The Jubilee Year 2025 is upon us, and Pope Francis has asked that we all attempt to be “pilgrims of hope” to witness to the love and power of Jesus Christ in the world today. What does that mean in practical terms? How am I to be a pilgrim of hope to the world?
The Oxford dictionary defines a pilgrim as one who journeys to a sacred place for religious reasons. Pilgrim can also mean one who journeys through life. This is the aspect of “pilgrim” that’s captured in “pilgrims of hope.” We are all pilgrims on the journey of life, looking forward to being with God forever in heaven once our earthly life is over.
There are many complexities to the journey of life. We may sometimes be tempted to fall into nostalgia about “simpler times” or “the way things used to be.” One aspect of 21st-century life that can complicate the journey is the digital landscape. How can we be pilgrims of hope when it comes to the digital media culture? How do we cultivate an attitude of hope when so much media, especially social media, seems self-centered, introspective and anything but hopeful?
Even more importantly, how do we encourage the young, who are so immersed in digital everything, to buck the selfish trend and be a hopeful and faithful presence in their online interactions? The answer lies in fostering an attitude of media mindfulness and putting some practices in place to help us out of the digital rabbit hole when we find ourselves falling in.
With some determination and effort, these suggested practices can bring us a sense of hope as we journey every single day through the digital landscape. If we, as adults, learn these practices, they can offer us hope as we endeavor to teach the young how to navigate our media world as followers of Jesus.
— Bring your faith and values to bear within the digital landscape. It takes practice, but asking ourselves if what we’re doing online is helping us grow in our relationship with God and with others can give us the pause we need to look at the way we use media. Stopping every once in a while and doing an examination of conscience 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 lives. Asking the Holy Spirit to help us understand what it is God wants of us is desirable in all areas of life, but especially in our digital lives. Is what I’m watching, reading, listening to, interacting with, in line with God’s holiness?
— Be critical thinkers. Applying critical thinking skills to our digital lives and the messages that we get from the media we experience means that the negative aspects of media can have less influence on our ways of thinking. When we bring media messages into conversation with the values we hold as Christians, recognizing what is good and worth keeping and what we want to discard becomes easier. This is especially hopeful for parents trying to instill responsibility in their kids for the way they use media.
— Hope implies a trust that God has things in hand, that he is in charge and is with us on the pilgrimage of life. Hopefully, we’ve had experiences that have shown us just how much God holds us in love. Other experiences, however, may have us wondering where God is. Using these tips give us hope that even in our media and digital interactions, God is present and leading our life’s pilgrimage.
— If our online lives are out of balance, other parts of our lives will be, too, especially our relationships, and that includes our relationship with God. Being a “pilgrim of hope” encompasses all aspects of our life journey. As we set off on this jubilee year, let’s take up the challenge to incorporate the virtue of hope into our own digital landscape.
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