Thursday, 23 October 2008 15:14
Message of Pope Benedict XVI for the 40th World Communications Day
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the wake of the fortieth-anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, I am happy to recall its Decree on the Means of Social Communication, Inter Mirifica, which in particular recognized the power of the media to influence the whole of human society. The need to harness that power for the benefit of all mankind has prompted me, in this my first message for World Communications Day, to reflect briefly on the idea of the media as a network facilitating communication, communion, and cooperation.
Saint Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, vividly depicts our human vocation to be "sharers in the divine nature" (Dei Verbum, 2): through Christ we have access in one Spirit to the Father; so we are no longer strangers and aliens but citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, growing into a holy temple, a dwelling place for God (cf. Eph 2:18-22). This sublime portrayal of a life of communion engages all aspects of our lives as Christians. The call to be true to the self-communication of God in Christ is in fact a call to recognize his dynamic force within us, which then seeks to spread outwards to others, so that his love can truly become the prevalent measure of the world (cf. Homily for World Youth Day, Cologne, 21 August 2005).
Technological advances in the media have in certain respects conquered time and space, making communication between people, even when separated by vast distances, both instantaneous and direct. This development presents an enormous potential for service of the common good and "constitutes a patrimony to safeguard and promote" (Rapid Development, 10). Yet, as we all know, our world is far from perfect. Daily we are reminded that immediacy of communication does not necessarily translate into the building of cooperation and communion in society.
To inform the consciences of individuals and help shape their thinking is never a neutral task. Authentic communication demands principled courage and resolve. It requires a determination of those working in the media not to wilt under the weight of so much information nor even to be content with partial or provisional truths. Instead it necessitates both seeking and transmitting what is the ultimate foundation and meaning of human, personal and social existence (cf. Fides et Ratio, 5). In this way the media can contribute constructively to the propagation of all that is good and true.
The call for today's media to be responsible - to be the protagonist of truth and promoter of the peace that ensues - carries with it a number of challenges. While the various instruments of social communication facilitate the exchange of information, ideas, and mutual understanding among groups, they are also tainted by ambiguity. Alongside the provision of a "great round table" for dialogue, certain tendencies within the media engender a kind of monoculture that dims creative genius, deflates the subtlety of complex thought and undervalues the specificity of cultural practices and the particularity of religious belief. These are distortions that occur when the media industry becomes self-serving or solely profit-driven, losing the sense of accountability to the common good.
Accurate reporting of events, full explanation of matters of public concern, and fair representation of diverse points of view must, then, always be fostered. The need to uphold and support marriage and family life is of particular importance, precisely because it pertains to the foundation of every culture and society (cf. Apostolicam Actuositatem, 11).
In cooperation with parents, the social communications and entertainment industries can assist in the difficult but sublimely satisfying vocation of bringing up children, through presenting edifying models of human life and love (cf. Inter Mirifica, 11). How disheartening and destructive it is to us all when the opposite occurs. Do not our hearts cry out, most especially, when our young people are subjected to debased or false expressions of love which ridicule the God-given dignity of every human person and undermine family interests?
To encourage both a constructive presence and a positive perception of the media in society, I wish to reiterate the importance of three steps, identified by my venerable predecessor Pope John Paul II, necessary for their service of the common good: formation, participation, and dialogue (cf. Rapid Development, 11).
Formation in the responsible and critical use of the media helps people to use them intelligently and appropriately. The profound impact upon the mind of new vocabulary and of images, which the electronic media in particular so easily introduce into society, cannot be overestimated. Precisely because contemporary media shape popular culture, they themselves must overcome any temptation to manipulate, especially the young, and instead pursue the desire to form and serve. In this way they protect rather than erode the fabric of a civil society worthy of the human person.
Participation in the mass media arises from their nature as a good destined for all people. As a public service, social communication requires a spirit of cooperation and co-responsibility with vigorous accountability of the use of public resources and the performance of roles of public trust (cf. Ethics in Communications, 20), including recourse to regulatory standards and other measures or structures designed to effect this goal.
Finally, the promotion of dialogue through the exchange of learning, the expression of solidarity and the espousal of peace presents a great opportunity for the mass media which must be recognized and exercised. In this way they become influential and appreciated resources for building the civilization of love for which all peoples yearn.
I am confident that serious efforts to promote these three steps will assist the media to develop soundly as a network of communication, communion and cooperation, helping men, women and children, to become more aware of the dignity of the human person, more responsible, and more open to others especially the neediest and the weakest members of society (cf. Redemptor Hominis, 15; Ethics in Communications, 4).
In conclusion, I return to the encouraging words of Saint Paul: Christ is our peace. In him we are one (cf. Eph 2:14). Let us together break down the dividing walls of hostility and build up the communion of love according to the designs of the Creator made known through his Son!
©HM Magazine No.129 - March/April 2006
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Thursday, 23 October 2008 15:12
By Fr. Rafael Alonso
Mamie had always dreamed of having a family with many children. At least twelve. She had a great esteem for life. Her family had consisted of four members and her grandmother: her mother, her father, her sister and herself. She knew well what a small family was. Nevertheless, when she thought of getting married and forming a family, she wanted a bigger one. She had such a big heart that a husband and one or two children was not enough for her.
