Pope Benedict XVI has issued a timely message for this year’s World Communications Day: The work of bringing the world to God must involve silence as much as it involves words and actions.
It’s obvious that humanity has taken a turn for the noisy in recent years. The explosion of technological tools has transformed the way we live, work and communicate.
For many of us, new technologies and new forms of social communication have invaded every corner of our lives.
But, as many people have discovered, we seem to be no better at communicating with one another, and, in many ways, we are worse.
How many times, for example, has an innocently made joke been misinterpreted by the receiver of an email or an erroneous judgment been forwarded or reposted countless times on Twitter or Facebook?
And with the new media and personal electronic devices allowing us to be on a constant news feed, where has all our time gone? Time that we used to spend with people.
Enter Pope Benedict, who, while giving his blessing to new media used well, has been able to remind the world that we can live very well without it. After all, he became one of the world’s leading thinkers in the late 20th century not by running to Google and Wikipedia.
But in his Message for the 46th World Communications Day, he implores us to create a sacred space in our daily lives devoid of the constant chatter that assaults our hearts.
“In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves,” he writes. “If we are to recognize and focus upon the truly important questions, then silence is a precious commodity that enables us to exercise proper discernment in the face of the surcharge of stimuli and data that we receive.”
Silence is also vital to evangelization, he points out. Bringing the Gospel to others must remain primarily a personal endeavor. We can write the most beautiful blogs about Catholicism, but the fire of faith is spread throughout the world from person to person, as from one spark to another. Especially today, in societies that have become highly impersonalized, it is incumbent on disciples of Christ to be there for those who are searching for answers.
We first grow in faith through prayer — a process that is impossible without creating within ourselves the silence that we need to hear the voice of God. And then we offer ourselves to others, who seek the face of God — even when they don’t know it is God they are searching for.
If we can listen to them, silencing the noise in our own hearts, we create an essential bridge for them to cross over to the Truth.
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Pope Benedict has absolutely no credibility with this Catholic. I fully support an independent US Catholic Church accountable to “The People of God” in the US not the Vatican. The Holy See has deceived us for way too many years.
Why are you even commenting then?
Basically Richard, once you separate from Peter you are cut off from the Truth; the teachings on contraception and abortion are in fact proof of the authentic nature of the papal office. An “American Catholic Church” would be nothing more than Episcopalian in behavior, lack of teaching, and complete blindness relative to sexual sin. Additionally, if you are not happy with one pope, you can always become a Protestant and have a pope in every pulpit. So you jump from the pan into the fire so to speak. The Holy See has not deceived anyone, if for example you refer to sexual abuse by homosexual priests, which is what happened, then be unhappy with the Amercian Bishops who enabled it and the psychologists who said they could fix the problem. But in all events, remember that Judas was one in twelve. Lack of holiness is very very profound in the Catholic Church in America, as an example 80 percent don’t really practice the faith or attend mass. This is a profoundly sinful condition making those 80 percent very very unable to see, due to the blindness of sin, not surprisingly this sinful condition also exists in the leadership. So, if you are annoyed with the Pope, I suggest you look in a mirror and ask yourself just how great a Catholic you are, first. Holiness starts with you and me personally, the general and rather gigantic sin rampant among Catholics calls each person, me included, to convert, be holy, and above all be faithful to Christ and the one and only Church He founded, and guaranteed. By the way, the “people of God” we’re NOT left in charge to decide and or rule the church, that is the job of the Apostles and their successors. The people of God do not have the keys, Peter does. Even the most sinful Pope has the keys, and God Himself keeps the Truth sustained even in that case. No such guarantee with the “people of God”. In fact, from what I see, entire denominations who claim to be “people of God” are so morally bankrupt and corrupt as to be profoundly engaging in evil and calling it good. The book or Romans says it best. Even in the Catholic church the sinful corruption is gigantic, BUT, it is still and always will be the only Church Jesus gaurantees. Search for holy Cahtolics who actually practice the whole faith, not the pro-choice, not the contracepting people, the REAL ones who actually practice the whole faith. You will have to look hard depending on where you live, because they are the non-Episcopalians at mass. But they are there, and they are in fact the people of God.
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