I love keeping up with friends and relatives near and far on social media, and being informed and inspired by the things they share.
This morning, picking up my phone after my morning prayer time, I was inspired. What if, instead of scrolling through my social media feed with curiosity or with boredom, I approached it with prayer?
Opening Facebook, I stopped at the first post I saw, a news article on the president’s activity today. Instead of scrolling through, I prayed for him. I prayed for the events of the day and for him to be guided by wisdom.
Then I went through post after post by friends. Some were pictures of their families, some were blogs and recipes they wanted to share. I prayed for each of them and for their families, and thanked God for the gift of delicious food and friends who enjoy it!
My kids’ school posted pictures of an event they are having today. I prayed for the children, for the teachers, for the school.
On to Instagram… At each post, I didn’t just glance with appreciation and hit ‘like.’ I stopped to pray for the person posting the picture, for whoever was in the picture they shared, for the issue at hand in what they posted.
Twitter. Now there’s an intercessory field. You could build a whole litany around your Twitter feed and all of the current events to pray for. So I did. I tried to find a saint to ask to intercede for each person and topic.
It was awesome! It was like walking through my social media with Jesus, talking to him about my friends, about the issues of the day, trying to see them all through his eyes, through his heart.
Obviously, we need to be careful about how much time we spend on social media… It’s designed to be addictive. Literally. However, if part of the lay vocation in the Church is to transform secular culture with the light of the Gospel (and it is), this is one way we can do it. It also gives us a new way to love those we connect with on social media, because praying for someone is a beautiful way to love them.
Bring Christ to social media with you. Pray through your feed. Make it a time of intercessory prayer and reflection with your Lord and God, instead of just mindless scrolling.
