The other day I heard of people displaying Lib Dem election posters who'd had their windows smashed. A few days earlier I'd seen footage of a woman accosting a Leave-supporting MP and loudly denouncing him as a traitor, for being insufficiently Brexit-y because he'd compromised and voted for Theresa May's deal. Sadly, these are not isolated incidents, but increasingly common. Almost every other day we see anger, abuse and threats - online, on our screens and on our streets - with our public figures lying or distorting facts, then attacking those who call them to account.
And in the midst of all this comes World Communications Day: an Ascensiontide day, in honour of Christ's final words to his disciples, to go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News. There is always a challenge to this, and a risk, especially now, in this time of anger and incivility; but there is also, too, a huge need. Our world needs communication founded on courtesy, respect, dialogue and honesty, with listening and silence, just as it needs people who can share, with authenticity, the Good News and the joy which lies at the heart of these underlying values.
Above all, it needs communicators whose fundamental stance is one of love. As Pope Francis says in his Message for this day: God is not Solitude, but Communion; he is Love, and therefore communication, because love always communicates; indeed, it communicates itself in order to encounter the other.
And so today I give thanks for all those people of faith and goodwill I know who communicate - whether in person or online - with love and listening and joy; and I pray for them and for myself, that we can always learn and grow in this mission. And I leave you with this image, from the Irish Bishops, which particularly struck me this morning. May we be positive, joy-filled and effective communicators of Love, in real as well as digital highways - and may we fill our worlds and the internet with the strength and tenderness of this Love!
And in the midst of all this comes World Communications Day: an Ascensiontide day, in honour of Christ's final words to his disciples, to go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News. There is always a challenge to this, and a risk, especially now, in this time of anger and incivility; but there is also, too, a huge need. Our world needs communication founded on courtesy, respect, dialogue and honesty, with listening and silence, just as it needs people who can share, with authenticity, the Good News and the joy which lies at the heart of these underlying values.
Above all, it needs communicators whose fundamental stance is one of love. As Pope Francis says in his Message for this day: God is not Solitude, but Communion; he is Love, and therefore communication, because love always communicates; indeed, it communicates itself in order to encounter the other.
And so today I give thanks for all those people of faith and goodwill I know who communicate - whether in person or online - with love and listening and joy; and I pray for them and for myself, that we can always learn and grow in this mission. And I leave you with this image, from the Irish Bishops, which particularly struck me this morning. May we be positive, joy-filled and effective communicators of Love, in real as well as digital highways - and may we fill our worlds and the internet with the strength and tenderness of this Love!
Thank you - trying my best to be civil and charitable in my little corner of the www
ReplyDeleteWell, that's one more little corner which is kind and loving :)
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