Let’s stop for 10 minutes. Let’s leave aside everything we were doing. Those of us who’ve received the gift of faith in Jesus Christ and his Church are living unique moments, and we should take a moment to reflect on the situation.
The pandemic has disrupted our lives in three ways.
- Without being prepared, many of us have had to face the death or illness of loved ones. We’ve all asked ourselves in these months, “What’s the meaning of this fragile life that I’ve received?”
- The pandemic has generated an unprecedented economic crisis. This collapse helps us understand that the meaning of our life cannot be founded on human certainties. Our hope is in God’s love, to which we respond by loving our brothers and sisters.
- Confinement has underlined the importance of digital communication: Zoom, WhatsApp, social networks… Yes, it’s true, we may be fed up with screens; however, they’re here to stay. What we can do to help and love others passes necessarily through the virtual world today—a world which has actually become extremely real.
What can we conclude from this?
We’re faced with a surprising opportunity for evangelization. More than ever, in this “new normal” humanity, in search of meaning, needs Jesus Christ’s message of faith, hope and love. The tools of the Internet—social networks, WhatsApp, Zoom, and so forth—are becoming opportunities for reaching out to others, for putting into action our love, which becomes evangelization and which can offer peace, inspiration, and meaning in life.
As part of this “new normal,” we have some wonderful news for you: Our Sunday Visitor (OSV), the largest Catholic publisher in the United States, and the global Catholic network Aleteia have just announced a new alliance to present together the beauty of the Christian faith with new forms of expression in the digital world.
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Aleteia partners with Our Sunday Visitor
It’s exciting to see how two large publishing groups made up of lay believers are joining forces, overcoming the thousands of miles that separate Europe and America to proclaim together the love of God for each and every person, focusing particularly in this case on people who speak and pray in Spanish and English. Today Aleteia offers services to more than 20 million users, most of them between 25 and 44 years old. Thanks to this alliance, there will soon be many more.
This agreement continues the exciting experience we’ve had in Slovenia, where the most important Catholic publishing group in that country, Družina, took charge of launching the local edition of Aleteia. In only two years, it reached 20% of the overall market of that highly secularized country.
This movement of synergy between living forces of the Church does not stop here: it will continue in other languages and countries, creating a great network of global evangelization on the internet. This is the future of Aleteia.
However, this unstoppable movement of evangelization will not be able to touch people’s hearts without the help of people like you. When you share content from Aleteia on your social networks, when you recommend the newsletter, when you send a video by WhatsApp, etc., you are sharing Jesus Christ’s message of love.
Something wonderful happens—as you well know—when in a chat or in an email you receive a “thank you” or a happy emoji from a relative or acquaintance in response to something you shared with them. That day, you’ve given someone light, hope, and Gospel inspiration. That day, you’ve become an evangelizer.
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And today we celebrate...