Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Pope Francis: “Let us boldly become citizens of the digital world”

The reflection of Pope Francis for the 48th World Communications Day carries some sage advice : 

“We need to recover a certain sense of deliberateness and calm. This calls for time and the ability to be silent and to listen. We need also to be patient if we want to understand those who are different from us.” 

Using lessons from the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Pope urged restraint, neighborliness and, most importantly, listening as keys to unlocking an authentic culture of encounter on the internet. 

“Whenever communication is primarily aimed at promoting consumption or manipulating others, we are dealing with a form of violent aggression like that suffered by the man in the parable,” explained the Pope. “The Levite and the priest do not regard him as a neighbor, but as a stranger to be kept at a distance. 

 In those days, it was rules of ritual purity which conditioned their response. Nowadays there is a danger that certain media so condition our responses that we fail to see our real neighbor.” In just a few short paragraphs Pope Francis addresses many of the challenges that communications specialist, sociologist, behavioral scientists and others are identifying as some of the major challenges of internet communication: 

• “The speed with which information is communicated exceeds our capacity for reflection and judgment” 
 • “The variety of opinions being aired can be seen as helpful, but it also enables people to barricade themselves behind sources of information which only confirm their own wishes and ideas, or political and economic interests.” 
 • “The digital world can be an environment rich in humanity; a network not of wires but of people.” 

Pope Francis’ answer to these questions is a simple one – treat people as people, listen respectfully and dialogue. 

His Holiness concludes his message: “May the light we bring to others not be the result of cosmetics or special effects, but rather of our being loving and merciful “neighbors” to those wounded and left on the side of the road.” 



Saturday, May 17, 2014

Celebrating the 94th birth anniversary of Saint John Paul II



On May 18, 1920, he was born in Poland as Karol Wojtyla. In 1978, he became pope and served almost 27 years until his death in 2005. 

While in Rome from 2004-2005 for the one-year Charism Course together with my brothers and sisters in the Pauline Family, I felt very much his saintly presence while attending Masses which he celebrated in the Vatican. Then the last that I saw of him while he was still alive but already weak was during the celebration of Corpus Christi where he was able to join the people in the procession from the Basilica of St. John Lateran to the Basilica of St. Mary Majors. Another thing that has touched me was his filial devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary whom he considered as his formator and spiritual guide.

This wonderful man of God have inspired me and so many people in the world to live their daily journey of sanctification. What he did as pope was to beatify and canonize many saints, almost 500 of them! He worked so much on this to show us that our faith is alive and well. We need to be inspired daily and he knew that.

May I share with you some excerpts of his spiritual reflection written on June 2001:

Saint John Paul II wrote: “From my mother’s womb you called me”. We can make our own these words of the Psalmist. God knew and loved us even before our eyes could contemplate the marvels of creation. At birth all men and women receive a human name. But even before that, each one has a divine name: the name by which God the Father knows and loves them from eternity and for eternity. This is true for everyone, with the exception of none. No one is nameless in God’s sight! All have equal value in his eyes: all are different, yet all are equal, and all are called to be sons and daughters in the Son.

Happy Birthday our beloved Saint John Paul II. Keep praying for us and accompany us in our daily journey of life!