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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 5: By Fr. Bob (Bernard R.) Bonnot, S.T.L., Ph.D. I pray that readers of this series by now have turned with the Church of Vatican II to see the media as gifts of God given for our sanctification. The stark fact that one of only sixteen conciliar documents dealt with the media should put them on the horizon and agenda of every Christian belonging to the "Church in the modern world." So far in these essays I have said nothing about the "social" or "mass" dimension of the media in the Council’s perspective. Actually, the formal English title for Inter mirifica is "The Decree on the Means of Social Communication." In the United States we typically talk about "mass media." Both terms -- "mass media" and "instruments of social communication" -- reference the modes of communication that reach and influence the whole of society. In another context I would emphasize this "mass" or "social" dimension of the media, highlighting all the Church has done since Vatican II to use the media as instruments for influencing society and to critique how the media are functioning in society. In these essays I am speaking to readers as individual consumers of media, encouraging you to approach the media appreciatively as gifts of God and to receive them as a grace, a sacrament to advance your individual quest for holiness. Looking to the future, how can we best receive the media as "gifts given for our sanctification"? I offer four directions for growing in holiness with and through the media. Media Asceticism. We tend to think of ascetics as persons who eat little while praying and doing penance a lot. Actually, ascetics are simply persons who have made God the most important factor in their lives and who have developed a lifestyle in their situations that encourages and enables them to open themselves to God’s presence at all times. That goal may motivate some to go into a highly controlled environment, such as a monastery, but not all ascetics are monks or nuns. We who live "in the world" need an equivalent asceticism for our context and lifestyle. God is ever present offering grace and love to us in many ways, including through the media. Our task is to shape our environment in such a way that it encourages and enables us to be attentive to God’s presence and gifts at all times -- including when we watch television, listen to the radio or go to a movie. The media choices we make either focus us or distract us. The key is how we construct our environment. Monks, after all, live human lives just like the rest of us, but their choices shape their environment in a particular way. We who live in the media-sphere rather than a monastery need to do the same. That is what asceticism does. Our quest for holiness will be enhanced if we consciously develop a media asceticism and establish a supportive media environment. Media Literacy. One requirement of media asceticism is knowing how to read the resources that surround us, that is, being media literate. Monasteries collected libraries of sacred texts and taught monks and lay people how to read them and how to write. They became centers of literacy. Treasuring the electronic media we collect today as gifts of God and knowing how to read them is an important dimension of the media asceticism every family and household needs. Few things are as ascetical, as difficult and as demanding as learning how to read and write. We all can remember the discipline it required of us when we were in kindergarten and first grade. So too does media literacy require this kind of discipline in today’s increasingly media-filled world. Media Menu. People today are health conscious. We know that what we eat makes a difference in our bodily health, in our energy levels, in the way we feel. Responsible persons plan their menu with thought and care. Our supermarkets allow us to fill our carts -- and later our bodies -- with either junk food or health food. When we eat out, we can choose fast food that will taste great but will leave us bulky, bloated and full of fat, salt and sugar, or we can patronize a healthier eatery. As followers of Jesus who see our bodies as gifts of God, we are called to eat wisely. Similarly, Jesus calls us to be thoughtful about our media menu, rich as it is with choices from constructive to destructive. We need to decide thoughtfully and prayerfully what media we shall consume, when and how much. The media can help us grow in holiness by opening us to the gifts of God. Our media choices enhance and multiply the ways that God can touch our lives or not. We must decide whether the TV or radio is on, when it is on, what station it is tuned to, how attentive we shall be to it, and so forth. To use the media in a way that sanctifies requires as much menu planning as a good chef or parent uses to plan meals that are both tasty and nourishing. There is increasing evidence that media choices already affect children in the womb. Liturgical Media Arts. A common center of our Catholic media experience is one we seldom consider in those terms -- liturgy. Our liturgical approach to God should be a major element of our Media Asceticism and Media Menu in our post-Vatican II media-saturated culture. Our liturgical environment is already highly "media-ted." Sacraments themselves are "media-tions" of God’s grace. The water and oil, bread and wine we use are all media, as are the statues, images, vestments, symbols and stained glass that fill our gathering spaces. So too are our microphones and loud-speaking systems. Today we must add video screens and electronic visual media, today’s "stained glass," to our liturgical media mix. As communities seeking holiness, we need to build and/or adapt our worship space to integrate these increasingly rich visual ways of opening our inner depths to God and celebrating God’s presence and gifts. We have barely begun growing into this liturgical way of using God’s media gifts for our sanctification. One tremendous aide to our thinking in these terms is the Daughters of St. Paul publication Lights, Camera, ... Faith! by Rose Pacatte, FSP, and Father Peter Malone, MSC. It offers the gift of a specific movie coordinated with the Scriptures for each Sunday of the three-year lectionary cycle. Together they powerfully help us open ourselves to the gifts of God. Worship spaces equipped with integrated video screens can use clips of those films and other visuals to help worshippers open themselves more deeply to God’s Word and Spirit, and thus to enter more fully into the communio the Father offers. We have come a long way since the publication of Inter mirifica on December 4, 1963. We have a long way yet to go. May God continue to guide us at the dawning of this new media age as we progress ever more fully into the creativity and the holiness which is the communio of God. That communio constitutes both the Church and our sanctification. 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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