I received this book for Mother's Day and very excitedly jumped in. There are some wonderful essays in this book. As I was reading I kept thinking that I should be writing some of the gems down, but of course I didn't. It seemed that in each essay I could grasp on to one awesome idea that I wanted to remember. Of course now I cannot remember any of them, so I hope to still go back and read them and this time write them down!I worked my way steadily through the book until I got to the last essay by Barbara Nicolosi entitled "Plugging In and Embracing Discipleship in the Twenty-First Century". I read the first page, put the book down and then didn't pick it up again until this weekend because it just didn't seem like something I would be interested in. This weekend, however, I decided I was finally going to finish the book so I could put it away.
I am so glad I did! That essay was wonderful, as there were quite a few gems contained in these last few pages. Barbara talks about how we need to embrace the technology we have been given instead of running away from it. She says, "This is not a time to morph into some kind of perverse blend of Catholic Amishness. It may seem easier, but it isn't holier."
So many times we are tempted to run away from all that is out there in our world...television, movies, the internet. "Run away!" our friends tell us, lest you lose your soul. What we need to do is become discerning and wise and, as the late Blessed Pope John Paul II said,
"Do not be afraid of new technologies! These rank "among the marvelous things" (Vatican II, Inter Mirifica) which God has placed at our disposal to discover, to use and to make known the truth, also the truth about our dignity and about our destiny as his children, heirs of his eternal Kingdom."We must be grounded in our knowledge and love for Christ and His church, and then we must go forth and use what God has put in at our disposal to change the world (or at least our small part of it) for the better. We can use technology to bring beauty and hope to a world that is mired in sin and despair. If we walk away from it, our lives might be simpler, but will be doing what we have been called to do?
Barbara concluded with the statement, "We're not just supposed to be out there in the culture. We are supposed to be important in the culture." Participating in the arts and on-line are two important ways that we can do this.
What a great note to end this wonderful collection of essays on! I would highly recommend reading this book!
God Bless!
