Social media is a means for us social beings who need and are needed by others to complement each other. Its presence at this time increasingly pampers us with suitable applications and features that support and help us get closer to the 'outside' world. Not just being brought closer to those who are 'far away,' this social media can also be used as a place to show off. In another sense, it is a place to put our feelings, thoughts, and manifestations of ourselves in photos, videos, and so on. However, it is common knowledge, or has even gone viral, that this 'unifying' tool has so much abuse with the freedom of irresponsible persons. The spread of fake news, hate speech, means of crime (murder, wiretapping, theft, buying and selling drugs, commercial sex, etc.), and other things that we all know. The consequences of this abuse are various, such as chaos, distrust of others, self-closure, and other fears that keep us from the 'perfection' of these social beings. From the rampant misuse of these goods, one of the roots for me is ourselves who have the free will to speak and act. This annulled freedom causes social disturbances that harm many people.
From the introduction above, we are invited to reflect, withdraw ourselves from the 'world' and ask, have I become a good user of those means of social media? More profoundly, have I, as a messenger of God, become a 'preacher' who brings love to others through our words and actions in responding to the current world developments?
Be a Lover
I believe every human being comes into the world to carry a special MISSION from God. What's that? Each one knows himself. However, I firmly believe we are sent to be heralds of love. I see it from the perspective of faith, where Jesus taught us the law of love, one of which is to love our enemies and pray for them. It is pretty challenging to implement when the world today pulls us so far to hate, fight against each other and even destroy it on the basis of 'cleansing' the world of evil. These mistakes are enough to disturb the deepest desire of our hearts to love others. Reflecting on the law of love, we get another example of many saints who withdrew their entire life from love. I quote what Saint Guido Maria Conforti said about the mission of a Xaverian: "the sole and exclusive goal, namely, to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God to those who do not know Him" (C.2), especially those who are “privileged in the kingdom of God.” (C.9). The desire of Conforti to proclaim the good news and to make the world one family cannot be separated from the inspiration and an intimate relationship with Christ Crucified through prayer.
We are also invited to be world missionaries, in the broader sense that we humans have the same MISSION to love one another and also as carriers of love to everyone we meet. Based on that invitation, we are invited to first withdraw from our busyness to be quiet in prayer and hear the voice of our hearts which comes from God Himself, who tells us that we are His beloved children, and then encourages us to share that love with the people we meet. We can express how to share the love of Christ on social media, which currently binds us to the world's lies, violence, and hatred from certain parties. Because the basis of this widespread misuse of social media is ourselves, we can also change this attitude and begin to share words of comforting love and fight public lies with the divine truth that God loves us. Thus, let us try to lead our fellowmen to true repentance, forgive and love one another. We currently find several examples on Facebook, Instagram, and other media that aggressively call for unity with constructive statuses, images, songs, or other creatively made to fight the abuse of social media and other movements that support the unity and integrity of our country.
Building Dialogue in Social Media
By realizing that it is important for us always to hear the voices of God, we will get accustomed to responding to the presence of social media with the perspective of God Himself, who loves and forgives. Seeing the importance of our existence as messengers of love, we are also invited to have a dialogue on social media. For now, a daily life dialogue exists to straighten, unite, and re-knit brotherhood among different people, for example, through regular meetings, particular events, etc. We all know that there have been so many social media groups with their own uniqueness. It is also an opportunity for us to spread the good news through 'distance' dialogue, exchange ideas, or even have a scheduled meeting (face to face) to get to know and love one another better and together to be a mover of love for everyone.
All these things are also very relevant for some people who are the silent majority, in other words being passive about the virtual world or the current world movement. I have also been a passive person who chose to seek safety quietly and did not take risks in existing social developments, especially this social media. However, now I realize that it is important for me to get out of my comfort zone by taking part in efforts to share love through small businesses. In the current context, as a Xaverian theologate, I am more focused on simple things, such as praying for unity, building simple dialogues in apostolic work, and other encounters. Reflecting on other Xaverian communities, they are also trying to build dialogue and proclaim Christ through missionary animations on social media. Thus, all of us, whether social media users or not, are invited and encouraged by the spirit of Christ to become His missionaries who are able to see, seek, and love Christ in all things; see the presence of Christ in our relationships or the current state of the world, seek and find His presence in our activities and love Him by loving others and being a messenger of love to those who are still shackled to the abuse of this social media. May God's grace accompany our efforts in realizing that love. God bless.
