Anything but Ordinary

Home

Together Forever

The Accessible Pope

Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Thursday, January 26, 2012 10:00 AM

I sometimes hear from people who say they’d like to read Pope Benedict more, but they’re afraid he’s too difficult for them.

Here’s a bit of useless information to encourage them.

You need only the reading level of a 16-year-old to follow his typical homilies.

With that to spur us, here’s a recent papal document of interest:

In his Message for World Communications Day, His Holiness reflects on the relationship

between silence and word, noting that communication requires both. Nothing can be understood without silence.
Silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist. In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others; and we choose how to express ourselves. By remaining silent we allow the other person to speak, to express him or herself; and we avoid being tied simply to our own words and ideas without them being adequately tested. In this way, space is created for mutual listening, and deeper human relationships become possible. It is often in silence, for example, that we observe the most authentic communication taking place between people who are in love: gestures, facial expressions and body language are signs by which they reveal themselves to each other. Joy, anxiety, and suffering can all be communicated in silence – indeed it provides them with a particularly powerful mode of expression. Silence, then, gives rise to even more active communication.

His description of life on the internet makes me smile:

Search engines and social networks have become the starting point of communication for many people who are seeking advice, ideas, information and answers. In our time, the internet is becoming ever more a forum for questions and answers – indeed, people today are frequently bombarded with answers to questions they have never asked and to needs of which they were unaware.

Nailed it, right?

He makes two observations about this phenomenon. First, the questioning process is important and should be respected, but it requires silent reflection to discern the meaning and relative importance of the onslaught of data:

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. Amid the complexity and diversity of the world of communications, however, many people find themselves confronted with the ultimate questions of human existence: Who am I? What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope? It is important to affirm those who ask these questions, and to open up the possibility of a profound dialogue, by means of words and interchange, but also through the call to silent reflection, something that is often more eloquent than a hasty answer and permits seekers to reach into the depths of their being and open themselves to the path towards knowledge that God has inscribed in human hearts.

Second, this relentless questioning is a sign of the restless heart of the human being.

this constant flow of questions demonstrates the restlessness of human beings, ceaselessly searching for truths, of greater or lesser import, that can offer meaning and hope to their lives. Men and women cannot rest content with a superficial and unquestioning exchange of skeptical opinions and experiences of life – all of us are in search of truth and we share this profound yearning today more than ever.

It will not surprise you to learn the Pope thinks ultimately all our blogging and internet searches and friending is the search for God, and Christians should be communicating Him to their fellows, above all by encouraging and making time for the silence that is communication with God: prayer.

 Print Blog   Email a Friend   

Post a Comment

By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.

Anything but Ordinary

Home

Together Forever