Issued by the Catholic Center for Studies and Media - Jordan. Editor-in-chief Fr. Rif'at Bader - موقع أبونا abouna.org

Published on Monday, 13 February 2023

Radio Maria… a divine voice of Marian love

By Munir Bayouk/ en.abouna.org :

Radio Maria in Italian has celebrated its 30th anniversary of uninterrupted programming in New York and the United States.  This radio was the first one to cross the Atlantic Ocean, before it spread all around the world.

 

Over the past years this radio, whose mission is based on faith in Divine Providence, spread the message of the Holy Bible, the Word of God, with the hope of conveying the message of love, peace, harmony, and common living. Yet over the past years, the world did not attentively grasp the message of divine love expressed by this universal radio as violence, wars, and persecution continued uninterrupted.

 

Radio Maria, while broadcasting in more than 40 languages, has nowadays branches in 55 countries around the world with a mission that includes liturgycatechesisspirituality, as well as spiritual assistance with everyday issues, including information, music, and culture.

 

Among its recent achievements, as is the case every year, is that when Jordan celebrated the Solemn Feast of the Epiphany according to the Orthodox rite in January 2023, Radio Maria’s Jordan mobile studio was there to broadcast the ceremony of the blessing of the water according to the Orthodox calendar. Radio Maria has been collaborating since 2017 in the divine religious ceremony as a sign of closeness to the brothers of the Orthodox Church.

 

Furthermore, a leading role of this radio is that its stations in Africa are ranked as Africa’s most influential information outlet, having an enormous impact on audiences, as they contribute to peace on the continent. This radio has dedicated a great amount of programs to promoting peace across the continent including the Democratic Republic of Conga (DRC) and South Sudan. In the wake of His holiness Pope Francis historic visit to both counties on January 31-February 5, this radio has been striving to broadcast programs which encourage leaders in both countries and in other African countries engulfed in violence and instability to resort to the logic of divine peace so as to  instill stability and divert attention to building a prosperous and productive societies.

 

Radio Maria has a holy mission in this extremely troubled African country. On 21 January 2023, Archbishop of Juba Monsignor Stephen Ameyu Mulla blessed the new studios and headquarters of Radio Maria in Juba, South Sudan. From Juba, the plan has been to create prayer bridges between the different South Sudanese ethnic groups aimed at establishing a climate of peace and reconciliation, for this country is hungry and thirsty for peace, drinking water, electricity, infrastructure, and daily bread among others. Radio Maria will indeed be an important means of prayer, evangelization and an engine for human and social development.

 

In Latin America, Radio Maria plays a unique role as in the remote Chaco Province of northern Argentina, as it has served as the most important means of communication since this is one of the poorest dioceses in the country and one with a host of different social problems and conflicts. It has been providing a precious service in the region by helping priests in their daily ministry. Moreover, during the Corona virus pandemic, the need was every much as great even during “normal” times as the radio provided awareness on the importance of the means of social communication both for the Church and for society generally.

 

This radio has proven to be of prime importance since it opens locked doors, provides spiritual assistance to those who seek a glimmer of hope, and reaches to the hearts of people who have lost hope in life while seeking divine advice that would keep them free form the evils of life.

 

With the radio dealing with everyday issues, it serves to provide novelty and fresh views on how to handle complicated life affairs. This keeps the radio close to the hearts and minds of ailing societies by bringing a glimmer of hope to the desperate.

The invaluable role played by Radio Marie in the dissemination of the message of love and message is worthy support and appreciation so that it could continue its mission in the service of humanity and peace.