Rome (Italy). Come and see (Jn 1: 46). Communicate by meeting people how and where they are. This is the theme of the 55th World Communications Day which will be celebrated in May 2021. Pope Francis chose the words of the Apostle Philip to remind us that it is by knowing the life of others, participating in it, one can understand the meaning of things.
In the time of the pandemic, with the distancing imposed by the lockdown, “in the epochal change we are living”, communicating “makes possible the needed closeness to recognize what is essential and truly understand the meaning of things”.
The words ‘Come and see’, spoken by Jesus to Nathaniel, recall that the “Christian proclamation before being in words, is made by gazes, witnessing, experiences, encounters, closeness. In a word, by life”. A life that is interwoven with the truth born from the encounter with people, participating in the joys and sorrows each one lives.
God meets you where you are is a guide for those who are committed to inform, to weave communication networks, and to recount the Good News. In the call of the first disciples, when Jesus goes to meet them and calls them to follow Him, there is an invitation for today to use diverse instruments and media to reach people as they are and where they live.
Come and see. This is the experience of those who have encountered the Lord which arouses many other fascinating experiences. This creates a chain of courageous witnesses who, link after link, lead directly to the person of the Lord. Starting from this conviction, one can be a proclaimer of Jesus, recounting the experience of welcoming a sister, a brother, a young person, a poor migrant precisely where they are, with their stories, their desires for peace and for hope.
It is a truly beautiful and Salesian communication model, which lets us welcome the young as they are and find in them that seed of the good, beginning from the point where they are and then bringing them to Christ.
The invitation of Pope Francis is clear: “We need to be promoters of communication who do not judge (how) and who know how to respect the journey of each person and welcome them there (where) they are, like sowers of hope for a world of peace and of love.
