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The Jubilee Year 2025 is upon us and Pope Francis has asked that we all try to be “pilgrims of hope” to bear witness to the love and power of Jesus Christ in today’s world. today. What does this mean in practice? How can I be a pilgrim of hope in the world?
The Oxford Dictionary defines a pilgrim as a person who goes to a sacred place for religious reasons. Pilgrim can also mean one who travels through life. It is the aspect of the “pilgrim” that is captured in the “pilgrims of hope”. We are all pilgrims on life’s journey, eager to be with God forever in heaven once our earthly lives are over.
The path of life has many complexities. We can sometimes be tempted to lapse into nostalgia for “simpler times” or “the way things used to be.” One aspect of life in the 21st century that can complicate the journey is the digital landscape. How can we be pilgrims of hope when it comes to digital media culture? How can we cultivate an attitude of hope when so much media, especially social media, seems self-centered, introspective, and anything but hopeful?
More importantly, how can we encourage young people, who are so immersed in all things digital, to buck the selfish trend and be a hopeful and faithful presence in their online interactions? The answer lies in adopting a media-savvy attitude and implementing certain practices to help us get out of the digital rabbit hole when we find ourselves in it.
With a little determination and effort, these suggested practices can bring us a sense of hope as we journey through the digital landscape each day. If we as adults learn these practices, they can give us hope as we strive to teach young people how to navigate our media world as followers of Jesus.
— Bring your faith and values into the digital landscape. It takes practice, but asking ourselves if what we do online is helping us grow in our relationship with God and others can give us the pause we need to examine the way we use media. Stopping from time to time and doing some self-examination about our online activities can be spiritually healthy and hopeful.
— Practice discernment. Pope Francis, in many of his writings, has emphasized how crucial discernment is to our spiritual life. Asking the Holy Spirit to help us understand what God wants from us is desirable in all areas of life, but especially in our digital lives. Is what I watch, read, listen to, interact with consistent with the holiness of God?
— Be critical thinkers. By applying our critical thinking skills to our digital lives and the messages we receive from the media we hear, the negative aspects of media can have less influence on our ways of thinking. When we approach media messages with the values we hold as Christians, it becomes easier to recognize what is good and worth keeping and what we want to reject. This is especially encouraging for parents who are trying to hold their children accountable for how they use media.
— Hope involves trusting that God has things in hand, that he is in control, and that he is with us on the pilgrimage of life. Hopefully we have had experiences that have shown us how much God loves us. However, other experiences may cause us to wonder where God is. Using these tips gives us hope that even in our media and digital interactions, God is present and directing our life’s pilgrimage.
— If our online lives are out of balance, other parts of our lives will be out of balance as well, especially our relationships, and that includes our relationship with God. Being a “pilgrim of hope” encompasses all aspects of our life journey. As we begin this jubilee year, let us take on the challenge of incorporating the virtue of hope into our own digital landscape.
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