Maybe it's because I'm getting old. Maybe I have just forgotten the unspoken rules of social media interaction. Whatever the reason, I feel I've made myself look very awkward on a few occasions on social media.
Recently, like a good fb stalker friend, I had been following a friend's posts about personal struggles and questions. Mind you, I hadn't had any real in person interaction with this individual in over 12 years. At some point I started randomly commenting as though it was 12 years ago and I had just seen this person and had many conversations in a trusting friendship. I am such a weirdo. It was awkward. It was taken awkwardly. I now see the error of my ways.
But that is what social media does to us isn't it? For those friends who you don't normally interact with on a daily basis social media makes us feel as though we are still right there with them. Sometimes depending on the original relationship this is totally fine, for those acquaintances, it can be awkward.
I find myself thinking, "I just want to be your friend!" I spend a lot of time lamenting about how far away I actually am from some people. I just want to be a part of your life!
In reality I can't. I can't physically be a part of everyone's life and in everyone's business and talking to everyone about their problems. It's just not realistic. Not.....human.
Tonight we went to stations of the cross as a family. The priest leading it was a Vietnamese priest with a wonderful accent. As he was praying the closing prayers I found myself transported in my mind's eye to the many Churches around the world I have been fortunate enough to visit. I imagined these same prayers being done in Churches in the Philippines, in Mexico, in India, in Spain, France, Australia, Canada, and all over the world. It gave me such an amazing sense of hope and love to think that we were all uniting our prayers during this time of lent. We as the Church were really together.
This made me remember something a Benedictine nun said to me during my discernment. I had asked about why the Liturgy of the Hours was prayed daily and so many times a day. What was the point of all the psalms? Why not another form of prayer? She told me that the psalms in the Liturgy of the Hours contain all the emotions a person can have. So when we pray the psalms it is like praying for and with all of humanity. You pray the prayers of sadness and joy along with the universal church. You plug yourself into the lifeblood of the Church and your prayers join in with everyone all over the world because the psalms and the Mass are universal. Priests, religious, and laypeople all pray the same prayers every day, united.
I think the universality of the Liturgy of the Hours must be the answer for what social media lacks. We long for closeness with friends and others. We seek to be with people in their struggles and walk with them in their joy and pain. On a human level this cannot be done properly on a grand scale. But through humble prayers, joining with Jesus, it can. We can plug in, through a different system. A different social media platform.....it's called prayerbook.
Bahahaha. That was corny.
I love you all. Don't be awkward like me. Don't be surprised if I randomly comment on your posts when I haven't spoken to you in years.
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