Christifidelis Laici 44

     Section 44 of Pope St. John Paul the Great’s exhortation turns its, and our, attention to the necessity of evangelizing the culture.  Our Holy Father points out that the laity are in a particular position to affect culture to the betterment of humanity.

     It is important, of course, to understand what culture is.  The definition given by the Holy Father is rather long, but I think the following phrase from that definition summarizes the whole of it nicely: “to express through its works the great spiritual experiences ad aspirations of all peoples throughout the ages”.  In other words, culture is that which reveals and brings out the best in us.

     Thus, we can see that those who create and support the various modes of cultural expression all bear a particular responsibility for ensuring that these express that which is most noble, that which brings out our best selves, and that which causes us to aspire to something greater.

     In this document our Holy Father points out the particular responsibility born by those who create, produce, and make available the various means of cultural expression: i.e. artists, musicians, producers, and media executives.  However, for our purposes, maybe we could think about our responsibility as consumers of the means of cultural expression.  After all, in a capitalist system such as ours, what sells it what will be produced.  Think about it; and here are some questions to assist us…

   1.     How discerning am I regarding the media and other means of cultural expression I consume?

   2.     Do I consider the real value of what I am consuming, or do I just follow the crowd?

   3.     Do I seek to watch, listen to, read material that raises me up, makes me aspire to be better, to understand better my humanity?

Challenge:  Take to heart what you watch, listen to, or read this week.  Take note of the real “value” of what you are consuming, then keep a simple log (“+” or “-“ for example) of what you have consumed.  What does it look like at the end of the week?