“WOE to me if I do not preach the Gospel.” (1 Cor 9,16) This was the cry of St. Paul conveying his burning desire to transmit the Good News to the early Christians.
It’s a cry that also has to spring in each one of us, Christian believers, who now participate in the abiding function of preaching and teaching the word of God according to our personal circumstances.
God’s word, let’s remind ourselves, is the original and ultimate word that should inspire every word we use in our communications. It’s what gives our word its soul, enabling it to acquire its supernatural quality, regardless of whether it is literary, technical, legalistic, conversational, etc. in its human usage.
God’s word is a way to connect us and everything that we think, say and do to God. It’s always relevant. In fact, it is indispensable, otherwise our life will stray from its proper path.
It should always be in our mind and heart, acting as a kind of leaven to our word so that our word’s practical human use can acquire a certain spiritual and supernatural value, enlightening and redemptive in character.
We need to be clear about the relationship between God’s word and our word, between God’s word and our life. Perhaps this is the crucial point we need to work on first, before we proceed with our communications.
With the advent of the computer and the whole range of digital and electronic technology, this cry of St. Paul, and hopefully ours too, finds a most auspicious vehicle to expand its reach and scope.
Besides, with the way these technologies are affecting people’s lives, it’s clear that an abiding and adequate evangelization in that field is an urgent must. Otherwise, they will just decline to all sorts of bad effects and influences.
It’s good that in this regard the American bishops are pioneering the way and are opening frontiers. Recently, they came out with a document on social media guidelines that for sure will be helpful to all Christian believers trying to get involved in the evangelization of this vast, exciting world of social media.
It bats for greater visibility of the gospel message in the social media, as well as favorable manners to build stronger sense of community among ourselves. It also recommends efforts at accountability, so our postings can really be responsible and therefore defensible.
The gospel has to be presented in such a way that it retains its original forcefulness and meaning while adapting to the evolving issues at hand. It should be in a language not only understandable but also attractive and engaging to the intended audience.
Highly interactive, the social media has to be handled with extreme prudence and powerful magnanimity and nobleness of heart. Otherwise, one can easily founder in its many delicate, tricky spots.
It’s important that one assumes a very positive outlook toward the social media, not easily bogged down by the many dangers it poses and the other negative traits it possesses.
He has to be very broad-minded, with a universal grasp of things, knowing how to stick to what is essential and how to deal with the merely incidental. In the social media, one is bound to see a spill of tactlessness, inanities, narcissism, etc. One simply has to be above this level, while respecting each one’s idiosyncracies.
He has to be sharply and quickly discerning in his judgments, knowing what to pick up and what to disregard with respect to the different views expressed. Thus, having clear criteria is required. He should be good in cruising the complicated field.
No doubt, a high level of spirituality is needed here, otherwise one ends up getting entangled in petty quarrels and animosities and other worse predicaments.
As St. Paul said, “The spiritual man judges all things, and he himself is judged by no man…” (1 Cor 2,15) These words may not sit well with those with no faith or with weak faith. But this is just how the cookie crumbles.
In terms of expression, one has to be both natural and supernatural, mastering the art of political correctness as well as that of holy shamelessness when it is precisely needed. He has to know how to enter into the mind and heart of the people.
That’s why, one really has to be properly formed before he enters into the social media and hope to contribute to the effort to evangelize it. The most effective evangelizer is one who manages to transmit the gospel message without being noticed.
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