We can easily be discouraged during these difficult times in our world. Yet, Saint Paul reminds us that in God’s plan, we are compelled to express the joy of the Gospel in our daily lives.

“We cannot say that we are privileged compared to others—no,” Pope Francis said at today’s general audience. “The calling is for a service. And God chooses one in order to love everyone, to reach everyone.”

The conversations of the synod are for the sake of building up an ethos, the conversatio of communion and confidence in the accessibility of Christ as He manifests himself in the church.

“Either we proclaim Jesus with joy, or we do not proclaim him, because another way of proclaiming him is not capable of bringing the true reality of Jesus,” Pope Francis said in his weekly audience.

In his weekly audience, Pope Francis highlighted the witness of the venerable servant of God Madeleine Delbrêl, who calls us to a faith that is maintained in movement.

In his homily closing the first session of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis reflected on two verbs: “to adore and to serve. We love God through adoration and service.”