However, God did not permit her to have this family. She married Francois Treuttens at a young age. In her second pregnancy, after having her daughter Simone, she underwent a terrible discovery. Her pregnancy was extrauterine. As a consequence, her pregnancy could not continue forward and she had to have an operation. The result of this operation was the impossibility of having more children, not to mention other consequences which were not at all to be undermined.
Mamie's heart always continued to be open to giving love to others. She never looked only at herself, but rather was always ready to help others, to listen to them, to understand them, to esteem them, to counsel them and to serve them.
I have a photograph before me of a family gathering, consisting mainly of elderly people. In it, around two tables that form the letter T, are Mamie and her husband, Mamie's mother and her aunt, and four other people, one of whom is a child. They are drinking a cup of coffee. There is an ash tray on the table, a few cups, a camera, a pair of glasses, a few plates with forks, knives, a sugar bowl, etc. A homely atmosphere in which the people appear to be relaxed and attentive to the conversation, while smoking a cigarette which at that time was not yet persecuted.
There is no worry or care on their faces. On the other hand, they listen attentively with a loving gaze. Mamie, with her glasses, a bun in her hair and a sweater on her back, holds a cigarette in her right hand and her left hand is placed affably on her aunt's shoulder, who is sitting at her left in a wooden chair. The domestic virtues shine forth: peace, trust, attention, respect, and affection.
There is nothing that is sophisticated. They are wearing slippers. What must have been the conversation that they held in this family environment? Undoubtedly it was a conversation where amiable concepts were passed around in a relaxed conversation. A clock above the small fireplace shows that the time is 6:35.
This article could seem ridiculous. The author, someone might say, focuses on trivialities. However, when a society has lost the serenity and joy of living together as a family, what is left? Isn't this precisely what must be recovered? Isn't this what we must re-assess? Isn't a society that knows how to tranquilly rest as a family after a day of hard work safeguarded against many dangers? Against fear, division, and necessity?
Mamie knew this art well, which so many consider a "waste of time." It is the art of knowing how to dialogue, to transmit values, ideas, experiences, and observations.
The speed of life was not maddening. It was a human pace because ideas need time to alight; experiences need time to be assimilated; the transmission of a set of values, the intercommunication of these values needs time, time to sit around a table with a cup of coffee, in a more or less comfortable chair, and talk.
©HM Magazine No.129 - March/April 2006
Thursday, 23 October 2008 15:10
 Sr.Luisina
By Sr. Maria Fuente, S.H.M.
Sr. Luisina is a Marianite from Chone, Ecuador. At the present moment she lives in a school that her congregation has in this city. Small and thin, now old and sick, she has not lost her smile and the great spirit and courage that she transmits when speaking. We were sitting at the same table during a celebration and she told us about all the different kinds of work she did. Above all, she loved to work with children. A priest (or a bishop, I think) who had visited their house had encouraged them to work with children because “what you sow in the heart of a child stays there forever.” She said that this was entirely true and then told us this story.
One day, Sr. Luisina was shopping in Guayaquil with a niece of hers. While the niece went inside a shop, Sr. Luisina stayed outside waiting for her. All of a sudden, someone grabbed her from behind and hugged her very tightly. The poor sister was tremendously frightened because she thought that someone was going to steal from her or something similar. Turning around, she saw a woman who, extremely moved, said to her, “Sister, do you remember me? Do you remember me, Sister?”
Sr. Luisina told us that she looked at the girl and truly didn’t remember the face… after so many years of apostolic work in so many different places... So, she began the “investigation”: And where do I know you from? Did you study in one of our schools? Were you in one of our missions? Remind me.
It turned out that the woman had studied catechism with her when she was little in one of the suburbs of Guayaquil.
The sister was very happy that the woman still remembered her teacher after so many years and she asked her how her life had been going.
The poor woman told her that her life had gone off track. Because of certain situations in her life and the need for money she had ended up as a prostitute.
The sister expressed her sorrow and asked if she could help in any way. The woman said that the sister had already helped her and explained how.
God, in His infinite mercy, had remembered her.
First, He permitted that, in spite of all her “precautions,” she became pregnant. She did not even know who of all those men was the father. She didn’t know what to do and thought even of having an abortion. Then Our Lord put in her way a woman who wanted to adopt a baby. She offered to solve all of the girl’s problems if she gave her the child.
When the time came for the child to be born and she saw him in her arms, she repented from having made that contract. However, not being able to turn back, she had to give the woman the child after twelve days. After this, she was worn out and fell into a deep depression. She felt crushed under the weight of all her sins and she hated herself. She even desired death.
Suddenly, she didn’t know how, all of the things that she had learned when she was little in catechism class came back to her. The picture was still fresh in her mind of that little sister who had spoken to them so sweetly about the good Mother that we have in Heaven, a Mother whom we should not fear because She never rejects any of her children, no matter how bad they may be, nor does she abandon them when they call on her.
