Evangelizing Presence in the Online World

Pedro Calungsod’s sainthood highlighted the fact that Filipinos are capable of producing a saint in just 150 years as a newly evangelized Catholic nation. But what is more is that his canonization made us aware, too, that we are capable in spreading the good news to practically everyone.

Truth to tell, days before his canonization, I have never seen the cyberspace filled with so much information about a particular saint. People talked about him in their blogs. Facebook users mentioned them in their status updates. YouTube has been flooded with informational and music videos about his heroic sanctity. And on the day of his canonization, he was trending trended in Twitter.

Like the Resurrection narratives of Jesus, that good news on his canonization was not just some petty piece of information we could keep to ourselves. It felt a deep obligation for many of us to join the bandwagon in spreading the news of his sanctity to as many people we can reach.

I note that the first Christian community had to contend with the problem of how to bring the Gospel to people.However, the problem remains. How do we bring Jesus to people?

We have the advantage over our Christian ancestors in so far as we know where to reach them: in the digital continent.    

Evangelization

I know of Salesians who utilize their social media accounts to extend their pulpits in the online world. A priest sends a gist of the Sunday Gospel via SMS to his phonebook contacts; another one writes his reflection of the Sunday liturgy in his blog.

Some young clerics I know share their reflections online through their blogs or even in their Facebook walls.

A bishop I met last year revealed to me that he records lectio divina and sends a copy of it to his contacts via e-mail.

Young people, who have become experts in navigating the cyberspace, can surely be of help in getting across the Christian message. They can do this by using particularly the social media, in sharing their faith to others.

The transmission of faith to one’s Facebook contacts does not have to be conveyed in words. Others do it by sharing the stunning photos they took in their walls coupled with an inspirational message. Some share their favorite Christian music videos or some touching lines in an inspiring movie they last saw.

Some technically gifted individuals who are enriched by their faith, bring evangelization to another dimension by designing video games and handheld gadget applications that make the end users not just simply entertained but spiritually high.

Those who maintain online journals can surely talk about their faith. I am fascinated reading blog entries of people who reflect on how God has intervened in their lives. Those who talk about the  blessings they received, and even the difficulties they encounter.

Here lies one advantage in doing evangelization in the social media not because of the possibility of feedback, but also of the immediacy of it. Christians who are in doubt may be enlightened. And those who may have gone advance in their spiritual journey could help guide those who seem to lag behind.

My experience of maintaining a blog for more than five years now has led me to converse with people of various cultures and faith, having the same consciousness about the presence of a Designer in the scheme of things.

Participate

Let's face it. The cyberspace may offer us a lot of advantages, but it has also got tons of trash in it; it offers a wealth of information that may poison our minds and corrupt our values.

Seeing this reality, the Church, although taking a positive and sympathetic approach to it, asks us to be critical in evaluating its impact on the human culture (Aetatis Novae, 12).

Pope Benedict XVI, in his 43rd world communications day message, challenged everyone to evangelize this digital continent on which people today spend so much of their lives.  

But how do we take advantage of the social media in aid of our effort to evangelize?

To evangelize is to proclaim Christ not merely by word, but by the testimony of our lives.

Simply put, if our words and actions lead others to know, appreciate and fall deeply in love with Jesus, we contribute to this task of bringing people closer to the Father. Hopefully, being aware of our Christian identity leads us to a more virtuous use of the social media.

If we lead a life worth emulating in the cyberspace, then, we can positively influence the lives of others.

If this is so, then, we don’t have to wait for another canonization of a Filipino saint to fill the cyberspace with materials that inspire others to become saints, for our life is in itself a beautiful evangelizing message in the online world. 

On new media

One of the main issues we tackled in the social communication east-asia oceania regional meeting was about formation. Not only of the seminarians—aspirants and prenovices—but also of Salesians—the young ones and the once young.

You see, the emergence of the personal media such as mobile phone, itouch, ipad, netbook and the like have done a lot of wonderful stuff in our ministry for the young people.

Fr. Duds Hila, a Salesian based in Tondo has his weekly Kiliti ng Diyos, a blog dedicated to breaking the Word aptly written for the young people. For those who are into Lectio Divina, the Pandelasamena of Fr. Chito Dimaranan will surely be of help.

The reflections of Br. George Celis concisely wrapped in more or less 140 character text message and sent to all his phone contacts never fail to capture the essence of the Sunday Gospel.

One Salesian priest who sells his retreat manuals has three SIM cards—one for Globe, another for Smart, and the last one is for Sun. His reason: So that he could easily be reached by the young people. Whenever he celebrates Mass at the Greenbelt chapel, he would use the PowerPoint, which he generously shares in one condition: that the one asking for the file should invite him to be a friend in Facebook.

Young Salesians are also sharing their reflections in the cyberspace. Of late, I saw one  informative and inspirational video produced by the brothers of the postnovitiate community on St. Benedict.  One of my closest friends, Br. Juvelan of Don Bosco Mandaluyong, would flood the Facebook thread with the photos of Bosconians taken during their retreats.  

When I was a cloistered novice in the hill at Don Bosco Lawaan, I was able to befriend some of our Bosconians from Mandaluyong, Makati, Pampanga and even Tarlac! I corresponded with an FMA aspirant in the United States and an elderly Salesian Indian priest based in Rome. This became possible though my blog.

The websites of the Salesians in Africa, in Australia, in the United States are loaded with so many materials on vocation promotions.

One night will not be enough to enumerate how personal media have been used to evangelize and to make way for God to be known in the digital continent.

But as I enumerate its advantages, let us not close our eyes to the dangers it poses.

One of the major blunders of the Aquino administration last year endangered our diplomatic ties with our neighboring country Vietnam. When he visited that country last year, one of his secretaries noted that the wine served to them was not that delicious, and  there was a scarcity of good looking men. There is nothing bad about this opinion, only that, it was made public via Twitter.

It is true that the new media have made our life a lot easier, but it has also made our lives more complicated. For one, in the context of the seminary, the clausura is diminished. The wall separating us from the outer secular world collapses. We are exposed to the crazy outfits of Lady Gaga, and even the antics of Moymoy Palaboy. We could receive text messages in the wee hours of the morning, waking us up to the morning greeting: kamusta na u?

We may shield ourselves from the complexities of the cybernet if we’ll honor the seminary values inculcated in us. Two words Just two words. Authenticity and Transparency.

We are seminarians. Let us hold on to this our identity even when we step in the realms of cyberspace. This identity should remind us to behave well and observe prudence in whatever stuff, be it photos, reflections, witty remarks we post in the Internet. There is such a thing as digital footprints. Once we make our mark, it will be difficult to erase it.

Your seminary formators are helping you by barring you access from certain websites. For us to monitor what you place in your Facebook account, or the videos you upload in Youtube or your reflections in your blog, or even the text messages you send will be quite difficult if not utterly impossible. You have to do the gatekeeping yourself.

So, the next time you log on to the net, remember these two words: authenticity and transparency.