Would you
like to read the Sacred Scripture and avail of biblical reflection as well? Just
to mention but some, you may choose among these sites where to find both the
daily biblical text and its commentary.
Would you
like to pray the breviary? In the following links the breviary will be
available in a digital form. For your daily prayer your may download it
directly to your mobile phone. It’s very handy!
Italian
Spanish
Were you so
busy why not listening to the breviary in mp3 files while travelling?
You may
access to the breviary in English by downloading the text or listening to it in
mp3. Podcast, iTunes, iPhone and iPod app are also available,
Are you
interested in the rosary? It is available online by some groups who recite the
rosary in a way similar to that or Radio Maria. For your convenience it is
possible to download it in mp3
Straight
from the Holy Land (in English or Spanish)
Are you
interested in the Mass online? Audio and video files of Holy Mass and Angelus
by the Holy Father are available from the web site of the Holy See.
Parishes
and shrines of important places have their own blogs or links where one can avail
of the holy Mass on line.
On line
from Lourdes
On line from
Medjugorje http://www.cuoreimmacolato.it/MIR.asp
From the Passionist
Community of St. Ann
From
churches or shrines
Would you
like to have a spiritual retreat or deepen your prayer life? Many the Catholic
links through which you may enrich yourself and come across spiritual readings,
reflections and tools for discernment. Francesco Diani has come out with a good
list of the Italian Catholic links.
Are you
looking for a spiritual director? Take a look here: http://www.pretionline.it/ You may choose to whom you want to talk, be it a diocesan
priest or a religious priest, a religious of apostolic life or a bishop, a
deacon of a religious institute or a permanent deacon. The choice is with you.
Well done! By
going through web pages you may get acquainted with the calendar of activities
prepared by your parish and all the news you need to get in touch with your
friends in the parish.
All these possibilities
make me think. A question arises. Is the Internet a vehicle to achieve
perfection by making available so many proposals in the spiritual sphere? If I
follow whatever is available can I achieve Christian holiness? Well, almost everything is there. What else
do you need? Are you interested in the Mass, maybe the rosary? Do you want to
talk to a priest? All of this is possible from home. It is like a do-it-yourself
formula of the spiritual life. Do you want to chant or just to follow the
breviary while driving? It is possible now. Would you like to pray while
travelling by train? Through IPod or IPhone now you can.
Do you think it is possible to achieve holiness
by availing of these means?
First of
all I do believe it is a must to clarify the expression “Paths to holiness”
What do we really mean by that? By reading the biography of saints or taking a
look at the spiritual journey, from the
time of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ until now, I would dare saying that the
expression “paths to holiness refers to the choices being sought by the believer in
order to remain attuned to the will of God.
Let us take
a look together to the experiences of people in love with God along the history
of Christianity.
In the
beginning saints where those people called by Jesus in a specific way. Only 12
people had been called to remain with him in a closer way. Here we do not look
at their initial moral or spiritual qualities, which sometimes have surprised
us. Besides the 12 we find afterwards the circle of the 72 disciples, some
families closer to Jesus, a number of women and eventually the crowd.
.
After the Calvary event, discipleship
puts on a different appearance due to the experience of persecution and
martyrdom. The majority of Christians would not want to die as martyrs though if it
had been the case they would have been ready to face death. They were not afraid of dying because of their
conviction to belong to the Lord. «For none of us lives to himself alone and
none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and
if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or
die, we belong to the Lord.» (Rm 14,7-8). Going through their lives, one
may think that the testimony of the martyrs belongs to the past. It is not the
case. Every age, has its own martyrs. The novelty only rests on the historical
circumstances. The lives of martyrs cannot be seen as an isolated chapter of a
book. Martyrdom is always actual since the truth about love is manifested in
its fullness.
After the
time of the early persecutions, there was a search for an alternative way to
love in its deepest way. The search was on how to follow the Lord with all one’s
heart with all one’s mind with all one’s strength with all one’s soul. An answer was found in the experience of life
in the desert. The desert was the battle ground for the real fight against
evil, the place of the combat against the devil. In the solitude of the
hermitage the monks would engage, with all their strength, in a battle against
the vices of the flesh. True Christian would be considered those to be found in
the desert to fight against the devil.
