Now, in Chapter II: "From Awareness to True Encounter: Learning from the one who had compassion (cf. Luke 10:33)," our Vatican authors of the 2023 document say, "The reflection on our engagement with social media began with an awareness of how these networks work and the opportunities and challenges we face in them. If online social networks bear an inherent temptation towards individualism and self-aggrandizement, as described in the preceding chapter, we are not condemned will-nilly to fall into these attitudes. The disciple who has encountered the merciful gaze of Christ has experienced something else. He or she knows that communicating well begins with listening and an awareness that another person is before me. Listening and awareness aim to foster encounter and to overcome existing obstacles, including the obstacle of indifference. Listening in this manner is an essential step in engaging others; it is a first indispensable ingredient for communication and a condition for genuine dialogue" (paragraph 25).
"Listening is a fundamental skill that allows us to enter into relationships with others and not just engage in the exchange of information" (paragraph 30).
"Intentional listening in the digital context calls for listening with the 'ear of the heart.' To listen with the 'ear of the heart' goes beyond the physical ability to hear sounds. Instead, it impels us to be open to the other with the whole of our being: an openness of the heart that makes closeness possible" (paragraph 38; italics in the document).
Subsequently, our Vatican authors of the 2023 document say, "An inner dialogue and a relationship with God, made possible by the divine gift of faith, are essential in allowing us to grow in our ability to listen well. The Word of God also has a fundamental role in this inner dialogue. Prayerful listening to the Word of Scripture through the practice of spiritual reading of biblical texts, such as in [the practice known as] lectio divina, can be profoundly formative as it allows for a slow, deliberate, and contemplative experience" (paragraph 39).
Now, in Chapter III: "From Encounter to Community: 'Look after him' (Luke 10:35) - extending the healing process to others," our Vatican authors of the 2023 document say the following:
"Communication begins with connection and moves towards relationships, community, and communion. There is no communication without the truth of encounter. To communicate is to establish relationships; it is to 'be with.' To be community is to share with others fundamental truths about what one holds and what one is. Far beyond mere geographic-territorial or ethnic-cultural proximity, what constitutes a community is a common sharing of truth together with a sense of belonging, reciprocity, and solidarity, in the different spheres of social life" (paragraph 45).
Now, in Chapter IV: "A Distinctive Style: Love . . . and you will live (cf. Luke 10:27-28)," our Vatican authors of the 2023 document say that "communication is not simply a 'strategy.' It is much more. A true communicator gives everything, gives all of himself or herself. We communicate with our soul and with our body, with our mind, our heart, our hands, with everything" (paragraph 64).
Now, the anonymous evangelist known traditionally as Luke not only passed on the famous parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), which he attributes to the historical Jesus, but also the famous episodes of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus after the crucifixion of the historical Jesus on trumped up charges at the time of the Passover celebration in Jerusalem (Luke 24:13-35). Both include road imagery. In endnote 49 of the 2023 document "Towards Full Presence: A Pastoral Reflection on Engagement with Social Media," the Vatican authors offer us the etymology of the word "synod" (one of Pope Francis' favorite terms): "being synodal (from syn odos [also the root word of our term method]) means walking on the same road [as the two crushed disciples walked on to Emmaus, figuratively speaking?], walking together, moving forward."
Figuratively speaking, the optimal synodal process should proceed for the participants in the way in which the two crushed followers of the historical Jesus proceeded on the road to Emmaus with the fellow who joined them along the way.
As an aside to the discussion here of Luke 10:25-37 and Luke 24:13-35, I would like to note that the New Testament abounds in images - which call out for interpretation. In other words, the written texts in Greek represent a residual form of the imagistic thinking that the classicist Eric A. Havelock refers to in his landmark book Preface to Plato (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1963) - a work that the American Jesuit Renaissance specialist, cultural historian, and pioneering media ecology theorist Walter J. Ong (1912-2003; Ph.D. in English, Harvard University, 1955) never tired of touting.
Ong's review of Havelock's landmark 1963 book is reprinted in An Ong Reader: Challenges for Further Inquiry, edited by Thomas J. Farrell and Paul A. Soukup (Hampton Press, 2002, pp. 309-312).
In conclusion, I have briefly outlined and heighted the beautiful 2023 Vatican document "Towards Full Presence: A Pastoral Reflection on Engagement with Social Media." I hope that my highlights from the document have interested you enough that you will now go to the Vatican's website and print out a copy and read the entire document.
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