The Ascension of the Lord - World Communications Day 2011
Year A - Acts 1.1-11; Ephesians 1.17-23; Matthew 28.16-20
Sunday, June 5th, 2011
The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is both our celebration of Christ’s entering into the Father’s heavenly glory and our renewal of Christ’s commissioning that he gave his disciples when he left this earthly life. The Father sent Christ into the world to bring about the kingdom of God. His ascension reconciles Heaven and Earth in his very person, carrying with him his divine and human natures in his resurrected body. On the one hand, we have the assurance that Christ’s death and resurrection have reconciled the world to the Father. On the other hand, Christ established the Church in order that we may continue his mission on Earth. This is why it is fitting that World Communications Day falls on Ascension Sunday.
In the First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles we read Luke’s account of Christ’s Ascension in which he emphasizes that Jesus will send the Holy Spirit in order that we may be his witnesses to the ends of the earth.
In the reading from the Gospel of Matthew we have another account of Christ’s Ascension in which we hear Jesus explicitly commission the disciples to continue his mission on Earth when he says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”
When the Second Vatican Council instituted World Communications Day in the Decree Inter Mirifica, the bishops emphasized the need for pastors to instruct the faithful on how to use media to complement their own religious instruction. They also emphasized the need for Catholics who work in the media to exercise responsibility and integrity, especially when reporting the news. Basically, the bishops made an appeal for Catholics to be morally responsible in both the use and production of media content. In the 1960s, the primary means of social communication were print and broadcast media: newspapers and magazines as well as radio and television. These technologies separated media producers from media consumers; they were essentially one-way forms of communication. Thus, the primary moral responsibility of journalists and broadcasters was to tell the truth, and the primary moral responsibility of consumers was to support sources of information that were credible. The bishops were concerned that the truth of the Gospel would be proclaimed and that these social means of communication would serve the common good of humanity.
Fast forward forty-five years and we find ourselves living in a media landscape that has been completely transformed by technological developments. The exponential spread of the Internet across the world and the explosion of the World Wide Web are leaving print and broadcast media in the dust. While changes in the delivery of information are having a significant impact on society, the communications revolutionary is the development from one-way broadcast media to two-way interactive media. When journalists post news stories on the Web, consumers can critique them by posting comments. Moreover, anyone with Internet access can now usurp the authority of corporate journalists by posting their own commentaries on a blog or using twitter, provided that other people subscribe and follow their postings. This means that the responsibility for using social communication technologies for proclaiming the truth of the Gospel no longer lies in the hands of the few people who work in the media, Catholic or otherwise. Those of us who use the Internet are now morally responsible for spreading the Gospel using social media.
Last year, during the Year of the Priest, in his World Communications Day message, Pope Benedict encouraged priests to participate in the spread of the Gospel using social media. Many priests and bishops now have their own blogs and podcasts.
This year’s World Communications Day message is entitled “Truth, Proclamation and Authenticity of Life in the Digital Age.” It challenges young people in particular to use social media responsibly. When I was attending the conference of the Society for Philosophy and Technology at the University of Northwest Texas last weekend, many people expressed their concerns about the ways that these new technologies are changing society. A common concern that is expressed, for example, in Sherry Turkle's recent book Alone Together, is that people, especially young people, who spend many hours a day using their computers and cell phones to interact with others online may actually be lacking in opportunities to develop their real world social skills. The Pope is very much aware of these concerns. While he encourages young people to engage others in the sharing of information, he also offers some cautious considerations. He asks, “Who is my ‘neigbour’ in this new world?” and goes onto state that, “It is important always to remember that virtual contact cannot and must not take the place of direct human contact with people at every level of our lives.”
Thus, the Pope challenges us to be authentic Christians in our use of communications technologies. He says, “… there exists a Christian way of being present in the digital world; this takes the form of a communication which is honest and open, responsible and respectful of others. To proclaim the Gospel through the new media means not only to insert expressly religious content into the different media platforms, but also to witness consistently, in one’s own digital profile and in the way one communicates choices, preferences and judgments that are fully consistent with the Gospel, even when it is not spoken of specifically.”
If you visit a news Web site and read some of the comments that people post, they are often inflammatory. Instead of offering an insightful response or a helpful critique, some people prefer to bash and insult what others say. This online “road rage” is called “flaming.” Even among Catholics, the remarks can get nasty. People who are civil and thoughtful in person can become down-right abusive online. The Pope challenges us to hold ourselves accountable to Christian ideals of conduct whether we are meeting with someone in person or engaging into an online dialog.
The Pope also reminds us that witnessing to the Gospel online is not a popularity contest. As he says, “We must be aware that the truth which we long to share does not derive its worth from its ‘popularity’ or from the amount of attention it receives. We must make it known in its integrity, instead of seeking to make it acceptable or diluting it. It must become daily nourishment and not a fleeting attraction.” If you enter the term “Pope John Paul” into Google Trends, the graphical analysis indicates a peak in 2005 that coincides to when he died and then its pretty much flat the present. If you also enter the term “Justin Bieber,” the graph quickly rises from 2009 to a 2011 peak that coincides with his not receiving a Grammy Award, representing a popularity that far exceeds “Pope John Paul.” Since the truth of the Gospel can be betrayed by trying to compete with the popularity of pop culture trends, it follows that our strategy for online evangelization should not be to get the Gospel to go viral.
As Pope Benedict explains, “The truth of the Gospel is not something to be consumed or used superficially; rather it is a gift that calls for a free response. Even when it is proclaimed in the virtual space of the web, the Gospel demands to be incarnate in the real world and linked to the real faces of our brothers and sisters, those with whom we share our daily lives.” We need to be satisfied with the small ways we can bear witness to be being Christians on the Web without attracting attention to ourselves. Moreover, just as God became incarnate in the divine person of Jesus Christ, the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be made incarnate by our actions in the real world.
With Christ ascended into Heaven, we are the one’s who continue his mission of building up the Kingdom of God on Earth. Social media can be used to promote the Gospel, not only by what we say, but also by the way we say it. We need both the presence of Christian content and a Christian presence on the Web. The early Christians were known for how they loved each other. May we continue to be known for how we regard one another, both in our real world communities and our online communications. Whether it’s likely to be popular or not, on this Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord, we should be using our online presence to teach people about the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, for his ascension into Heaven makes possible his spiritual communion with us on Earth. As Jesus said, “… remember I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Fr. Mark Morley
www.technologian.org
Posted at: www.technologian.org/2011/homily/world-communications-day-homily/