Ordinary Time 10 - The Divider

 

Ordinary Time 10

June 9, 2024

The Divider

 

            We like to think of Switzerland as the neutral land of peace, but that was not the case in the late 1400s. The country was divided into different city-states, which were united and protected one another. They had just successfully fought a war against an invading force, and were so successful that they won millions of gold pieces in spoils – and the united country began to fracture. Each city began to fight the others over this money – and all of a sudden, they began to threaten civil war.

            One of the governors knew the perfect man to settle this quarrel: St. Nicholas of Flue. Although at one time a soldier himself, Nicholas had given it all up for Christ as a holy man and a monk, living in the Alps in prayer and contemplation. He had already been gifted with many mystical gifts, including consuming nothing but the Eucharist for food. The governor invited St. Nicholas to a meeting where all the other governors were fighting, yelling, and threatening one another. They were on the brink of a civil war.

            Nicholas went to the meeting and walked in – and the crowd became hushed, having heard of his holy reputation. He did not need to say anything, but he pointed upward to Heaven, raising his eyes to the skies. Everyone got the hint – why were they fighting over the dust of this earth, when they were meant to enjoy the glories of Heaven? The meeting disbanded without any further argument, and the country itself was saved.

            Division. It’s everywhere in our world. The very beginning of human history is marred with division – Eve was meant to be the partner of Adam, and both of them were meant to walk in communion with God. But once Original Sin entered the picture, we see the couple separated from God – they hide in the bushes – and hiding from one another, as they clothe themselves in fig leaves. Adam even blames both Eve and God for his sin – “It was that woman that YOU put here with me!” and Eve passing the blame on to others, too: “It wasn’t my fault! I was tricked!”

            The word “devil” comes from the Greek and Aramaic word diablos which literally means “the scatterer, the divider”. Satan is a very real being, and one of his main tactics is to divide. To separate us from God and from one another. And one of the main ways in which he does that, in today’s modern world, is through social media.

            Think about it – Satan doesn’t tempt most of us to be murderers or to cheat on our spouse. He knows that won’t work – we’d see right through it. But he can distract us from asking the deep questions in life by scrolling mindlessly through Instagram…he can get us to ignore God by wasting our time on TikTok videos instead of developing a real prayer life…he can get us to hate each other through those harsh Tweets that tear down instead of building up.

            Yes, I know, social media is just a tool. Right. So is a radial saw. And we can give a screwdriver to a toddler, not a radial saw. When working with a dangerous tool, one has to be aware of the dangers and mature enough to handle it without destroying ourselves and others. Do you think most people possess this maturity? Let’s look at the dangers, and the “instruction manual” to teach us how to use well the dangerous tool of social media.

            The half-truths of social media are the most dangerous. Remember – Satan rarely tells outright lies. He usually tells us half-truths instead. How did he get Eve to fall? He said, “Oh, if you eat this fruit, you won’t die, you will become like gods, knowing right from wrong.” He wasn’t lying – they didn’t immediately die when they ate the fruit, and they did experience, in a new way, right…and especially wrong. But he neglected to tell them about the loss of grace, the darkening intellect, the inclination to sin, and the suffering and death that would enter the world through this choice.

            Likewise, social media feeds us a lot of half-truths. It tells us that we only have self-worth if we have lots of likes. It tells us that we desperately need to find out what everyone else is doing in their lives, at all times. It tells us that digital “connection” is somehow a substitute for actual friends and interactions. It tells us that we have to have an opinion on absolutely everything under the sun – I am still kind of flabbergasted at how many people felt the burning need to comment about Harrison Butker’s commencement speech last month.

            Please don’t misunderstand – social media is not evil in itself. Like most Millennials, I have a Facebook, and it is great to connect with old friends and share pictures and news. And, of course, the Gospel can be shared on social media, and it’s able to impact many thousands of souls.

            But one must use such a tool with the mind and heart of Christ. How do we do that? First, by limiting our time on it – it must be balanced with a real interior life of prayer and good spiritual practices. Second, by remembering that everyone on social media is an actual, living human being, made in the image and likeness of God. When we are having a lively debate, forgo the insults and vitriol which so characterizes these online interactions, and realize that these are people that Christ died for! Third, be careful what voices we trust. Not everyone is worth believing. There are a lot of shrill voices out there who would happily share a meme that is completely false – and we don’t take the trouble to investigate it. We must be deeply grounded in the Scriptures and the teachings of Christ’s Church, so we can evaluate what we are being told through the lens of truth. Finally, we must keep custody of our senses – our eyes will someday look upon the Face of Christ, and our ears will hear His voice – and it can be as simple as a Dolce & Gabbana bag sparking greed in our hearts, or seeing a picture of someone’s vacation and suddenly being filled with envy, or all the scantily-clad people tempting us to reduce them to merely a body.

            Social media is like most things in this world – a neutral thing that can be used for good or for ill. It can divide us from God and one another, or it can connect us and bring us closer to God. Like St. Nicholas of Flue, we are called to look up, and use all things in such a way that we keep heaven in mind. We ought to heed the words of St. Paul today: “Look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.”