Over this past week, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend time in Pacifica, California. Over three and a half days, I was able to spend some time in prayer, rest, and recreation. Following Easter, it was a welcome break and an opportunity to rejuvenate. This time also gave me the opportunity to reflect a bit on where the Good Lord has brought me over the last couple of years, where I am now, and where He may bring me in the future.
Part of that reflection revolved around my online and social media presence. While social media can serve to maintain some relationships, I tend to look at it from a perspective not so much as maintaining or building relationships in its primary purpose, but more so as a way to convey information. I think we’ve discovered this past year how poorly social media and the internet convey things like charity, good will, and understanding. Granted, I have developed some wonderful relationships with people I have never met in person through social media, but in the end, I think we need to be very careful about how we use it, what we expect from it, and what we share on it.
All of that in mind, as I reflect on my own social media and internet work and ministry, what would you like to see? Primarily, I am a Diocesan priest and I am called to serve my parish and local community, but much of that local community also extends onto the internet. I’ve tried my hand at short videos, and that has been fun, although over the last couple of months it’s been a bit difficult to keep up due to parish life starting to return back to (semi)normal. Of course, I have my blog, Facebook, and Instagram (which I use quite infrequently, but I’m open to getting more involved there).
In other words, what would be helpful for you? What might help to stimulate your faith or help you grow as a person? There are many priests, bishops, and laypeople who do excellent work on the internet and have millions of followers, but that is not who I want to be or what I want to do (well, I want to do excellent work, but I don’t want the millions of followers). I simply want to provide something that might be helpful to our community here. No idea is outside consideration, and everything is always dependent on my schedule in the parish and in-person, non-electronic ministry. All for God’s glory.
God bless and keep you always! Pax.
If last week’s readings showed us the importance of prayer, then this week’s readings demonstrate how we should pray: in humility, trusting God. In our society, how often do we see famous personalities exalting some good work they have done? While not everyone is like this of course, we often see celebrities and others praising their own virtues, showing off their good deeds to the world. The same attitude is seen with the Pharisee in today’s Gospel, who shouts aloud his apparent virtues, going so far as to say to the Lord, “I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity!” The Pharisee, like some famous individuals we see in modern times, was saying and doing all the “right things,” but did he have the right intent or disposition? After all, while our external actions carry great weight and consequence, in the end, it is the final disposition of our hearts that God examines.
What does it mean to “pray without becoming weary” or perhaps in a more familiar formulation, to “pray without ceasing?” I don’t know about you, but this sounds like a pretty tall order! We are bombarded constantly by outside distractions, some of which are even good and necessary. Even so, we are called to make our lives ones of prayer and reliance on God. The psalm reminds us today that “Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth,” and so we need to constantly turn to Him, being persistent in our faith, whether it is “convenient or inconvenient.” All we have is from God, and so all that we do needs to be directed towards Him.
The Believing Astronomer 