A Space for Seeking and Deepening

New Media and Evangelization

Blessed James Alberione is known as "the first apostle of the new evangelization" John Paul II. Following are his original writings on what was new media in his time, the press, and then an update of his reflections showing how Pauline Spirituality (Paul alive today) is perennial in addressing the needs of today and the means that brings gospel healing and hope to each person:

The Press - Program from Donec Formatur, 1932 (James Alberione)To write: it is to preach, to comment on, to popularize, and to apply to life the Holy Gospel. Just as God spoke and wrote, just as Jesus Christ spoke and made others write, just as the Apostles spoke and wrote. The printed preaching is in a better position, in its principal part, to reach all.
To print: Herein technology is embraced in order to make things faster, better, independently. It is the preparation of the elements, scientific organization, typesetting, printing, and binding. In this, it is not an art, not an industry, but utilizes industry; and raises art and industry to the height of apostolate.
Diffusion: let it reach everywhere, to all, according to needs. a) The nature of the needs determines the nature of the initiative. b) The aim is to reach all, including those who have access to the Church.
New Media - Program (Charismatic Language Update 2010)
To write: it is to preach, to review, to write scripts, radio programs, articles, to write blogs to use social media and marketing, to apply to life the Holy Gospel. Just as God spoke and wrote, just as Jesus Christ spoke and made others write, just as the Apostles spoke and wrote. Media preaching is in a better position, in its principal part, to reach all.
To create: Herein technology is embraced in order to make things faster, better, independently. It is the preparation of the elements, scientific organization, e-books, apps, printing, and books on demand, html, websites, and videos. In this, it is not an art, not an industry, but utilizes industry; and raises art and industry to the height of apostolate.
Diffusion: let the Word of God reach everywhere, to all, according to needs and in the language of the medium employed a) the nature of the needs determines the nature of the initiative. b) The aim is to reach all in whatever way and in whatever place people are in today’s global society.

Jesus' New Lifestyle

As the Apostle Paul demonstrated the authenticity of his apostolate with the persecutions, the wounds and the torments suffered (cf. 2 Corinthians 6-7), so persecution is also proof of the authenticity of our apostolic mission. But it is important to recall that the Gospel "takes shape in human consciences and hearts and expands in history only in the power of the Holy Spirit" (John Paul II, encyclical "Dominum et Vivificantem," 64) and the Church and missionaries have been made ideal by him to fulfill the mission entrusted to them (cf. Ibid., 25). It is the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Corinthians 14) who unites and preserves the Church, giving her the strength to expand, filling Christ's disciples with an overflowing wealth of charisms. It is from the Holy Spirit that the Church receives the authority for the proclamation and the apostolic ministry.

Because of this, I wish to strongly reaffirm what I already said in regard to development (cf. "Caritas in Veritate," 79), that is, that evangelization needs Christians with arms raised to God in a gesture of prayer, Christians moved by the awareness that the conversion of the world to Christ is not done by us, but is given. The missionary endeavor requires an ever more profound union with him who is the One Sent by God the Father for the salvation of all; it requires sharing that "new lifestyle" that was inaugurated by the Lord Jesus and that the Apostles made their own (cf. Address to the Participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for the Clergy, March 16, 2009).

The Real Facebook

How is it possible to return to people's faces today?" asked Benedict XVI. Quoting from his own Encyclical "Caritas in veritate", he explains how the media can have a civilising effect "not only when, thanks to technological development, they increase the possibilities of communicating information, but above all when they are geared towards a vision of the person and the common good that reflects truly universal values.

To achieve goals of this kind, they need to focus on promoting the dignity of persons and peoples, they need to be clearly inspired by charity and placed at the service of truth, of the good, and of natural and supernatural fraternity.

Only in these conditions can the epoch-making change we are experiencing be rich and fruitful in new opportunities. ... More than by our technical resources, necessary though they are, we wish to identify ourselves by inhabiting the [digital] universe with a believing heart which helps to give a soul to the endless flow of communications on the Internet.

This is our mission, the indispensable mission of the Church. The task of all believers who work in the media is that of 'opening the door to new forms of encounter, maintaining the quality of human interaction, and showing concern for individuals and their genuine spiritual needs. They can thus help the men and women of our digital age to sense the Lord's presence'".

What Works: Gossip - Busted Halo

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What Works: Gossip - Busted Halo
This is nothing new. In the Middle Ages, instead of Perez Hilton, its purveyors were roving minstrels (the French medieval term jongleur actually means “gossip”), but people have always been attracted to lurid news. I think it’s worse now because of the information age — the obsessive focus on information to create an illusion of control.

