Let God’s Light Shine Through Your Screen
As I was praying Night Prayer, one line distinctly jumped out at me: “Lord, let the light of Your face shine upon us.”
It’s such a beautiful invocation but for some reason, the only imagery that my GenZ mind was able to create was this scenario:
Picture this: it’s late at night, you’re lying in bed and there’s a glare of light beaming onto your face. It’s quite the familiar feeling that some may imagine to be the glow of a street light peeking from a window onto someone… but not you, right? You know exactly where the light is coming from, and that’s your phone.
So, I asked myself — if the words to “allow Christ’s light to shine upon my face” sounded astronomically more appealing than the above scenario, why is it that my face practically has sunburn from my phone screen? Is it possible to use this gift of technology in a prudent way where we can have a “porque no los dos?” moment — letting Christ’s light shine upon our faces through our screens? 1000 percent, yes!
Don’t be afraid of Jesus’ name.
My high school career consisted of my whispered prayers and camouflaging into crowds. I couldn’t even bear to speak the word “church” without fear trickling into my heart. I had unintentionally deprived others of the joy Christ brought upon me by staying silent and by doing so, Jesus became a prisoner of my heart – the shackles were my lies and my bones were the cage.
I’ll never forget Ash Wednesday of my Junior year when I finally worked up the courage to post a simple #AshTag post showcasing the ash cross on my forehead. To my surprise I wasn’t ridiculed or judged whatsoever. That Ash Wednesday post gave me confidence to post a Good Friday reflection, and that gave me the confidence to post an Easter Sunday meme. From then on out my Instagram became a place where I was liberated to speak on my beliefs whole heartedly.
Although, it’s not ideal to fearlessly speak out about your faith strictly within the confines of your screen, I found that it accidentally became the perfect gate-way for me to feel more comfortable about sharing my faith in person. My friends began asking me questions about it in school, and my best friend even began going to Mass with me.
Check yo self.
The amount of times that I’ve creeped on my own Instagram page from another person’s perspective is embarrassing. It’s the “oooo a cute boy just followed me, let’s see what he sees when he looks at my page” scroll… not my proudest of moments, but maybe you can relate. Now, let me ask you this — how many times have you creeped on your own page from Christ’s perspective? Meaning, seeing all that He sees when you’re on social media. Yes, the things you’re posting, but also your intentions behind posting them too.
Ask yourself about these motives when you’re on social media:
1) Are you pointing back to our Creator with your beauty and creativity, or are you posting photos to gain validation, gratification, and praise?
2) Are you in person who you are on social media, or do you conform to blend in with your followers?
3) Do you feel freedom in posting your content because it is Christ-approved, or will you delete a post if it doesn’t get a certain amount of likes?
4) Lastly, are you showing love to others by responding to their questions about the faith, even when done uncharitably, or are you sending them a false sense of Christianity with vulgarity and judgment?
If you find yourself learning more towards the second half of any of those questions, then it may be time for you to take a break and re-assess your intentions.
Take a break.
An excess amount of anything is doomed to go poorly. Without making a conscious effort to limit our time on social media, we will surely wither away moments that could’ve been spent in prayer, time with my family, or our studies. In order to practice self-control and take away our dependency from our phones, we must take breaks from time to time.
I would suggest dedicating 1 day a week to going on a media fast. Instead, use that time in more productive activities – equip yourself in church teachings, pray holy hours, spend intentional time with the ones you love, reach out personally to the people you’d encounter on social media. You’ll find that from your time away, you’ll be far more focused and in-tune with Christ and the people around you.
Remember that in the end, the only way to truly allow God’s light to abundantly shine on us is to liberate ourselves from the things that keep us farther away from Him. For some of us, that may be to completely eradicate social media from our lives. That’s something that can only be revealed to us in a serious discernment of God’s will for our lives. Pray about this gift. Ask God how He wishes you to use it.
