Effatà: Open Wide
Carlo Maria Martini - Ed. Centro Ambrosiano Milano. Pag. 108 - L. 6.000
We strongly recommend reading a recent pastoral letter from Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini on the theme of "communication." It offers vital reflection and insight into how we live in the modern world.
The title "Effatà: Open Wide" echoes Jesus's words at the moment he healed the deaf-mute man. "In this man, who cannot communicate and whom Jesus thrusts into the joyful whirlwind of authentic communication, we can read a parable of our own difficult interpersonal, ecclesial, and social communication." Martini structures the letter in three parts: first, to see our situation as it presents itself within us, in our families, in society, in the Church, and in mass communication; second, to listen and contemplate, to let ourselves be touched and healed by Jesus; and third, to act and reopen the channels of communication at every level.
He emphasizes: "All that touches on conscience, responsibility, justice, peace, and care for the environment is part of a language accessible to all, rooted in the Lord's creative and redemptive work. The way we behave and interact in daily life—in our relationships with one another, in business and politics, in the thousand small daily contacts we have at home, at work, and in our leisure time—wherever even modest and simple moral choices are at stake (such as offering a kind word or correct information), these actions can radiate such values to the measure of the intensity with which we live them, or deny them, or attack them."