She then felt moved to go to a Church and kneel down before the statue of Our Lady. Crying before her Mother, she let out all her anguish and heaviness of heart.
A priest in that parish saw her and, after watching her for a while, went up to her. With an almost maternal delicacy and patience, he listened to the poor girl’s story, he consoled her and gave her the absolution.
She felt as good as new and with the priest’s help she was able to remake her life. Now she was working uprightly and living with great peace and joy.
She couldn’t help but embrace the sister over and over again and thank her for having taught her those things. They had been sown in her heart and in the moment when she least expected, but most needed, they had sprung forth with great strength and taken her out of the lowest misery.
Because of this, Sr. Luisina continuously gives thanks to God and she told us that stories like this one are what have made work with children her favorite apostolate. What is sown in the tender heart of a child will be engraved there forever and sooner or later it will bear fruit.
©HM Magazine No.129 - March/April 2006
Thursday, 23 October 2008 15:02
 How I Met the Home
Sr. Sara Jiménez Murcia
Our Lord, in His merciful love, permitted me to meet the Home when I was 13 years old. It was through my sister Ana. She went to study social work at the university of Cuenca since she could not study this in the city where we are from, Ciudad Real. There, providentially, she ran into two candidates of the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother who invited her to have lunch at their house one day, to go to a retreat, etc. To make a long story short, she fell in love with the Home, so much that, when she came home on the weekends, she couldn’t stop speaking about this Home which she had met. When she did so, the word home reminded me of the retired people’s home that was located close to my house where the “grannies” would go to play pool and have a good time.
Around that time I had heard my mother and my sisters say that it would be good for me to go to a summer camp or other similar activity. It happened that in those days my sister came home with a pamphlet in her hand and said to me, “This is for you!! I took it and saw that the front page had a picture of a tent with a sentence that said, “Sign up for the Home of the Mother’s Summer Camps!” It didn’t seem to be a very bad idea. The only thing I didn’t like was to be away from my mother and my friends for so long; but the idea of this new adventure pleased me.
The last thing I could have imagined was that the so-called “adventure” would make my life take a 180º degree turn. Let me explain what I mean. I could not have imagined that this activity would be so religious. I thought that being religious simply meant to pray an Our Father before bed, if something went bad, to get something I wanted, or to do well in the games. I must say that the religious formation which I had received was very poor. I had made my First Communion and a few years later stopped going to Mass on Sundays. Nothing in my life or around me spoke to me about God directly, even though my conscience was very alive.
The summer camp was very good for me. The words which reached my ears entered my soul with an amazing strength. They were like a beam of light that illumined my interior darkness. I constantly experienced these words, “I do not know why, nor do I understand it very well, but this is undoubtedly the truth.” The light made me clearly see the filth that there was in my soul. They suggested that I go to confession, but I didn’t dare. I thought that the priests wouldn’t understand me and I didn’t know how to express what I was living. All this was mixed with a good amount of cowardliness and to put it short, I said I wouldn’t go to confession. However, this attitude didn’t last very long because I kept feeling more and more the need to go to confession… until I finally said I would. I felt that a great burden was taken from me.
The people I met there were great. At first the camp was very hard, because I was shy and wasn’t used to people being so open and welcoming without knowing them at all. Even though my interior attitude was closed and very serious (I had to show that I was “tough”), interiorly I knew that there was something special which I had never seen before: the joy, the simplicity, the sincerity, the authenticity, the true, unselfish, and self-giving love…
Even so, I didn’t make the commitment with the Home until two years later. I had some up and down moments and the idea of committing myself to something wasn’t very attractive. I preferred to live the commitments, the spiritual life, without committing myself to it in an official way. Evidently, this was an absurd idea since it was like leaving the door open to the foolish thought, “Well, if one day I don’t do the commitment, it doesn’t matter.” When I finally entered the Home, I was sorry that I hadn’t done so earlier because I realized that this was my place, the place where Our Mother had brought me to be forever. And so it is, now by the grace of God I am a novice in the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother.
I feel completely identified with the definition of the Home. Each member is the gift which the Lord wishes to make to His Mother. I feel that Our Lord has taken His Mother to a garden full of all types of beautiful flowers and said, “Look at them, all of them, which one do you want?” And She pointed to one that was drowning in a muddy puddle and said, “I want that one.” That’s me. She has not spurned my poverty. On the contrary, She has chosen it in order to enrich it. She is the one who gives me the gift with her choice. I am in the Home because She has so desired. That is the only reason.
Truly, meeting the Home is the best thing that has happened to me in my life, because Our Lord has used it as an instrument of His Mercy. He used the Home to carry out the restoration that my soul so greatly needed and so that I could do the same for all men. Faced with this reality, the only word that comes from my heart is “thank you.” Thank you also to all those whom Our Lord in His providence has placed in my path to take me to Him, who have helped me in my personal and spiritual formation, and who have been docile to Our Lord and a reflection of His Goodness and His Mercy.
Therefore, after remembering and sharing all these graces with you, I can only say with the psalmist, “How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me?”
©HM Magazine No.129 - March/April 2006
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