“This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35).
If anyone read through some of our Catholic Facebook groups or Twitter feeds, they would conclude there are very few disciples there.
Friends, let’s be honest. To the general public, we are not always recognizable as disciples on social media. Even if we don’t initiate the negative post, we often become enraged by something we read and respond with anger or self-righteousness. Being right—not being loving—has become our hallmark.
As people of the paschal mystery, let us be recognized, even online, by our love for one another. Share on XIn preparation for the Synod on Synodality, the Vatican issued a vademecum, or handbook, for everyday Catholics to reflect on what it looks like when we truly listen and dialogue with one another. The handbook gives us several attitudes we can embrace in our conversations, online or in person.
Dialogue “is not about engaging in a debate to convince others. Rather, it is welcoming what others say as a way by which the Holy Spirit can speak for the good of all.” With dialogue, “we must be willing to change our opinions based on what we have heard from others.” In dialogue, people’s lived faith is more important than ideologies. And dialogue must “give rise to hope.”
As people of the paschal mystery, let us be recognized, even online, by our love for one another.
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