💀💀💀 ("What is Christianity?": The Last Writings of Pope Benedict XVI)

"[The attribute 'Catholic'] reminds us that the Church of Jesus Christ has never been concerned with only one nation or only one culture, but that from the start it was destined for humanity."
— Pope Benedict XVI, What is Christianity? The Last Writings

"So it is up to us who believe to open wide again and again the doors that lead beyond mere technology and pure pragmatism to the whole greatness of our existence, to the encounter with the living God."
— Pope Benedict XVI, What is Christianity? The Last Writings

"The Church is never a true influence in society when the world regards it as a morale builder, whose business it is to rubber-stamp the policies of a party in power."
— Fulton Sheen (Communism and the Conscience of the West)

"Joy needs to be communicated. Love needs to be communicated. Truth needs to be communicated. Someone who has received a great joy cannot simply keep it for himself; he has to hand it on."
— Pope Benedict XVI, What is Christianity? The Last Writings

Do not trust people who uses word games, linguistic trickery, to try to downplay the promotion of evil. The faith is not a game to be played, this is life-and-death.

"The intolerance of this apparent modernity with respect to the Christian faith has not yet turned into open persecution and yet manifests itself in an increasingly authoritarian way and legislates accordingly, aiming to achieve the extinction of what is essentially Christian."
— Pope Benedict XVI, What is Christianity? The Last Writings

Jimmy Akin on why he came to believe that Peter is the rock of Matthew 16:18 (Full Video: https://youtu.be/FUlmOqlCA5w)

"The victory of faith can always be achieved only in communion with Jesus Crucified."
— Pope Benedict XVI, What is Christianity? The Last Writings

"Sacred Scripture speaks only in the living community of the Church... Scripture, in terms of its totality, can be interpreted adequately only in the living Church."
— Pope Benedict XVI, What is Christianity? The Last Writings

Atheism, setting aside God, is contrary to human dignity.

"In setting God aside, man subjects himself to constraints that make him the slave of material forces and that thus are opposed to his dignity" (Pope Benedict XVI, What is Christianity? The Last Writings)

I've been reading the Rule of St. Benedict and Chapter 6 offered a good reminder. Everything I have read, from Scripture (e.g. Romans 8:26) to the Saints (e.g. Benedict's Rule, writers found within the Philokalia, and countless others), to modern figures such as Cdl. Sarah (The Power of Silence), have all spoken of the importance of silence.

I think this is something that needs to be taken into special consideration in light of the internet. For those of us who aren't called to be monastics, separated from the world, we cannot close ourselves off from the world but we also can't become devoured by it. We need to designate areas of our life where we engage in this willful silence and reorientation. The proverb quoted in the Rule says, "In much speaking, you will not avoid sin." How much more is this the case when we can speak with people around the world at all hours of the day? I know myself that the internet has been an occasion for sin due to this.

My solution, which I have been slowly implementing, is not to completely sever all connections but rather to simply be more intentional about when the noise of the world is allowed. There needs to be clear distinctions and boundaries so that aspects of the monastic life can be brought out. By being more intentional, limiting interaction to when/where it will be most fruitful, we can still engage and evangelize without becoming absorbed in the noise.

"The altar is the threshold of God's immanence. Through Christ, God ceased to be the Unknown, the Inaccessible One. He turned to us, came to us, and became one of us in order that we might go to Him and become one with Him."
— Meditations Before Mass by Romano Guardini

"No, the Church is not self-made; she was created by God, and she is continuously formed by him."
— Pope Benedict XVI, What is Christianity? The Last Writings