Fides Media Living the Faith
By Fr Constantine Echichechi Okoli
ComWEEK, the one week long programme of events leading up to this year’s celebration of the World Day of Communications came to an end on Sunday, 21st May, 2023. Speaking during the Mass marking the event, at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Awka, the Catholic Bishop of Awka, Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor, represented by the Director of Fides Media (The Social Communications Directorate of the Catholic Diocese of Awka) Rev. Fr. Dr. Robert Anagboso, thanked the entire Awka Diocesan clergy and laity for participating in the activities of the 2023 World Day of Communications.
Fr. Anagboso explained that the 2023 World Day of Communications was its 57th Edition since inception in 1967 by Pope Paul VI. At the time, according to him, the Holy Father enjoined the Universal Church to appreciate and engage the modern means of communication as a powerful tool for evangelization.
‘Since then, the Church has not relented in this multifarious mission of disseminating the message of Christ, across the Hi Techs of our time,’ Fr Anagboso noted.
This year, the Supreme Pontiff, His Holiness, Pope Francis, invited the world to reflect upon the theme: ”Speaking with the Heart, The Truth in Love” (Eph 4:15). According to the Pope, ‘It is the heart that spurred us to go, to see and to listen, and it is the heart that moves us towards an open and welcoming way of communicating.’
The Holy Father said that if the world should be a better place of peace, love and progress in this digital age, everyone must learn to communicate in love. Characteristically, the Pope gave a few tips on how to communicate with the heart, speaking the truth in love. There are five ways.
- Communicating with a Pure Heart: People’s heart must be purified. “Only by listening and speaking with a pure heart, can we see beyond appearances and overcome the vague din which, also in the field of information, does not help us discern in the complicated world in which we live.”
- Communicating Cordially. “Communicating in a cordial manner means that those who read or listen to us are led to welcome our participation in the joys, fears, hopes and suffering of the women and men of our time. Those who speak in this way love one another because they care and protect their freedom without violating it.”
- Communicating Heart to Heart. One of the brightest and still fascinating examples of “speaking with the heart” is offered by Saint Francis de Sales. According to the Pope, Francis de Sales had a meek attitude, humanity and willingness to dialogue patiently with everyone, especially with those who disagreed with him, made him an extraordinary witness of God’s merciful love. One could say about him: “A pleasant voice multiplies friends, and a gracious tongue multiplies courtesies” (Sir 6:5).
- Speaking with the heart in the Synodal Process. “In the Church, too, there is a great need to listen to and to hear one another. It is the most precious and life-giving gifts we can offer each other,” the Pope enjoins.
- Disarming souls by promoting a language of peace: Quoting the book of proverbs 25:15 The Pope maintained that “A soft tongue will break a bone.” Today, more than ever, speaking with the heart is essential to fostering a culture of peace in places where there is war; to open paths that allow for dialogue and reconciliation in places where hatred and enmity rage. In the dramatic context of the global conflict we are experiencing, the Holy Father reminded all about the urgency of maintaining a form of communication that was not hostile. It is necessary to overcome the tendency to “discredit and insult opponents from the outset rather than to open a respectful dialogue.”