What does the Gospel and evangelization of the web mean?
Evangelizing is the mission of the Church. It is not only for some, but it is mine, yours, our mission. Everyone must be an evangelizer, especially with their life!
These are the words of Pope Francis, words that we all need to make our own in the Church. We always say that evangelization is the duty of every Christian, and that one cannot live without evangelizing, but then it happens that we quit at the first obstacle or, even worse, we think that we can do it alone… in comfortable places.
The Web is an open space: ideas meet, or rather…often collide. It is a space in which one sometimes gets the impression that people talk on top of each other, thus confusion, disorder and anarchy reign.
But isn’t it here that the Lord calls us to be present? He said: “I am sending you like lambs among wolves”…. For this reason, we cannot stop evangelizing.
Evangelizing the Web means “being there”
But above all it means “being there” as disciples of the Master, of Jesus: it means, in the end … bringing the presence of the Lord who never had a problem meeting anyone, sinners, tax collectors, because he loves everyone, he wants to meet everyone, and to save everyone.
Asking oneself how to bring the Gospel to the Web means starting from an important premise: the Gospel is not just a book (or a collection of books). It is not a page on which words are written.
The Gospel is a Person: it is Jesus the Savior who explains himself to us through the living testimony of those who have already experienced the “yes” of faith, i.e. the Church.
If we begin from this, we can understand and experience together that evangelizing means first of all living like Jesus, growing in a relationship with him. And this is the first duty of the “digital evangelizer”.
Then it means being witnesses of the Gospel, living it first ourselves through our concrete actions: on the Web this translates into being a presence that is significant.
We must not waste time on the Web, but live it by giving the best of ourselves, putting our faith in it even when a good dose of courage is needed.
On the Web we must offer values and truth in our encounters, even if we don’t always know who we are dealing with. And even if this is the case, we must always search for the truth in the other, overcoming anonymity with love!
Even on the Web we must move beyond the idea of having someone in front of us… to having a brother/sister in front of us. Therefore, let’s search for additional moments to go beyond the digital meeting, opening up spaces for a direct, in-person encounter. Also because it must always be remembered that communication is “symphonic”, and cannot simply be limited to the use of a single channel.
The web is made up of encounters, of relationships (even if not always at its maximum potential). Therefore, time on the Web, to be time for evangelization, must increasingly be “donated”, dedicated time… not simply time spent together. Creating a beautiful site, writing a good post, finding the right words for social networks, means taking care of the place you want to create, and valuing the communication you want to activate. Communicating badly, hastily, without substance… does not serve the “good”, and in the end, does not help evangelization.
We can conclude with a slogan: Whoever prays, whoever lives the Faith, evangelizes twice!
Evangelizing the Web means that we are the first to live the Gospel as a proclamation of salvation, and in doing so testify to it with our good life in the places–even digital ones–that we are called to inhabit. We have the task of finding, with imagination born of the Holy Spirit, suitable forms of evangelization that are faithful to our mission as Christians, as evangelizers passionate about Christ and the Church.
Evangelizing the Web means that we are the first to live the Gospel as a proclamation of salvation, and in doing so testify to it with our good life in the places–even digital ones–that we are called to inhabit.
