By guest author Maria Johnson
One of the most misguided things I’ve done for Lent in past years is giving up social media. I entered into this fast with good intentions. My attachment to my phone with the incessant checking for comments on my blog and the pull to see how a post performed became too much. Instead of mastering this tool, I abandoned it. In the process, I lost a powerful opportunity to evangelize, especially among followers who were new to me. One day I was posting reflections and engaging in conversations, and the next day I was gone.
Lent is a time of fasting and detachment, so complete fasting from digital media felt like the right thing to do. Over time, I realized I had retreated from a mission field. By stepping away, I left that digital space silent when perhaps it could have been filled with my small witness to Christ.
Digital media as a mission field invites us to enter Holy Week with a Pauline spirit of engagement. As media apostles, we not only contemplate the Passion; we enter into it. Our encounter with Christ must always remain paramount. Perhaps that is what initially fueled my desire to step away from the distractions of media. I longed to immerse myself more fully in the liturgies of Lent, to spend time in prayer, and to tend to my relationship with the Lord.
These desires are good. Without a real encounter with Christ, our words online become empty. Yet, I began to see that immersion in prayer and participation in the liturgy are not meant to pull us away from the world. Rather, they prepare us to bring Christ into the very places where people congregate.
Today, those places include digital spaces filled with believers yearning for thoughtful content. In many ways, social media resembles the public squares where the Apostles once preached. Conversations happen all at once and people come at them from many different perspectives.
Becoming All Things
For those of us who are media apostles, Holy Week becomes more than a spiritually contemplative period. It becomes an opportunity for mission. The depth of the liturgies and the beauty of the Paschal mystery give us something real to share. Our reflection on the suffering and love of Christ becomes something we can bring gently to the digital spaces where people already spend their time.
Thus, our call as media apostles is not to withdraw but to engage prayerfully and authentically.
“I have become all things to all, that I might by all means save some.” (1 Cor 9:22)
When Saint Paul the Apostle wrote these words, he was describing a missionary posture born from love. He encountered communities with different cultural backgrounds, beliefs, and ways of thinking. Rather than demanding that everyone approach the Gospel in exactly the same way, Paul adapted his approach so that people could hear the message in a familiar way that invited dialogue instead of defensiveness.
I admit there was a time when I read this passage and feared such an approach might make me seem flakey or even hypocritical. Was Paul suggesting that we change ourselves depending on the audience? Would that dilute the truth?
The more I reflected on his words, the more I realized that Paul described something quite different. He spoke about the willingness to meet people where they are. He did not compromise the Gospel; he communicated it in ways that others could receive. Today, that means creating digital content that entertains, aligns itself with trends, and most of all, models Christian joy rather than proselytizing.
Adapting ourselves to a wide audience allows for engagement that is welcoming rather than threatening. We don’t pretend to be something we are not or compromise our beliefs. Instead, our engagement is authentic, grounded in love for the other. Through respect, compassion, and genuine interest in the person, we create the foundation for meaningful conversation. It is within relationship, after all, that our engagement opens space for Christ.
Approaching mission in this way follows the teaching of Pope John Paul II. In his 2002 Message for World Communications Day, he described the Internet as a new public forum where ideas, questions, and stories are constantly exchanged. Recognizing its influence, he exhorted the Church to enter this space with missionary courage. He called on “the whole Church bravely to cross this new threshold, to put out into the deep of the Net.”
His words remind us that digital communication is not merely about content creation. It is about presence. It is about ensuring that in our online conversation, the voice of Christ can be heard through our witness.
Shining Our Light in the World
As I look forward to the solemn beauty of the Triduum, the profound silence of Good Friday, and the radiant joy of the Resurrection, I find myself asking a simple question: how could I not want to share this with others? Holy Week contains the greatest story ever told: a story of sacrificial love, redemption, and hope greater than death. For those of us called to be media apostles, this story cannot remain hidden within our own prayer. It yearns to be shared.
Saint Paul the Apostle reminds us that believers are meant to “shine like lights in the world” (Phil 2:15). The light of Christ shines through our words, our conversations, and the hope we proclaim.
The media apostles’ call during Holy Week is to enter it intentionally, carrying with us the story of the Cross and the hope of the empty tomb. Holy Week teaches us that light emerges from darkness. The mission of the media apostle is simply this: to let that light shine, especially in the digital spaces where people are searching for it, whether or not they know it.