This is a reflection on "Silence & the Word: Path of Evangelization" by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 for World Communications Day or World Day of Communication. It is drawn from his Message for that day. Here is the link to his text:http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20120124_46th-world-communications-day.html

1. Silence & Word
Path of Evangelization
World Communication Day Message
2012

2. Silence & the Word
A forgotten aspect of communication?

3. Relationship between
silence and the Word
• Alternate and balance
• Integrate one with the other
• To allow authentic dialogue and
achieve deep closeness
between people

4. Communication
breaks down when
• Word & silence become mutually exclusive
• Giving rise to confusion and coldness

5. Communication acquires value
and meaning when
The Word and silence compliment
one another

6. Silence is an integral part of human
existence
When absent
Words rich in content
cannot exist

7. In silence
We can listen and understand ourselves

8. In silence
Ideas are born and deepen

9. In Silence
We gain clarity and understanding of
• What we want to say
• What we expect from others
• How we choose to express ourselves

10. In silence
We allow others to speak

11. In silence
We avoid being tied to our own
untested
point of view

12. In silence
Space is created for mutual listening and
deeper human relationships

13. In silence we observe
authentic communication
Facial expressions and body language are
how people reveal themselves to one another
in love (or not)

14. Silence is a powerful mode
of expression
All human living is communicated
• Joy
• Anxiety
• Suffering

15. Silence gives rise to active
communication
That requires
• Sensitivity
• A capacity to listen
These manifest
• The true nature and measure of
relationships

16. In noise
• Silence is essential for discernment
• To distinguish what is important from what is
insignificant or secondary.

17. In silence
Deeper reflection helps us discover links
between events
that at first seem unrelated

18. In silence
We can become media mindful
• Evaluate information
• Analyze messages

19. The media mindful person
Then shares thoughtful and relevant opinions
that give rise to an authentic body of shared
knowledge

20. Create your own media
environment, eco-system
A balance between
• Silence
• Words
• Images
• Sound

21. Search engines & social
media
Starting point for communication

22. Today the process of communication is
fueled by the search for answers
• Advice
• Ideas
• Information
• Answers

23. People are bombarded by answers to
questions
they have not asked
And needs they did not know they had

24. Silence is precious
• So we can focus on important questions
• Exercise discernment
• In the information surge and entertainment
stimuli in which we live

25. The human condition still
seeks existential meaning
• Who am I?
• Why am I here?
• What can I know?
• What am I to do?
• What may I hope?

26. In silence
• We affirm those who ask these questions when
we can give more than a hasty answer
• We then open the possibility for profound
dialogue
• We call them to silent reflection
• … and to reach into the depths of their being
and open themselves to what God has written
on their hearts

27. Constant flow of
questions
• Demonstrates the restlessness of the
human heart
• People constantly searching for truths of
lesser or greater import
• … to give meaning to their lives

28. We all yearn and search
for truth
But we cannot rest content with a superficial
and unquestioning exchange
of skeptical opinions
and experiences of life

29. “When people exchange
information, they are already
sharing themselves, their view of
the world, their hopes,
their ideals”

30. Pay attention
Know where websites and
social network sites are that can help
people find time for reflection

31. Create
• Provide content for reflection
• Prayer experiences
• Meditation
• Sharing the Word
• Living the Word

32. Tweet the Word
But concise phrases still need the context of a
cultivated inner life

33. World religious traditions:
silence is a privileged state
For people to rediscover self and the Truth that
gives meaning to all things

34. The God of revelation
needs no words

35. In darkness God
speaks in silence

36. Eloquent, loving silence

37. After Christ’s death there is a great
silence over the earth, and on Holy
Saturday, when
“the King sleeps and God slept in
the flesh and raised up those who
were sleeping from the ages”
God’s voice resounds,
filled with love for humanity.

39. “We need that silence that
becomes contemplation
that introduces us into God’s
silence and brings us to the
point where the redeeming Word
is born.”

40. Silent contemplation
• Brings forth, with inner power
• The urgent sense of mission
• The compelling obligation to communicate
what we have seen and heard
• So that all may be one, in communion with
God and one another

41. Silent contemplation
• Immerses us in the grandeur of God
• And the source of Love
• Who directs us to our neighbour
• So we can feel their suffering
• And as a response offer them
• The light of Christ
• His message of life
• His saving gift of the fullness of love

42. Silent contemplation
• Leads us to the eternal Word, the Creator of
the world
• Who becomes more present to us
• Makes us aware of God’s plan being
accomplished in history

43. Divine Revelation
• God’s deeds and words have an inner unity
• The deeds wrought by God are confirmed by
the realities signified by words
• While the words proclaim the deeds and
clarify the mystery contained in them
• (Dei Verbum, 2)

45. Only in the mystery of
Jesus
can the restless
human heart
find peace

46. In silence we learn “to communicate
that which we have seen and heard”
(1 Jn: 1-3)

47. This mystery impels us
to become heralds of hope & salvation
and witnesses of that love which
promotes human dignity
and builds justice and peace

48. learning to communicate
anew is learning to listen and
contemplate
- as well as speak
Word and silence

49. To Mary, whose silence “listens to the Word
and causes it to blossom” I entrust all the
work of evangelization which the Church
undertakes through the means of social
communication.
- Benedict XVI