Need Faith? There's an App for That

Need Faith? There's an App For That

The Daughters of St. Paul, who run the Pauline Books and Media Center in Manhattan, are among the many Catholic groups using social media like Facebook and ...

www.cny.org/archive/ld/ld1072910.htm

Faith by Phone
Below is a list of some Catholic apps available for download, along with the Web site addresses for more information.
The Vatican: Vatican Observatory Foundation iPhone app, "Daily Sermonettes with Father Mike Manning," features Father Manning, author and television personality from "The Word in the World," which runs on Trinity Broadcasting Network, and his daily reflections inspired by Scripture. http://www.dailysermonettes.com/
Daughters of St. Paul: "Saint a Day" app, which features short meditations each day and a listing of saint's biographies, and "Rosary" app, featuring an audio rosary, slideshows for inspiration and music selections for praying the Rosary. www.pauline.org

Magnificat: "Daily Prayer" app, featuring morning, evening and night prayers inspired by the Liturgy of the Hours, and readings and prayers for each daily Mass. www.magnificat.com

Ave Maria Press: "Stations of the Cross" app, features a prayer companion based on Pope John Paul II's Bible-based interpretation of the stations. Available in iPhone and iTunes App Store.

Touched by the Gospel

In the years since entering the Daughters of St. Paul, I’ve served in our communications apostolate in Boston, New York City, and Toronto, both in our publishing house and in our Pauline Books & Media Centers. I studied theology and philosophy and graduated with a B.A. in English Communications from Emmanuel College in 2008. I’ve spent time with our sisters in Venezuela, Brazil, and Italy, and had the opportunity to meet other Daughters of St. Paul from all around the world, all engaged in the same mission — to bring the good news of the Gospel to everyone through the media. Today, I serve in our publishing house in Boston, Pauline Books & Media, as a children’s book editor. It is a service filled with endless creative possibilities, as I work and pray that young people will be touched by the Gospel and find in Jesus their true friend.
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Youngstown native to make final vows

Prayer in a Digital Age

Prayer of an Evangelizer in the Digital Age

Oh, Lord my God and my Creator, source of all things, I adore you and offer you each breath, each heart beat, each drop of blood that flows in my body, each moment as an act of love and surrender, in abandonment to you for your glory and the salvation of all people.

You are my Father and Savior. You are all good, merciful, compassionate, tender, passionate Lover of all humankind. You can do all things and you care for all your creatures. You have led people to discover the secrets of creation, especially in the media of social communication with their wondrous capacity of reaching out to the whole world in split seconds. And you have called me, [ as a Daughter of St. Paul,] to be an apostle in this digital age. Through the electronic signals I can send a message of love: I can send the message of Jesus who is Truth, Way, Life. You have called me to be a beam, a little signal shooting out to the universe, carrying Jesus and the message of his Father’s love for us all. This beam, this signal, runs through the atmosphere and consecrates the air and the electronic waves as it circles the earth in a never ending way that enables the Holy Gospel to reach millions upon millions of your sons and daughters in all the nations of the earth. We fulfill, in ways unknown to other generations, your command to “go out to the whole world and tell the Good News!”

I offer you, in union with Jesus through whom you created the universe, each fiber of paper, each pixel of the computer, each and every transmission generated by mankind’s ingenuity through these devices; each sound, each image. I offer every atom of all that exists back to you as acts of love and gratitude for the praise of your glory and the good of the vast human family.

Bless me and receive my love and gratitude, my promise to respect and use the communications media only for your glory and the salvation of everyone. Amen.
Written by Sr. Sharon Anne Legere, fsp, August 1, 2010

Anne Rice & the Church Home for all Peoples

Benedict XVI Prayer Intentions for August and Anne Rice's Statement of Leaving Christianity

"That those who are without work or homes or who are otherwise in serious need may find understanding and welcome, as well as concrete help in overcoming their difficulties. That the Church may be a 'home' for all people, ready to open her doors to any who are suffering from racial or religious discrimination, hunger or wars forcing them to emigrate to other countries".

While this intention has been send out across the social media sphere Anne Rice, the author of vampire stories, a two volume Life of Jesus and a new metaphysical series, has sent out her own statement of disbelief. I attended a Christmas party hosted by Anne about three years ago. She was a gracious host and she was living this prayer intention for a "home for all people..." This was a faithfilled reponse to the One who opened his heart and gave his life for all of us irregardless of our failures, sins, pride, wealth, poverty.

