The Catholic Monitor

Benedict XVI Calls for Silence to Hear God Affirms the Lord Is Always Close, Always Good to Us SULMONA, Italy, JULY 4, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Silence might be a fearful thing to modern man, but Benedict XVI is encouraging an acceptance of interior and exterior silence, so as to be able to hear God's voice, and the voices of our neighbors. The Pope said this today during his one-day trip to Italy's Abruzzi region, devastated in 2009 by an earthquake. His trip marked the 800th anniversary of the birth of Celestine V, the only Pope in history to abdicate Peter's Throne. During a very warm open-air Mass with some 25,000 faithful, the Holy Father reflected on the life of his 13th-century predecessor, not focusing on his five months of papacy, but rather on his holiness of life. It is his holiness that keeps Celestine V in history some 800 years after his birth, Benedict XVI said. "Holiness, in fact, never loses its own power of attraction, it is not forgotten, it never goes out...

This month I would like to consider the issue of the electronic media that saturates and dominates our lives more and more. In many ways it has marginalized traditional culture, and sometimes displaces it altogether. Yet the Church calls us to use the new media to evangelize, by bringing the presence of truth and beauty into the mainstream of contemporary society. As Anton Casta of St. Max Media once wrote, the Roman empire was often brutal and had many victims, yet the Apostles walked far along the roads built by the Romans in order to bring the Gospel to the known world. Where are our new Roman roads? Are they not the vehicle of internet and film and the spreading of traditional culture such as music and the visual arts through new e-media? While there remain unresolved questions regarding the sheer volume of material being poured into our lives, and its power to reshape consciousness in unhealthy ways, there is a clear call to regain this territory for Christ. I would like to draw y...