Lifebook vs. Facebook
It is hard for us to keep up with this rapidly changing world. I often get emails and facebook messages from a third grader from Port Huron, MI and a sixth grader from Center Line, MI. It is one of the signals of the changing world that the children of this generation are more advanced than the previous generation. Now, most of the children begin their day by turning on the computer and ends the day by turning off the computer. Adults also are not immune from this temptation and are trying to catch up with the children in imitating this behavior. Computer along with other modern communication devices have more importance than God, parents, friends and teachers in human life and relationships today. Many people depend on Google than God to find answers to the difficult questions related to life and living. 
I also have to admit that I spent a considerable amount of time checking and replying to emails, putting pictures in facebook and sending messages to others. At the same time it is also a means for evangelization for me. I deliberately try to send messages always adding that I pray for that person. Still we all know that many of our relationships through these social networks are not that deep. We could feel, even after having thousand friends in facebook, that we are lonely. One of the reasons for this feeling (in my view) is that it lacks the necessary component of a good relationship – the spiritual dimension. Just having many friends in our list is not sufficient to make our life worth living. Google might know more of our secrets than our doctor, priest, parents and teachers because of the searches we do. But it cannot give the warmth of a spiritual friendship. For this, I need to begin and end my day with prayer and then it is all right to turn on the computer to check the messages. Remember the words of the wise philosopher, Socrates: “An unexamined life is not worth living”.
It is very important in our Christian life to have a close and personal relationship with the Lord and through that relationship with one another. I believe that I can have a good unselfish relationship with a friend of mine only when I place Jesus in that relationship. It is also true that to have a successful family life we need to bring Christ into it.
Family is the domestic church and church is the extended family. Jesus is not just a subject for us to learn in the catechism class rooms (just like any other topic), but is a living reality to experience. Sometimes we wonder from where our children learned all those things which we didn’t teach or believe (even the little ones!). We live in a culture where children encounter everything opposite to what we believe and consider sacred. The attractions of this materialistic life have penetrated the core of our thinking – we should have more in order to be fully alive. Even the trend to create a spiritual world without God or Church (an attitude that you need to be spiritual but doesn’t mean that you have to be religious), might seem unharmful but is really dangerous.
We need to connect our life with Christ to feel the flow of spiritual energy to penetrate into every reality we come into contact with. As Disciples of Christ, we have to move with a passion and joy of living the life with the Lord, rather than doing some good for the fear of inheriting hell. Then the mistaken attitude of just showing up in the church guarantees some preference in heaven should be changed to lead a worthy Christian life. What we celebrate in the church is inherently connected to what we live outside of the church. The celebration continues after leaving the church on Sunday and we are not just ‘Sunday Christians’ and six day ‘pagans’! Becoming a Christian is a vocation - to be a faithful disciple which demands an active response for a grace filled life.
Jesus has added us in his Lifebook page and we just accept the invitation and communicate with him daily and soon we will realize that it is more fun and worth doing.
This week also I have a beautiful testimony to share with you. Jann Wolocko, who was part of my last Bible Study group at St. Thomas a’Becket, shared her joy in finding solutions in Christ for the life struggles. Please continue to remember Jann and Phil along with all our friends in our prayers.
Dear Fr. Mathew,
I would like to take a moment to thank you for bringing daily prayer back into our lives. Since our dinner together (over a year ago)when you told Phil and I about St. Thomas a Becket encouraging daily family prayer, Phil and I begin and end every day in prayer together. It has not only strengthened our commitment to each other but has drawn us closer to God. It’s amazing how our lives are affected by making time to focus on God together.
Recently due to the death of Phil’s beloved brother and a very close call for another brother, I insisted that he go through some tests for his arteries and heart. The tests showed a 60+ percent blockage in two major arteries. An appointment was scheduled with a cardiologist and we began to pray. I immediately asked friends and family to pray and even several of my work colleagues e-mailed me or told me that they were praying for us. I later found out that Phil’s prayer was much different than mine, his prayer was for me and the rest of the family, he said he was ready to go if God wanted to bring him home but was praying about the affect it would have on the rest of the family so close to his brother’s death. The cardiologist did a cardiac CATH the very next day and the two blockages turned out to be much less than anticipated so he did not even require surgery. We were prepared for surgery but what they visually saw in the CAT scan was almost gone and I am certain that it was the result of all of the people praying for him. To my knowledge these things don’t just disappear in a few days time. I know that you were one of those praying so thank you from the bottom of my heart. God has given us time and we are committed to using this time and circumstance to honor Him.
Isn’t it truly AMAZING what God can do, I’m so grateful you came into our lives to remind us of his power and love. This isn’t the first experience I’ve had where prayers have been answered, as you know I worked with a girl who had been praying for a Christian to come into her life, God spoke to me and after ignoring Him several times I finally asked her about her beliefs, and during our conversation she told me that she had been praying for someone like me to come into her life that could help her, I cried, realizing that God had been trying to get me to listen all along and at how much time I wasted by not listening. This was such a powerful realization that I still get tears when I tell the whole story. I struggle with how to express what a personal relationship with Jesus can do to change lives, I hope that He will give me the words to say that may help others. I don’t always expect such a positive answer to my prayers but I can’t imagine handling the bad times without knowing that God is always with me giving me the strength I need to deal with all aspects of my life.
God Bless,
Jann