The
development of hermitical life bears witness to the appearance of the monastery
marked by walls in stark contrast with the open space of the hermitage. Life inside the walls is
ordered under a rule and the guide of an abbot. Let us quote once more the
motto: “Ora et labora” by St.
Benedict. Here prayer life and work are found in an ideal balance. The chapel becomes the central place of prayer
for a fruitful daily commitment.
During the
second millennium, there is a shift. Social reality and technological advances coupled
with the grown awareness of one’s national identity influence the understanding
of Christian perfection. Monks are still found in the desert as well as in the
monastery and yet the horizon becomes wider. The Church teaches the faith inside the halls. New forms of religious life are born. Dominicans and Franciscans,
preachers and mendicants meet people not just in the place of worship but in
the halls. As a matter of fact the fraternal aspect becomes a distinguishing
mark of the new forms of religious life.
.
The
discovery of the “New World ” marks the widening
of the concept of discipleship. Besides the desert or the convent, the faithful
wonders whether it is possible to follow the Lord in the world as such. The
paths of holiness are not found exclusively inside the Church gathered in
prayer or in the debating community; the world itself becomes the space of the
encounter with God. Paths of holiness are found along the roads of the world
with its problems: political, economic social and cultural together with the
joys and sorrow. On this regard, missionary life comes with a challenging
statement: all the roads of the world offer paths to achieve Christian
perfection. The word «departure» echoes sound and clear in fulfilment of the mandate « "Go into all the world and preach the
good news to all creation. » (Mk 16,15) that « all the ends of the earth will
see the salvation of our God. » (Is 52,10).
What about
our time? A good question! We are just at the beginning of the Third millennium.
We are indeed aware of some important changes. Just to mention but one: the incredibly fast development of technology
in 10 years before and after 2000. Children born in this time are “born digital.”
Practically they are born with the cell phone under their pillow. Their past is
software version 1.0. Version 2 is not yet stable. This is a new generation in
transition which is looking for a new life style. These are those who will
learn sooner or later the new network.
A change of
habit is already noticeable. Let us mention of the Masses broadcasted, on line,
by the Vatican during important events, or the recitation of the holy rosary
involving 5 continents, one for each mystery, or just simply let us consider
the presence in the cyberspace of blogs and websites (we have just mention some)
and so on. In short, the technological development of communication makes
possible a pseudo prayer encounter o even a pseudo community.
The typical
question: by means of the web which carries possibilities as well as pitfalls,
can one find a path to holiness?
A list of
possible means has been enlisted above. These are tools aimed at fulfilling the
only goal to follow God’s will, the ultimate and sole end of the discipleship.
It is a
communal endeavour which therefore binds us as pilgrims ready to reach
destination in fulfilling God’s will.
Discipleship
is neither a personal affair nor a journey which puts oneself at the centre neglecting
God’s grace and the community. We are never alone. Even a hermit, who lives in
the desert, possesses a spirit of brotherhood and a caring community. Why to
mention this aspect? The presence of so many web tools can also be a trap if we
of think that we can save ourselves or estrange ourselves from the Church on
account of its shortcomings. The means of technology are meant to help us grow
in the faith without being a replacement or substitute of the community.
Act 2:42-48
summarize the basics of the life of a community and its distinguished marks:
@
Listen
to the teaching
@
Fraternal
love
@
Breaking
of bread
@
Prayer
While the
first and the fourth aspect of the Christian community can be achieved, the
technological means that we posses, are incapable of actualizing the Eucharist and are insufficient to create
the conditions for the existence of fraternal bonds needed for a real community of disciples.
@ «Credere
Oggi: Internet e Chiesa», 183 (2011)
@ Scifo,
B – Arnoldi P., eds., Internet e
l’esperienza religiosa nella rete
@ Di
Montelera, E., Linguaggio dello schermo e
linguaggio della fede
@ Slevin,
J., Internet and society
Grazie di cuore al P. Emanuele sx per questa traduzione
dalle "Vie di santità online"
