Does the Internet Affect Your Prayer Life?
Posted by Danielle Bean in Faith on Wednesday, June 09, 2010 10:00 AM
First of all, can I just say how happy I am to see Fr. James Martin writing for the Huffington Post? His words are always a breath of fresh air to this mom who finds most other entries there discouraging, if not disturbing, to Catholic thinkers.
His latest, Does E-Mail Make It Harder to Pray? How the Digital Age Is Changing Spiritual Life, is no exception.
There’s been a lot of online talk about the importance of “disconnecting” recently. I am glad to see so many people emphasizing the importance of real-life relationships and the ways in which digital “connections” can rob us of our humanity:
Does the Internet Make You Dumber?
Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price
Does My Blackberry Make Me a Bad Parent?
Is Technology Reshaping Your Brain, Your Family, Your Life?
But about technology affecting our prayer lives, Fr. Martin says:
But without some inner silence, it becomes harder to listen to God’s voice within. It is more difficult to hear the “small, still” sound, as the First Book of Kings described God’s voice. If your eyes are glued to your iPad and your ears stopped up by your iPod, it’s hard to hear what might be going on inside you. Cutting back on these gadgets, not answering every single e-mail and phone call right away, may be necessary for a measure of calm.
“Deep calls to deep,” says Psalm 42. But what if you can’t hear the deep?
Solitude and silence also enable us to connect on a deeper level with others, for we are put in touch with the deepest part of ourselves—God. And in coming to know God, we are better able to find God in others and are freed of our loneliness and anomie. Sometimes you have to disconnect to connect.
Deep calls to deep. Disconnect to connect.
As someone who must spend a great deal of time online each day, these are issues I have given considerable thought to. These are mental realities my heart and soul “get” without needing any convincing from Fr. Martin or the Wall Street Journal.
Humans have a need for quiet and stillness that technology will never meet. Because technology is never quiet or still.
As enchanted as we might become with new technologies, there’s one fact we cannot escape: Our bodies matter. God made us physical beings for a purpose.
Virtual connections can be good—very good, in fact—but we are created for more than just that. We are called to physical connections with other human beings through community, family, and friendship. We are called to a physical relationship with God, through the sacraments.
God is calling out to each of us. Right now. Will we slow down for long enough to listen?
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