If proverbs are still valuable in this globalised world, it is useful to quote the old adage, «Paese che vai, usanze che trovi» (Live according to the customs of the country in which you live). In Africa, the “viva voce culture” is still predominant (direct and personal communication) and the “physical presence of the Head” is important. This explains the rush of persons, from different religious belonging, towards Benedict XVI, above all, on his first journey to Africa (17 – 23 March 2009). There are 30% of Catholics in Cameroon. They are very active and committed. The Pope wanted to hand over to this Christian community the first copy of the Instrumentum Laboris of the next special Synod for Africa, which will be held in the Vatican from 4^th up to 25^th October, 2009.

The Word of God and the Synod

It is good to specify straightaway that every Council, or every Synod, because of its nature is an action that the Holy Spirit guides for a deepening and development of faith of the entire Church, in a particular moment of history. By keeping this premise in mind, it is possible to understand more deeply the theme that acts as leit motiv of the reflection on the Christian community of the old continent.  “The Church in Africa at the service of reconciliation, of justice and peace, in the light of two verses from the Gospel of Matthew, “You are the salt of the earth (….)…you are the light of the world” (Matthew 5, 13-14). The three key words are Reconciliation, Justice and Peace, which are concepts and goods in the civil life of every people. They enter at full title also the dictionary of Christianity. The old traditions of the African communities, even of small dimensions, have always had strategies and rules to keep and develop these essential conditions for the very survival of society. Everybody knows, and we Christians are fully convinced of it, that the human frailty can play “bad jokes” by blowing down social balances built up over the time.

We had a striking example of this in January 2008, in Kenya, when electoral frauds enkindled the souls of the rival parties and caused more than one thousand deaths and 300.000 thousand “displaced” persons, because members of other tribes did not want them. We have been hearing many times the word reconciliation on the lips of politicians, religious leaders and common people, but often with diverse and scarce proposals or connotations, as well as with weak references to the Word of God. Anyhow, after a month of skirmishes and civil guerrilla, plus another month of reflection and dialogue at all levels, the situation started moving towards the traditional normality, with many interrogatives on the future stability. Many commented this positive evolution of events as a “miracle of the Lord”, regretting, however, the fact that the overwhelming majority of involved people was Christian.

Love, and only love overcomes all difficulties and does not create justifying excuses. For the Christians, this is the high road towards a deep and definitive reconciliation. “There is no peace without justice and there is no justice without truth”, this is what the youths, members of the opposite party and wise men shout around Kenya and almost in all the African Countries.  Here also one word does not have always the same meaning. How much Jesus -Jesus the way, the truth and the life- worked to inculcate these values into the souls of the listeners and, above all, into those who played a role of religious and civil responsibility.

Peace is a mature fruit of Reconciliation and Justice. Our Lord Jesus chose the two great moments of his earthly life –Birth and Resurrection- to announce and grant the gift of peace. The angels announced peace to te world on the occasion of the birth and Jesus himself took it to the apostles on the evening of His resurrection. We are in peace with God and among us thanks to His mission, to his mediation and reconciliation.

The Gospel text of Matthew, “You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world” (5,13.14) states, unequivocally, the bond of the message with Christianity. They are the words that conclude the list of the beatitudes (Matthew 5, 1-12), but they invite us also to exercise them in order to reach the end shown by Jesus. In other words: only he who lives according to the beatitude –more correctly called the Constitutions of God’s Kingdom- becomes salt and light for others.

If we meditate the beatitudes, we discover also that they contain the essential elements to understand, to live and promote Reconciliation, Justice and Peace. In the same context of the sermon of the mountain (Mt 5-7), Jesus teaches the Our Father that contains –under the form of prayer- many elements of the beatitudes and, therefore, the three key words, object of the Synod. Finally, if the word “service” synthesises the earthly life of Jesus Christ, –totally offered for the salvation of humanity-, it calls immediately to mind an essential quality of the Church, Family of God. The service that the Christian must offer to others inspires itself from what happens in the context of the human family.

When will there be a Synod in Africa?

