Leadership

"We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and for too long we have been training leaders who only know how to keep the routine going. Who can answer questions, but don’t know how to ask them. Who can fulfill goals, but don’t know how to set them. Who think about how to get things done, but not whether they’re worth doing in the first place. What we have now are the greatest technocrats the world has ever seen, people who have been trained to be incredibly good at one specific thing, but who have no interest in anything beyond their area of expertise."

"What we don’t have are leaders."

"What we don’t have, in other words, are thinkers. People who can think for themselves. People who can formulate a new direction: for the country, for a corporation or a college, for the Army —a new way of doing things, a new way of looking at things. People, in other words, with vision."

"Courage: there is physical courage, which you all possess in abundance, and then there is another kind of courage, moral courage, the courage to stand up for what you believe."

"People do not multitask effectively. And here’s the really surprising finding: the more people multitask, the worse they are, not just at other mental abilities, but at multitasking itself."

"Multitasking, in short, is not only not thinking, it impairs your ability to think."

"Thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about it."

"I find for myself that my first thought is never my best thought. My first thought is always someone else’s; it’s always what I’ve already heard about the subject, always the conventional wisdom. It’s only by concentrating, sticking to the question, being patient, letting all the parts of my mind come into play, that I arrive at an original idea."

"You do your best thinking by slowing down and concentrating."

"So solitude can mean introspection, it can mean the concentration of focused work, and it can mean sustained reading. All of these help you to know yourself better."

"But there’s one more thing I’m going to include as a form of solitude, and it will seem counterintuitive: friendship. Of course friendship is the opposite of solitude; it means being with other people. But I’m talking about one kind of friendship in particular, the deep friendship of intimate conversation. Long, uninterrupted talk with one other person. Not Skyping with three people and texting with two others at the same time while you hang out in a friend’s room listening to music and studying."

"Introspection means talking to yourself, and one of the best ways of talking to yourself is by talking to another person. (chat)"

"But it seems to me that solitude is the very essence of leadership. The position of the leader is ultimately an intensely solitary, even intensely lonely one. However many people you may consult, you are the one who has to make the hard decisions. And at such moments, all you really have is yourself."

"These are extracts from a speech given at West Point. Originally published at: http://www.univforum.org/detalle_pdf.php?art=en_597 "

VERBUM DOMINI

Verbum Domini conclusion

Verbum Domini part 1 section 1

Verbum Domini part 1 section 2

Verbum Domini part 1 section 3

Verbum Domini part 2 section 1

Verbum Domini part 2 section 2

Verbum Domini part 2 section 3

Verbum Domini part 3 section 1

Verbum Domini part 3 section 2

Verbum Domini part 3 section 3

Verbum Domini part 3 section 4

Verbum Domini part 3 section 4

VERBUM MUNDO
The Word of God and interreligious dialogue (117 onwards)

• The quickened place of globalization makes it possible for people of different cultures and religions to be in closer contact. This represents a providential opportunity for demonstrating how authentic religiosity can foster relationships of universal fraternity.

• The Church also looks with respect to Muslims, who adore the one God.

• Encourage meetings aimed at helping Christians and Muslims to come to better knowledge of one another, in order to promote the values which society needs for a peaceful and positive coexistence.

• The ancient religions and spiritual traditions of the vatious continents contain values which can greatly advance understanding between individuals and peoples. Frequently we note a consonance with values expressed also in their religious books... In Hinduism the sense of the sacred, sacrifice and fasting

• Dialogue would not prove fruitful unless it included authentic respect for each person and the ability of all freely to practise their religion (religious freedom)




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Verbum Domini part 3 section 3

VERBUM MUNDO
The Word of God and culture (109 onwards)

• God does not reveal himself in the abstract, but by using languages, imagery and expressions that are bound to different cultures

• I wish to reassure all those who are part of the world of culture that they have nothing to fear from openness to God's word, which never destroys true culture but rather is a constant stimulus to seek ever more appropriate, meaningful and humane forms of expression.

• The whole Church expresses her appreciation, esteem and admiration of those artists "enamoured of beauty" who have drawn inspiration from sacred texts. ... Many of them have helped to make somehow perceptiblein time and space, realities that are unseen and eternal.

• Among the new ways of mass communication, nowadays we need to recognize the increased role of the Internet, which represents a new forum for making the Gospel heard. Yet we also need to be aware that the virtual world will never be able to replace the real world, and that evangelization will be able to make use of the virtual world offered by the new media in order to create meaningful relationships only if it is able to offer personal contact which remains indispensable.

• In the world of the Internet which enables millions of images to appear on millions of screens throughout the world, the face of Christ needs to be seen and his voice heard, for "if there is no room for Christ there is no room for man"

• Inculturation is not to be confused with processes of superficial adaptation, much less with a confused syncretism


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Verbum Domini part 3 section 2

VERBUM MUNDO
The Word of God and commitment in the world (99 onwards)

• We tend to halt in a superficial way before the importance of the passing moment, as if it had nothing to do with the future. The Gospel, on the other hand reminds us that every moment of our life is important and must be lived intensely

• To all those who take part in political and social life. Evangelization and the spread of God's word ought to inspire their activity in the world, as they work for the true common good in respecting and promoting the dignity of every person (politics, human dignity )

• It is primarily the task of the lay faithful, formed in the school of the Gospel, to be directly involved in political and social activity.

