This document discusses the importance of balancing silence and words in communication. It argues that integrating silence allows for deeper reflection, discernment, understanding and meaningful dialogue between people. When silence is absent, communication breaks down and words lose their richness. The document encourages cultivating inner silence through contemplation in order to hear God's voice and be impelled to communicate truth and hope to others.

1. Silence and Word
Path of
Evangelization
A Journey through the
World Communication Day Message
2012

2. Silence and the Word
A forgotten aspect of communication?

3. Integration
• Alternate and balance silence and the
word.
• Integrate one with the other.
• A proper integration of silence and word
allows for authentic dialogue and deep
closeness between people

4. Communication
breaks down when word
and silence become
mutually exclusive giving
rise to confusion and
darkness.

5. When word and
silence compliment
one another
communication
acquires value and
meaning

6. Silence is an integral part of
human existence
When silence is
absent,
words rich in content
cannot exist.

7. In silence
we can
listen to and
understand
ourselves

8. In silence
ideas are
born and
deepen

9. Authentic Communication
In silence we gain clarity and
understanding of:
•What we want to say
•What we expect from others
•How we choose to express ourselves

10. By keeping silence we allow others to speak

11. In the practice of
silence
we avoid being tied to
our own untested
point of view.

12. We create space for mutual listening and
deeper human relationships

13. Facial
expressions
and body
language
are how
people
reveal
themselves
to one
another in
love (or not)

14. Silence is eloquent
Through silence
we communicate
all of human living:
joys, anxieties,
sorrows, dreams

15. Discernment
When there is a lot of noise around
us, silence is essential for
discernment
in order to distinguish
what is important
from what is insignificant or secondary.

16. Reflection
Deeper
reflection
helps us
discover links
between
events
that at first
seem
unrelated.

17. Silence and media
We can
become
media mindful
when we
evaluate
information
and analyze
messages.

18. Media mindfulness
The person
who is
media
mindful
shares
thoughtful
and relevant
opinions.

19. Create your own media
eco-system
Balance
• Silence
• Words
• Images
• Sound

20. Searching
Today the process of communication
is fueled by the search for answers
Advice
Solutions
Google
Information Ideas

21. People are bombarded
by answers
to questions
they have not asked
and solutions to needs
they did not know they had

22. Silence is precious
• Silence lets
us focus on
important
questions
• Silence helps
us exercise
discernment

23. The human condition still
seeks existential meaning
• Who am I?
• Why am I here?
• What can I know?
• What am I to do?
• What may I hope?

24. • We affirm those who ask these questions when
we can give them more than a hasty answer
• We then open the possibility for profound
dialogue
• We call them to silent reflection and to reach
into the depths of their being and open
themselves to what God has written on their
hearts

25. Questions
• The constant flow of questions
demonstrates the restlessness of the
human heart.
• People are constantly searching for
truths of lesser or greater import to give
meaning to their lives.

26. We all yearn for truth
We cannot rest
content with a
superficial
and unquestioning
exchange
of skeptical opinions
and experiences
of life.

27. “When people exchange
information, they are already
sharing themselves, their view
of the world, their hopes,
their ideals.”

28. Pay attention
Know
websites
and social
network sites
that can help
people find time
for reflection.

29. Tweet the Word
Tweets, however, still need the context of a
cultivated
inner life

30. We need the silence that
becomes contemplation, a
silence that introduces us into
God’s silence and brings us to
the point where the
redeeming Word is born.

31. Inner power
Contemplation brings forth:
• the urgent sense of mission
• the compelling obligation to communicate
what we have seen and heard
• so that all may be one, in communion with
God and one another

32. Silent contemplation
Contemplation
immerses us in the
grandeur of God
and the source of
Love who directs us
to our neighbor.

33. Silent contemplation
• Silence leads us to the eternal Word, the
Creator of the world who becomes
more present to us.
• Contemplation makes us aware of
God’s plan being accomplished in
history.

34. Only in the
mystery
of Jesus
can the restless
human heart
find peace

35. In silence
we learn
“to communicate that which we
have seen and heard.”
(1 Jn. 1:3)

36. Impelled by Mystery
This mystery impels us
to become heralds of hope and salvation
and witnesses of that love
which promotes
human dignity
and builds justice
and peace

37. To Mary, whose silence “listens to
the Word and causes it to
blossom,” I entrust all the work of
evangelization which the Church
undertakes through the means of
social communication.
- Benedict XVI