, he described the process of implementing the synodal process in the dioceses, for which “there are no universal recipes,” nor in the Final Document that Pope Francis approved. “There are different realities and they must be concretized, in this case, in Huesca and Jaca.” They are “principles, open doors. Read it together, calmly, thinking, listening and praying together to draw conclusions.”
Regarding communion, it is about “unity in love and charity. We must develop the dimension of mercy”; of the “reality of Christian community.” The Eucharist should be “the center and axis of Christian life,” avoiding falling into routine and recovering the sense of Christian community. It is a “manifold” unity: first is communion and the Trinitarian love that unites us, where we discover plurality. The model is the Trinity, a “mystery that resolves into love. People who love each other are more united. And love integrates differences.”
Msgr. Luis Marín de San Martín explained that “first is unity, but a plural Church must be assumed” in the ways of embracing liturgy or developing ecclesial structures and the challenges of different contexts.
Participation is “to revitalize the baptismal reality of each of us.” With an important presence of the laity in a process of active listening that helps the priest in his ministry. Transparency, accountability, and evaluation are other fundamental aspects of synodality. There should be a pastoral council in all parishes, as well as a “diocesan synod” that is “an instrument of participation and renewal.” He also encouraged the annual publication of reports in a “dynamic” diocese.
The last aspect is participating in Christ’s mission. “We are the Gospel that many people will find as the only opportunity to read,” he stated. This leads us to go out, “to go to the margins. You have to go out, go to them: you are Christ. Listen to them, know them.” We must see what means are available for evangelization “in a rapidly changing world.”
Rethinking the Parish
The privileged place for the mission is “the parish,” and “we must rethink it together,” as a pastoral reality that is a living instance where faith is testified.
In conclusion, the under-secretary for the Synod gave ten points for action: strengthen communion by integrating differences in the unity of charity; continue processes of listening and shared discernment; expand possibilities for participation and co-responsibility, especially for the laity; care for the existence and proper functioning of participatory structures; strengthen collaboration with other dioceses; address the theme of mission and announce the Kingdom of God in various contexts; promote and concretize appropriate forms of transparency and accountability; explore new modes of communication; review itineraries of formation at all levels with synodal criteria; and consider, if it has not been done recently, the possibility of holding a diocesan synod.
Afterward, the attendees formed working groups to synthesize the aspects addressed in this phase again diocesan of the Synod. To conclude, Father Pedro Aguado Cuesta referred to his initial impression after several months of listening within the diocese of Huesca. He perceives “many challenges, and that is good”: **”It is a Church very rooted in this territory, and the challenge is to bring all that closer to the Gospel,”** he pointed out.
**Miguel Barluenga, Church in Aragon**
**Religion Digital**
English version translated with AI