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"We must always lead others towards heaven. But we must lead those who live today, not those who lived ten or more centuries ago. We have to take the world and mankind as they are today, in order to do good today." Bl. James Alberione The Media as Wondrous Gifts of God, Given for Our Sanctification Part Three: By Fr. Bob (Bernard R.) Bonnot, S.T.L., Ph.D. Vatican II affirms anew that every human being is called to be holy, to enter into divine communion, to become like God. Baptized members of the Church should be highly conscious of that call. As a people brought into the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Church is a community constituted by the divine communio. We become "holy," "godly," by letting God’s love flow through us in our love for one another. That is how we establish a communion of persons in God. Communication is a means of communion, and today’s media are the means we use quite a lot to communicate and be communicated with. So the media are significantly bound up with our holiness, our godliness, our spirituality. Too many in the Church still see the media as mere instruments or tools, useful to get something worthwhile done but not directly of much spiritual value. They do not see the media as central or even helpful to the actual experience of God. Perhaps many see the media as "superficial sensual stimulation,"[1] leading nowhere because they approach the media mainly for entertainment and amusement. Marshall McLuhan proposed that the media’s sensual stimulatio, in fact, effects profound changes in the human psyche and in human society. He argued that the electronic media in particular cause a major shift in our way of thinking, our grasp of values, our worldview. Our "sensibility" changes. Our sense of time changes. The media revolutionize our sense of self and the meaning of life. Such change is not superficial. It transforms us at a basic and spiritual level. Media do indeed impact our senses, but through them they touch our spirit. They cut to that intersection of sensory data and spiritual dynamism which generates in each of us our uniquely human sense of purpose. Religious educator Pierre Babin describes this effect of electronic media as an "imprint on our nervous system,"[2] a "modulation," a "vibration." He welcomes it. The goal of religious education is discipleship, getting people to relate to Jesus from their hearts and to follow him. In this perspective, the ability of the electronic media to move people, to open us deeply to some interior touch, is a plus. The media impact what we think about, even what we think, what we choose to be part of and who we are. God’s Spirit can and does work through such "modulation" of our eyes and ears and nervous system to enable God’s Word to become flesh in us, as it did in Mary. The Spirit’s impact on her was not just a bright idea in her mind. It was the conception of a child in her womb. One of her eggs became fertile! One cannot imagine a more profound vibration or modulation of one’s innermost being. It was simultaneously sensory, physical and spiritual with significance for all humankind, for all of history, for the universe. We see then that communication is central to God’s eternal and cosmic call to holiness. Today’s media play a big role in that process. The media stimulate us in ways that go far beyond our minds, enabling spiritual conversion at a deep level. Vatican II theologians like Karl Rahner and Bernard Lonergan understood that. They grasped that communication is the very heart of the divine-human relationship. They taught that the core of Christianity is God’s self-communication to humans. The theological term for this communication to us is "grace." Sanctifying grace is God’s gift within us that enables us to believe and to become friends with him and with others in him. Once God sanctifies us by communicating that capacity, we need "actual graces" to activate it here and now, stimulating our profound spiritual capacity to "see" God at work in our life as we live it. Thus the "spiritual life" is mediated by grace. That is precisely what effective communication does through various "media," from sacraments to boom boxes, to TVs and computer screens. It’s simply marvelous. God calls us to holiness through these media. That’s what Vatican II saw, however dimly, when it adopted Inter mirifica 40 years ago in 1963. The media are "among the marvels" that "man’s genius has with God’s help" produced, marvels capable of "directly touch[ing] the human spirit ... not merely [of] single individuals but the very masses and even the whole of society." [Inter mirifica, #1] The media of our day help us achieve and experience communio; they help us become holy -- if and when we approach them as gifts of God given to help us do that. Fr. Bob Bonnot is a priest of the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, U.S.A. currently serving as Senior Vice President of Programming for the Hallmark Channel in Los Angeles, California. Ordained in 1967, he has spent nearly 25 years in communication ministry.
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