Technology And Prayer
Miriam Hogan, O.C.D.
Computers and cell phones, praise the Lord! Seems a bit strange that we mention instruments of modern technology in the same context that we talk about the psalms and canticles that we use in prayer. As contemplative nuns, we are very familiar with the canticle of Daniel that we recite every Sunday and Feast Day. It begins "Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord." and names angels, waters, sun and moon, stars of heaven, birds of the air, and beasts etc. I find it easy to be mildly distracted when we recite some of my favorite items, like the birds and the mountains and hills. All of these items are free gifts of God given for our use and enjoyment. Yet, we don't mention computers. While it is true that the Office prayers were composed in a different time of history, it is also true that instruments of technology, rather than being directly from God, can be best categorized as the works of our hands. (minds and hearts) Perhaps, it is in the next Sunday psalm that even though these instruments are not mentioned we can begin to appreciate incorporating them into our prayer.
Psalm 149 begins, "Sing a new song to the Lord,...let them praise...and make music with timbrel and harp. For the Lord delights in his people." Now just as we can make music with timbrel and harp we can also make music with computers and electric organs etc. Further to the point, we can use them in our daily lives to praise God. Like a rock, which can be held in the hand to throw at someone, a computer can be used to harm or to enhance someone's life and to bring forth the goodness of God in new and varied ways.
In Our Lives Of Prayer
It strikes me that it is much easier to write about the dangers and harm that can be done with the misuse of modern technology than it is to write about the good use that we can make of it, especially in our lives of prayer. 1 Yet, the call to proclaim and spread the gospel is as clear now as it was in the past. One of the means we can use to bring Christ's message to others and to make others aware of our own life of prayer is the internet.
Pope Benedict XVI in his Address to the Roman Curia, 21 December 2009, stated that: "God's loving care for all people in Christ must be expressed in the digital world not simply as an artifact from the past, or a learned theory, but as something concrete, present and engaging. Our pastoral presence in that world must thus serve to show our contemporaries, especially the many people in our day who experience uncertainty and confusion, 'that God is near; that in Christ we all belong to one another.'"
The sense of Christ's presence communicated over the net is especially understood and embraced by our younger people. In his Papal Message for World Communications Day 2 Benedicts XVI noted some of the more positive aspects of "cyberspace" for those that are being drawn to God in expectation and hope. "Thanks to the new communications media, the Lord can walk the streets of our cities and stopping before the threshold of our homes and our hearts, say once more: 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me" (Rev 3:20)
On June 1, 2010, the Vatican released a study that showed, "that 94.7 percent of priests worldwide access the Internet on a daily basis for a variety of activities." 3 Training in the use of new communication technologies is encouraged and supported from the time of their formation. Going back to Benedict's message for World Communications Day we quote, "Yet, priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart, their closeness to Christ. This will not only enliven their pastoral outreach, but also will give a 'soul' to the fabric of communications that makes up the 'web'"
Going one step further than the Vatican study, it seems that we also need to be aware of women and nuns in discussing the modern use of technology. For, like the women that followed the Lord with the early disciples, their presence is also being felt and encouraged on the net.
At a recent dinner discussion, we joked that if cell phones were available when Christ walked the earth, Mary would have texted: "Jesus, Where are you? Your father and I have been looking for you. Come Home."
Finally, as we make use of the new technologies, we pray for all people, that God may continue to give success to the work of our hands. And we endorse the papal message, "Just as the prophet Isaiah envisioned a house of prayer for all peoples (cf. Is 56:7), can we not see the web as also offering a space - like the 'Court of the Gentiles' of the Temple of Jerusalem - for those who have not yet come to know God?"
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1cf: http://zenit.org/article-24887?l=english Digital Age Seen As Revolutionary/ Vatican Aide Says it Changed How People Communicate
2http://zenit.org/article-28139?l=english Papal Message For World Communications Day "Priests Stand at the Threshold of a New Era"
3 http://www.zenit.org/article-29431?l=english Priests Report On Digital Technology Usage Cardinal Hummes Stresses New Cultural World
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