Wherever we work, our mission is especially to those people whose condition cries out for salvation and for the hope which only Jesus Christ can fully bring. These are the poor with their many faces; we give them our preference. (Constitution 5)
One of the “faces of the poor” today can be recognized in the negative effects of social media and the control it can have on our thinking, our choices, our sexuality, our relationships and our indifference to world events.
“Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own.
The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase. In the meantime, all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us.” (Pope Francis)
Pope Francis clarifies the role which social media is capable of having with regard tho the “salvation and hope which only Jesus Christ can fully bring:”
“The challenge is to rediscover, through the means of social communication as well as by personal contact, the beauty that is at the heart of our existence and journey, the beauty of faith and of the beauty of the encounter with Christ”
I am reminded this morning of the “Good News” that we speak of: how we share the Good News which may often be described as God’s new covenant of love, made true for all of us, for none are excluded in the Kingdom of God.
This morning using social media we meet together in this place, not to seduce or rewrite history and most certainly not to speak of how great we are. This is a place of truth, peace, contentment, gratitude and joy.
This morning I am using social communication to help me continue to discover the beauty that is at the very heart of my existence and journey together with all who take the time and space to be with each other. Only Jesus the Christ can offer us hope needed on this small piece of today’s journey – together, never alone…
“…our mission is especially to those people whose condition cries out for salvation and for the hope which only Jesus Christ can fully bring.” (C5)
Sometimes I find that I have unknowingly allowed ourselves myself to become distracted and lose my way. I come here together to be reminded of who I am as I weep like Peter – who was called to be the rock upon which the Church is built.
Tomorrow the Triduum begins.