Instruments of Peace on Social Media

Our hearts are filled with grief for the victims of the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday (10.27.18). We grieve with their families, their community, and their city.

On Sunday (10.28.18), Pope Francis said: “All of us, in reality, are wounded by this inhuman act of violence.” He prayed “May the Lord help us to put out the hotbeds of hate that flare up in our societies, strengthening a sense of humanity, respect for life, moral and civil values and the holy fear of God, who is love and the father of all.”

This shooting came at the end of a week, when pipe bombs were being sent to political “enemies.” These crimes and others like them, shake us to our core. Even if we want to, we cannot ignore the world around us. This is, remember, the world Jesus came to save.

The alleged perpetrators of these crimes were voicing their hate on social media sites. Does this mean that social media is to blame? No, it does not.

The challenge for faith communities and people of good will is to be on social media as “instruments of peace.” Social media will never be overrun by hate as long as people of good will are also there sharing love, hope, and encouragement in the stories that we tell, in the posts that we like and comment on, in the friends we follow and those who follow us. We need to speak the “truth in love.” (Ephesians 4:15)

In looking at the Facebook Pages of parishes, religious communities or dioceses, do visitors see us as “instruments of peace”? The Prayer for Peace could be a good measure of how ministry-based our website and social media sites are.

Perhaps this is a good time to review our social media presence in light of the Prayer for Peace:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life. Amen

Your comments are welcome.