THE POPE’S MESSAGE FOR THE 57TH WORLD DAY OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS
For the past two years, the pope has proposed a sort of communication that stems out from going to see and listening. He set this as vital conditions that enhance efficient communication. Out of seeing and listening with the heart comes out this year’s theme that is: “Speaking with the heart, Truth in Love.” (Eph 4:15) It is the heart that spurs us to go and see and to listen and it is the heart that moves us to an open and welcoming way of communication. When we know how to listen, we can enter into dialogue and sharing which is a cordial way of communicating. Thus, speaking with the heart is a fruit of going to see and listening. The Holy Father challenges communication which is not based on the truth, or that compromises it. We must and should always communicate the truth even if it is at time uncomfortable, for it is another way of carrying out charity. Communication is basically not just disseminating information but verifying it to be the truth, from the heart which sees, a heart that reveals the truth of our being. With this, the miracle of encounter can take place with a heart-to-heart communication. According to the Holy Father, this entails looking at one another with compassion, welcoming our mutual frailties with respect rather than judging by hear-say and sowing discord and division.
COMMUNICATING CORDIALLY
Communicating cordially requires penetrating the heart of the other. Sharing in the joys and hopes and suffering of many persons of our time. To speak cordially to the other is to express love by caring and protecting their freedom. The involvement of the heart in communication affair, spurs sentiments of love, compassion and truth. The Pope cites the example of Jesus’ dialogue with the disciples on the way to Emmaus. He speaks to them with the heart, He accompanies them in their journey of suffering and disappointment with respect, proposing himself and not imposing himself.
Lovingly, he opens their hearts to understand the meaning of what had happened. Communicating with the heart soothes the sorrow and pain of the other and opens them to relate with love. Using this example, we can imagine how many people need this kind of cordial communication today. Those who carry with them wounds of suffering and rejection, those who have been judges and condemned rather than comprehended. The way we communicate to such people when we involve the heart can become a source of healing and encouragement and not of further injuries.
Speaking with the heart also means to seek and to speak the truth and to do so with charity. It must be the truth that uplifts the other, the truth that is critical of evil yet compassionate to the sinner. Speaking with the heart is loving and caring. Speaking with the heart can curb the cruelty that is around us because it is an antidote to violence and cruelty. The Holy Father makes reference to the words of St. Francis de Sales, patron of journalists who offers fascinating examples of speaking with the heart. His 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. St. Francis de sales spoke heart-to-heart and inspired generations of the faithful. He asserts that in order to speak well, it is enough to love well.
Inspired by the example of St. Francis de sales, communication should never be reduced to something artificial, to a marketing strategy, as we might say nowadays but it is rather a reflection of the soul, the visible surface of a nuclear of love that is invisible to the eyes. In the heart and through the heart, there comes about a subtle, intense and unifying process in which we come to know God.
He is the protector of the people with impairments in communication because from his word by loving well, he succeeded in communicating to the deaf-mute. The element of love distinguishes the way of communicating with the heart. With the heart, we communicate truth and we present ourselves as we are without false or exaggerated appearances. Today, communication is exploited so that the world may see us as we would like to be and not as we are. Involving the heart makes this genuine and real. This ideal poses a relevant question to the methodology and motivation of journalism today. Rather than see reality as we would love to see it, it redirects our view of reality to a genuine and sincere direction.
Journalism today must draw inspiration from Saint Francis De Sales, a saint of tenderness, seeking and telling the truth with courage and freedom and rejecting the temptation to use sensational and combative expressions. The truth must always stand out, become a core value in communication. It should not be compromised with anything and for anything.
SPEAKING WITH THE HEART IN THE SYNODAL PROCESS.
As stressed in the synod on synodality, there is a great need to listen and to hear one another. It is the most precious and life-giving gift we offer to each other. The synodal process is a call to listen without prejudice, attentively and openly so as to enable us speak according to God’s style. An integral view of the synodal process (Listening openly and attentively) and speaking with the heart leads to a comprehensive communication which is truthful and not partial. If the Church as a community attains this, then it will not be only a human achievement but, an achievement of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Our way of communicating puts us in relationship with God and our neighbour, especially the neediest.
We need a form of communication founded on humility in listening and audacity in speaking which never separates truth from charity. Speaking with the heart is essential to foster a culture of peace in places where there is war; to open paths that allow for dialogue and reconciliation in places where enmity and hatred rage. Communication from the heart and with the heart builds peace.
No wonder the Holy Father states that the destiny of peace is decided by the conversion of hearts. So, when we have journalists and communicators speaking with the heart after seeing and listening with the same, then we can arrive at peace. Besides, the formal trainings on communication, we need to train our hearts to see, to listen and to speak, this is the communication we need today to change the world.
