Monday, May 11th, 2020

Deeply involved with your phone and computer? St Paul has words for you today: “‘Friends, what do you think you are doing? We are only human beings like you. We have come with good news to make you turn from these empty idols to the living God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that these hold.” For just how many hours a day do you spend immersed and dependent on virtual reality? How much of your life is committed in these idols? “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.”, says the psalm. Silver and gold are components of our phones and tablets and technowizz and communications networks.

A life mainly spent amongst these things, if they are not our work, is a life lost: you will not get those hours back. How do you want to live your life? There are many things we can do to free us from this loss. First make sure a hobby, or some of your chillout time, is non-techno: there are books, there are people, there is nature! Second, is it possible, to have your phone off for 12 hours a day?: at least this means only half your life is in the shadow of supertech. And third: spend time praising God. The more we praise him, the more we see how good God is, our lives are, and how relatively less important is our devotion to our tinkerland toys.

Let us pray:

“May your right hand, O Lord, we pray, encompass your family with perpetual help, so that, defended from all wickedness by the Resurrection of your Only Begotten Son, we may make our way by means of your heavenly gifts. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.”