Synod participants on retreat in Sacrofano

Vatican News

Synod members, fraternal delegates and special invitees are taking part in a retreat from 30 September to 3 October, prior to the opening of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on 4 October. The retreat is taking place at Fraterna Domus retreat house in Sacrofano, about 30km outside Rome. Synod participants arrived on Saturday evening after taking part in the Ecumenical Prayer Vigil "Together". They will remain in retreat until Tuesday evening.

Their days open with Morning Prayer, or Lauds, at 8:45am during which Benedictine nun and former abbess Mother Maria Ignazia Angelini will provide a brief meditation. Former Master of the Order of Preachers, Father Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, will preach two meditations in the morning (at 9:30 and at 11:30 on Sunday; at 9:15 and 11:30 on Monday and Tuesday). Retreatants will have time for silent personal prayer as well.

In the afternoon, group conversations in the Spirit will take place. Holy Mass is preceded by a second meditation preached by Mother Maria Ignazia Angelini held at 6:45pm, followed by dinner.

Sunday 1 October

The theme for Mother Angelini's meditation during Morning Prayer was "To walk together, meeting Jesus the rejected stone is necessary". 

Father Timothy Radcliffe's first meditation focused on "Hoping Against Hope". His second meditation was entitled "At home in God and God at home in us" and was interrupted so the retreatants could participate in the recitation of the Angelus with Pope Francis (Part two).

Prior to the beginning of Holy Mass, Mother Maria Ignazia Angelini offered a meditation based on the Gospel for the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, prefaced by a quotation from Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, whose liturgical memoral falls on 1 October.

At 6:45pm, Holy Mass on Sunday evening was celebrated by Bishop Raymond Poisson, Bishop of Saint-Jérôme - Mont-Laurier in Canada and President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. Bishop Poisson's short homily reflected on all three of the readings.