Dear Friend,
The days are long and the nights feel longer. It is easy to become unfocused because of the abundance of technology and information that swirls around you every single day. Tragedy is highlighted and stories that make you feel good are seemingly far and few, and even then are only highlighted to give you a brief respite from the negativity of the world. How are you to find hope and do here on Earth as it is in Heaven? How are you to cultivate relationships and meaningful action in the world when technology is designed to capture you’re attention infinitely? You life is a constant barrage of a failing world and sixty second videos of people presenting a cultivated version of themselves. How can one find authenticity in that?
The answer is to turn to God in prayer so that your mind and soul are shaped to be in the presence of God in all things that you do. I wish for you to ” call to mind that God is not only present in the place where you are, but that He is very specially present in your heart and mind, which He kindles and inspires with His Holy Presence, abiding there as Heart of your heart, Spirit of your spirit.”1 Not only can you honor God in how you interact with the world around you, you can also allow yourself to be shaped and molded by God.
Starting in prayer will lead you to a more thoughtful and spiritual life. You will begin to turn away from the patterns of brokenness of the world, first being angry at how the world seems nothing but full of bitterness and hate, and then moving to sadness that love does not abound. Through dedicated prayer and working with s spiritual guide, you will begin to develop a devout life towards God. You will continue to grow in your faith and even as the world around you seems to turn it’s back on God, you will find joy and peace first with yourself, and then with others. “And if devotion can sweeten such cruel torments, and even death itself, how much more will it give a charm to ordinary good deeds?”2
And finally dear friend, do not add to the misery of the world through careless talk and pessimism that betrays the hope you find in God. “Always bear in mind that you have dedicated your heart to God, and offered your love to Him; so that it were sacrilege to deprive Him of one particle thereof.”3 Put your phone down, step away from the endless depths of the digital life for a moment and spend time with God by seeking God’s heart of love and a deep understanding with each other and the rest of creation. And when you find yourself betraying God for the world, “give but one answer,—that with which Our Lord confounded him, “Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.""4
Footnotes
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Sales, Francis de. Introduction to the Devout Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, n.d. https://ccel.org/ccel/desales/devout_life/devout_life?queryID=39703112&resultID=725. 53 ↩
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Sales, Devout Life. 12 ↩
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Sales, Devout Life. 138 ↩
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Sales, Devout Life. 186 ↩