Institute Mater Dei
Santa Monica
Old Goa-403 402
Phone: 0832-2285324, 2285165, 9021350490 / 7887671562
My Dear, Staff and Students of IMD,
Together in Communion and Mission This is the theme under which you spent this year, and I am sure you had an enriching year. Holy Father, Pope Francis, is inviting all of us with his clarion call to take a Synodal journey into the future. Through Synodality, emphasis is given to Communion, Participation and Mission. A synodal Church is a Church that listens and realizes that listening is more than simply hearing. It is mutual listening in which everyone has something to learn. Through listening, we shed prejudices against each other, connect, and grow in communion, leading to greater participation, solidarity and transparency.
The communion we share finds its deepest roots in the love and unity of the Trinity. Christ reconciles us to the Father and unites us with each other in the Holy Spirit. We all have a role to play in discerning and living out God’s call for His people. As partners of Christ in establishing His Kingdom, the primary responsibility is to evangelize, i.e., proclaim to the world that God loves us through our words, deeds and doings.
Our mission is to witness God’s love among the whole human family. This Synodal Process has a deep missionary dimension to it. It is intended to enable the Church to better witness the Gospel, especially with those who live on our world’s spiritual, social, economic, political, geographical, and existential peripheries. In this way, synodality is a path by which the Church can more fruitfully fulfil its mission of evangelization in the world as a leaven at the service of the coming of God’s kingdom. Our Synod journey takes place where the Church ordinarily lives and works in the day-today lives of the faithful. The Synodal process invites us-the People of God-to recall that we journey together. Moreover, in that journey of faith, we are called to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Dear sisters, let us journey together with wholehearted participation, making everyone partners without any discrimination and prejudices.
May we be pilgrims in love with the Gospel and open to the surprises of the Holy Spirit. Let us not miss out on the grace-filled opportunities born of encounter, listening and discernment. In the joyful conviction that together we journey forward in the union of the spirits growing in communion and reaching out to the needy in and through our ministries, spreading God’s love. Wish you abundance of Divine blessings
Affectionately,
President of IMD