Reflection of a young Catholic mother

If you didn’t know, today is the feast day of a great saint, St. Francis de Sales.  He is usually known as the patron saint of journalist but he also became well known for his letters written to ordinary lay people who were struggling in their path to holiness.  There have been many nights I have found comfort in the letters he had written to ordinary people, especially in finding holiness, or at least the path, in doing my ordinary work: cleaning toilets, changing diapers and just getting along with cranky people in general.  These could all be stepping stones in our path to holiness.

Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, recently wrote a reflection on the 43rd World Day of Communications. In the advancement of our technology, we have the benefit of instant communication.  This communication is not limited to our area, but world wide.   We are the digital generation.    Our desire to be connected is not unusual, as the Holy Father states:

While the speed with which the new technologies have evolved in terms of their efficiency and reliability is rightly a source of wonder, their popularity with users should not surprise us, as they respond to a fundamental desire of people to communicate and to relate to each other. This desire for communication and friendship is rooted in our very nature as human beings and cannot be adequately understood as a response to technical innovations. In the light of the biblical message, it should be seen primarily as a reflection of our participation in the communicative and unifying Love of God, who desires to make of all humanity one family. When we find ourselves drawn towards other people, when we want to know more about them and make ourselves known to them, we are responding to God’s call – a call that is imprinted in our nature as beings created in the image and likeness of God, the God of communication and communion.

As with all matters, this too must be tempered with love and respect and how much of our time is being spent on the internet.  Pope Benedict goes on to say:

The concept of friendship has enjoyed a renewed prominence in the vocabulary of the new digital social networks that have emerged in the last few years. The concept is one of the noblest achievements of human culture. It is in and through our friendships that we grow and develop as humans. For this reason, true friendship has always been seen as one of the greatest goods any human person can experience. We should be careful, therefore, never to trivialize the concept or the experience of friendship. It would be sad if our desire to sustain and develop on-line friendships were to be at the cost of our availability to engage with our families, our neighbours and those we meet in the daily reality of our places of work, education and recreation. If the desire for virtual connectedness becomes obsessive, it may in fact function to isolate individuals from real social interaction while also disrupting the patterns of rest, silence and reflection that are necessary for healthy human development.

This is very good advice and one I have personally been reflecting on.  How much time should be spent on the computer for an average housewife?  The internet has truly been a blessing to us because it has been through ministries such as EWTN and Catholic Answers that we have grown in our faith.  It is also through other blogs we keep up to date with what is happening in our Church and in our country or world.  I love reading the blogs of fellow Catholics; epspecially everyday mom and dad’s who are struggling and dealing with every day issues.  I will not leave out the priests either that take the time to keep us informed and educate us in our faith.  There are some that spend a lot of time and money in this ministry and what a blessing it is to have them!

But how much is too much?  I am not the said priest or journalist as mentioned above so my time will be different than theirs.

These are things that I will be praying about and thinking about today, especially since today is my birthday and also the feast day of my patron saint, St. Francis de Sales.

St. Francis de Sales, pray for us!