As already mentioned, the Synod has a universal meaning and, therefore, the venue for its celebration does not seem to be very important. The Africans expected, and still desire, that they would celebrate the “two special assemblies for Africa in their own Continent.” For the first one, in 1994, the participation of the ecclesial community was rather poor. What should the local Christian have done before a new event as the Synod, celebrated far, in the Vatican, perceived as something coming from outside, something almost stranger to their life, to the common feeling of the Christians and the ecclesial African communities?  We cannot eject the aspects of the local culture.

Over the past fifteen years from that time, the ecclesial sensitivity and the commitment to participation, thanks to the pastoral system of the small communities, have grown in Africa considerably. From what I have personally seen in Kenya and from what I have heard about other countries, the preparation has been effective, through the reading and deepening  of the initial document (Lineamenta) and a frequent prayer for the good result of the Synod’s initiative. The still present and pressing problems of the poor and unarmed citizens support all these things.  

Some fundamental indications

This premise will facilitate the re-reading of some underlined Biblical-Theological dimensions written in the Preface and signed by the General Secretary Monsignor Nikola Eterovic’, as well as some passages from the Instrumentum laboris (nos. 37.38.47).

Let us start form the Preface. “Allow yourself to be reconciled with God” (2 Cor 5, 20). This pressing invitation to the Corinthian Christians and to the whole world is here particularly addressed to the faithful and men of good will in Africa. We know that Africa suffers of ethnic, social and religious discords, which often flow to demonstrations of hatred and violence.  They are manifestations of personal sins with social connotations, which slow down the work of reconciliation with God and neighbours. «They must fulfil every justice” (Mt 3, 15). Insisting with John the Baptist for receiving the Baptism, Jesus Christ wanted to fulfil what was just before God the Father. Following the example of the Master, the disciples must seek first the Kingdom and the justice of God (See: Mt 6, 33).

«Peace be with you” (John: 20, 19). Our Lord Jesus gives us the Spirit in plenty and offers peace to His disciples (See John:  20, 21; 3, 34).It is a particular peace that the world cannot give (See John: 14,27) because the world does not know the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit (See John: 14,17). Unluckily, not all men and women accept Jesus and His gift of peace. In the fight against the darkness of sin and death, the Lord becomes a sign of contradiction (See Luke: 2, 34). “Peace I give to this house”, (Luke 10, 5). In the following of Jesus Christ, the faithful must be ready to be operators of peace and for this they become children of God (See Mt 5, 9).

Now we shall take again some passages from Chapter 1 of the document. “The two symbols of salt and light express a double dimension of the Disciples’ identity. The image of the “salt of the earth” characterises the disciples as agents of transformation among their brothers and sisters inhabiting the earth. Actually, as the salt changes the taste of food, similarly the disciples of Christ receive the call to change and to live in such a way as to give a better savour of humanity to their environment. This impact of the disciple’s life escapes our eyes, but, just like the salt that dissolves and becomes invisible, the world will feel the transforming effect, which comes from the efficacious presence of the apostle” (no. 37).

 «As far as the second image is concerned, the light invites the disciples to identify themselves with the “Light of the world”. Jesus does not encourage them to exhibit themselves; in fact, he denounces the hypocrites (See Mt 6, 1 ss). Anyhow, the light destined to illumine cannot remain hidden: it will always be visible, like a city built on a mountain. (See Mt 5, 14-16)» (n. 38).

«The mission of serving peace (as well as reconciliation and justice bound to peace as foundation), will consist for us, in building it up in each member of the Body of Christ, so that all of us may become new men and women, capable of operating the pacification of Africa. Peace, in effect, is not, first of all, the product of structures or of external realities, but is born from within, from within the single persons and the communities. The conversion of the heart into a “new heart” and a “ new spirit” (Ezekiel 36,26)is the source of an efficacious transforming action” (no. 47).

We have highlighted, like the document of the Synod, the religious aspect, valid as principle, for the whole world, where there are still various outbreaks of hatred, injustice and war.

A true and lasting deliverance from these sins and evils must necessarily start from our religious convictions. It is worthwhile to repeat that, if the globalisation -now limited to the universal positive effects- wants to reach the communion of Countries and States, it must inspire itself from the best human, religious and Christian values.

Pietro Caggiano
Pompei Diocese
Missionary in Kenya