Germany: reflections and” “meditations via Internet

The programme of activities promoted by the Churches in Germany to accompany the faithful during Lent is inspired by the themes of ecumenism and technology. Internet buffs have an embarrassingly rich choice. They may choose to live the Lenten period by clicking on the Internet, by using the short message service of their cell phones, by receiving e-mails or by participating in interactive Forums. Www.messadipasqua.de. A Web page promoted by the Catholic Church and by the Federation of the Protestant Churches. The address is www.ostergottesdienste.de (www.messadipasqua.de) and offers a website where it is possible to check the venues and timetables for the main celebrations during the Easter festivities. By offering this service, similar to the one offered over Christmas (see Sir Europe 12/2001), the Churches aim to help the faithful to find the venue nearest to them where they can participate in a particular celebration or liturgy. The parishes, for their part, are being invited to insert their own calendar of celebrations in the website; it will be available to all visitors to the site from 19 March. Sms. But Lent may also travel over the telephone waves through the short messages sent by cell phones (Sms). The idea was born in the diocese of Limburg and is sponsored by the German Episcopal Conference, by the Evangelic Church, and by local Catholic and Protestant radio stations. It takes the form of the daily transmission of a Bible verse, which is intended to prompt reflection. The initiative was begun on 13 February with a message transmitted with an Old Testament verse: “ Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful” (Joel 2:13). The messages will end on 31 March, Easter Sunday. “The Lenten Sms – explain the organizers of the initiative – works like this: you receive an Sms at a set time each day and the reading of the message will represent an interruption of your daily life. It’s above all an invitation to meditate in this period on God and draw the necessary consequences for man”. To participate in the scheme, all you had to do was send an Sms to the number indicated, from 12 February on, with the word “fasten”, meaning that you want to receive the messages, or an Sms with “fasten stop”, meaning you want to withdraw. E-mail. The project of the diocese of Freiburg, by contrast, works through electronic post. “Auszeit”, as it is called, means “time out”. It too is aimed at the sending of “impulses”, invitations to reflection, encouraging the faithful to “stop and take a deep breath” (detailed information on the site www.gemeindeweb-freiburg.de/impulse/). The diocesan office for spiritual formation is daily (from 4 to 27 March) sending messages aimed at stimulating the recipients “to see everyday things with fresh eyes”. The objective, according to Bernhard Schilling of the Auszeit team, is to “make people more alert” and help them to put right the “many shortcomings, large and small” that haste may make us commit during the day. The participants also have the opportunity to interact with the project team by recounting their own experiences. Internet Forum. The reflection of the diocese of Speyer is focused on John’s Gospel with daily meditations that accompany the whole period of Lent. The diocese of Trier is proposing instead a series of spiritual exercises on the theme of the quest for God. For the five weeks of Lent the faithful will be subdivided by age group. The spiritual exercises are also accompanied by an Internet Forum which enables participants to exchange their own experiences of prayer. Patrizia Collesi