The daily grind and the doldrums of laziness tend to leech out the strength of the promises we receive from Jesus Christ. We become accustomed to the miracles of God—even the ones filtered through human mediation—and miss the opportunity to be dazzled at it all, and then give thanks to God.
An example of this is the old promise made just before Pentecost:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth! (Acts 1,8).
It doesn’t matter if the Master of Galilee had the foresight of our antennas and satellites, of the World Wide Web and its social networks. The fact is that all these “miracles” of technology—made possible the virtual world and the potential of Creation itself—manifest the seemingly impossible: to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
For a few years now I have used my list of friends from Facebook to advertise a daily reflection on the liturgical writings of the church. The feedback from my postings have proven to be surprising. This is a recent one of them:
Vicente Luiz Cantini to Antonio Carlos Santini: I’m in Jakarta, Indonesia, and it’s now Tuesday, 12th of November. Could you send me your reflection on the Gospel today? Fraternal hugs
On the other side of the planet, a friend awaits the daily reflections. In a largely non-Christian country, he can access the message of life from which he hopes to derive food for the soul. Obviously, the new wealth of resources available is making our responsibility for evangelization grow exponentially.
Some time ago, I received this message via the Internet:
“Hi Santini!
Surely you do not remember me but we met years ago thanks to youth group FACES from Our Lady of Consolation Parish and Correia, and more recently through Our Lady The Queen.
The reason for writing you today is the simple fact of wanting to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your dedication in sharing the gift of your words and knowledge through the Liturgies Discussed on the Our Lady The Queen website.
I, who have not lived in Brazil for over two years now and have not had the chance to go to Catholic mass on any regular basis, often times feel touched by your words and the clarity they bring with each daily reading.
Thank you for the lovely gesture to volunteer as an instrument of God’s Word and to share this gift with us. May God enlighten you always.
Sincerely, Elvio.”
Whence came this message? From Karlskona, Sweden, where Elvio is studying at the Blekinge Institute of Technology. The text he received over the Internet was the bond that kept him alive in the Catholic community, even if “exiled” in the far north of Europe.
It is in this same Internet that we have at our disposal, in many sites, the treasures of the Patristic, the iconography of the Eastern Churches, entire books on Christian topics and even the opportunity to pray the Liturgy of the Hours together with monastic communities around the world. The French Dominicans offer free daily meditations to internet users, especially during Lent and Advent.
Undoubtedly, cyberspace is our new field of evangelization.
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