Anne could be considered a sincere seeker. The important thing for all of us seekers to remember is that we are not the one's who are seeking. God is coming toward us. Many mystics and saints experienced this reality of God's approach through darkness, suffering, misunderstanding, and confusion. How do we allow God to come close? Can we even "allow" God to come close? We have the gift of a free will to respond to God and God's love is not conditioned by our response. So we can "allow" God to come close. Jesus showed us what that looks like. In the Beatitudes Jesus calls blessed all those who respond, and tells us what following him in this response will look like (Matthew, Chapter 5). The Beatitudes encourage us, as Christians, to open our home and hearts to all people. Embracing these beatitudes, as signs of what a "new heart" looks like, we embrace Christ.

The world may not be ready to receive the gospel because it doesn't look like good news. To be honest each of us are a tagline and the slogan for the gospel - and that is humbling since we are going to remain imperfect bearers of the image of Christ. Followers of Christ won't "fit in" not because they are exclusive or prone to judgement, not because they follow certain rules that don't make sense - Christians are called to live the life of Christ: poor materially and/or spiritualy, groaning and mourning, as does all of creation, waiting for fulfillment, powerless, hungering and thirsting for being in right relation with God and others, merciful, living from a pure heart, bringing about reconcilation, persuing commuion and persecuted.

Our spiritual life as Christians is not "how did I do" or "what degree of prayer am I in now." It is not focused on us. It is about Christ. We are in Christ, we are a new creation, so we can "rejoice and be glad" even as we enter into the stuggle of kenosis - until it is Christ who lives, not I (Gal. 2:20). Anne is called, as are each us, to love as God loves. Jesus shows us what God's love looks like and what leads to the promise of blessedness. God has a passion to connect, a desire for relationship with us. The church as the body of Christ seeks together to deepen this relationship: "Amen," (meaning "I put my trust in you God. I take my stand here") "Teach me how to respond to your love."

You Are Never Alone

One Who Prays is Never Alone

The disciples asked Christ to teach them how to pray. Jesus raised no objections, He used no strange or esoteric formulae but with great simplicity said: 'When you pray, say: Father ... And he taught them the Our Father.

This prayer also comprehends and expresses the material and spiritual requirements of human beings. ... And precisely because of our everyday needs and difficulties, Jesus exhorts us: ... 'Ask and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you'.

This is not a request for our own desires to be satisfied, but for our friendship with God to be kept alive. This was the experience of the ancient Desert Fathers, and of contemplative people in all times who, through prayer, became friends of God. In this context he quoted words of St. Teresa of Avila who encouraged her nuns to "beseech God to deliver us from these perils for ever and to keep us from all evil! And although our desire for this may not be perfect, let us strive to make the petition. What does it cost us to ask it, since we ask it of One Who is so powerful?"

Each time we pray the Our Father, our voice mingles with the voice of the Church, because one who prays is never alone. ... May the Virgin Mary help us rediscover the beauty and profundity of Christian prayer.
Benedict XVI

Listening to the Word: Lectio Divina

Without love, even the most important activities lose value and fail to bring joy. Without profound meaning, whatever we do is simply activism, fruitless and haphazard. And who gives Love and Truth if not Jesus Christ?

Reflecting on Luke 10: 38-42, we read that Martha and Mary welcome Jesus into their home giving first place to what is effectively most important in life, listening to the Word of God, There is no scorn for active life, and certainly no scorn for generous hospitality; instead this gospel reminds us that the only thing, really necessary, is other: listening to the Word of the Lord; and the Lord, at that moment was there, present in the Person of Jesus! Everything else will pass away, it will be taken from us, but the Word of God is eternal and gives meaning to our daily activity. (Cf. Bendedict XVI)
Have you prayed the Word through Lectio Divina? Follow this link to divine reading of God's Word. Daily read God's word, said a Rabbi, when your heart breaks the Word falls in.

http://gospellives.blogspot.com/ (Gospel Lives in Me).

Life in Christ Jesus

Fr. James from the Apostleship of Prayer talks about what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus.

Worlds Oldest Illustrated Bible Found

The world's earliest illustrated Christian book has been saved by a British charity which located it at a remote Ethiopian monastery.
The incredible Garima Gospels are named after a monk who arrived in the African country in the fifth century and is said to have copied them out in just one day.
Beautifully illustrated, the colours are still vivid and thanks to the Ethiopian Heritage Fund have been conserved.
Abba Garima arrived from Constantinople in 494 AD and legend has it that he was able to copy the gospels in a day because God delayed the sun from setting.