• Christ "is our peace", the one who breaks down the walls of division.

• Religion can never justify intolerance or war. We cannot kill in God's name ! Each religion must encourage the right use of reason and promote ethical values that consolidate civil coexistance.

• We should never forget that "love -caritas- will always prove necessary even in the most just society... Whoever wants to eliminate love is preparing to eliminate man as such."

• From St Paul... Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

• Youth is a time when genuine and irrepresible questions arise about the meaning of life and the direction our own lives should take. Only God can give the true answer to these questions.

• If we let Christ into our lives, we loose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are t e doors of life opened wide... When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return.

• If human words seem to fall silent before the mystery of evil and suffering, and if our society appears to value life only when it corresponds to certain standards of efficiency and well being, the word of God makes us see that even these moments are mysteriously "embraced" by God's love.

• Those who suffer should be helped to read the Scriptures and to realize that their condition itself enables them to share in a special way in Christ's redemptive suffering for the salvation of the world.

• We also need to recognize and appreciate the fact that the poor are themselves agents of evangelization.



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Verbum Domini part 3 section 1

VERBUM MUNDO
The Word from the Father and to the Father (90 onwards)

• We cannot keep to ourselves the word of eternal life given to us in our encounter with Jesus Christ: they are meant for every one... Everyone today, whether he or she knows it or not, needs this message. It is our responsibility to pass on what, by God's grace, we ourselves have received (apostolate)

• The First Christians saw their missionary preaching as a necessity rooted in the very nature of faith

• Many of our brothers and sisters are baptized but insufficiently evangezed.

• The need for a new evangelization must be valiantly reaffirmed in the certainty that God's word is effective.

• In no way can the Church restrict her pastoral work to the "ordinary maintenance" of those who already know the Gospel of Christ. Missionary outreach is a clear sign of the maturity of an ecclesial community (apostolate ad fideam)

• The word of God is the saving truth everybody wants to hear

• On the one hand the word must communicate everything the Lord himself has told us. On the other hand, it is indispensable, through witness, to make this word credible, lest it appear merely as a beautiful philosophy or utopia, rather than a reality that can be lived and itself give life (apostolate)

• Young people need to be introduced to the word of God "through encounter and authentic witness by adults, through the positive influence of friends and the gat company of the ecclesial community"



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Verbum Domini part 2 section 3

VERBUM IN ECCLESIA
The word of God in the life of the Church (72 onwards)

• Catechesis must be permeated by the mindset, the spirit and the outlook of the Bible and the Gospels

• A knowledge of biblical passages, events and well known sayings should thus be encouraged.

• Enable every member to realize that history of salvation is also a part of his or her own life.

• Need to approach the word with a docile and prayerful heart so that it may deeply penetrate his thoughts and feelings and bring about a new outlook in him -- 'the mind of Christ'

• Christian laity live out their specific vocation to holiness by a life in the spirit expressed in a particular way in their engagement in temporal matter and by their participation in earthly activities

• Part of authentic parenthood is to pass on and bear witness to the meaning of life in Christ... Spouses are the first to proclaim God's word to their children

• The Synod urged that every household have its Bible, to be kept in a worthy place and used for reading and prayer

• Women have an ability to lead people to hear God's word...they are messangers of love, models of mercy and peacemakers; they communicate warmth and humanity.

• Need for a prayerful approach to the sacred text as a fundamental element in the spiritual life of every believer

• Understanding Scriptures demands, even more than study, closeness to Christ and prayer.

• The prayerful reading of the Bible, personal and communal, must always be related to the Eucharistic celebration.

• To whatever degree we are united with Christ, we are united to one another, and the supernatural life of each one can be useful for the others (communion of saints).

• I urge that Marian prayer be encouraged among the faithful, above all in life of families, since it is an aid on meditating on the holy mysteries found in the Scriptures.

• The Holy Rosary ponders the mysteries of Christ's life in union with Mary. It is fitting that the announcement of each mystery be accompanied by a brief biblical text

• The Angelus allows us to commemorate daily the mystery of the Incarnate Word

• It is a Marian prayer traditionally recited at sunrise, midday and sunset. Can help us grow authentic love for mystery of incarnation

• Peace which is Christ himself, born of Mary for our salvation.

• The Synod Fathers recalled the felicitious phrase which speaks of the Holy Land as the "Fifth Gospel". How important it is that in those places there be Christian communities, notwithstanding any hardships!

• The more we turn our eyes and our hearts to the earthly Jerusalem, the more will our yearning be kindled for the heavenly Jerusalem, the true goal of every pilgrimage



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