Giving Up Facebook for Lent

Trading Politic Banter for Acts of Mercy

The most known vices that Catholics give up are sweets, caffeine, and beer. Although these can bring you to your knees in prayer (I thought I was going to die one year abstaining from caffeine), the greatest vice of this day and age is social media, particularly for me, Facebook. It pulls me in, makes me forget about my priorities, and makes me so mad that I don’t understand why I am on there to begin with. With the protesting, and political mess my Facebook feed is all about politics, and even if a post is not about politics, someone will comment something political and make it about politics. I have friends and family that I have argued with on Facebook that I thought I would never have argued with. Some of those friends and family, I don’t talk to anymore all because we had a disagreement on political matters over Facebook. I never wanted that to happen. I think we can get caught up in our own opinions and trying to force our beliefs on others. The best way to bring someone to Christ is to lead by example, not by force. Sometimes I can get angry over political statements and may not be a very good example for Christ.

Lent is a time to sacrifice something and do something more! You can choose to give up a vice and devote yourself to pray the rosary, complete Acts of Mercy, or attend the Stations of the Cross each week. Some Catholics indulge in their vices on Sundays during Lent. There are more than forty days in Lent, but if you exclude Sundays, you have forty. Whether you want to indulge on Sundays is totally up to you, there is no official rule on this. It is your devotion, your time of prayer and fasting. Make the most of it. For me, I will be checking my Facebook page on Sundays for no longer than an hour. This is the way so many people choose to contact me, so I will check my messages and post any of my publications for the week. However, I will not be looking at comments related to politics. I will be deleting my Facebook app from my phone as well. The app makes Facebook so easy to access and I often click the app button cognitively unaware of what I am doing. To be sure I am not tempted to push it, I am removing that temptation completely! Sorry Devil!

With the aim to make the most out of Lent, I plan to learn more about the lives of the Saints, and pray the Stations of the Cross at least twice at my church. There are also seven corporal works of mercy and seven spiritual works of mercy I have desired to learn more about.

The Seven Corporal Works of Mercy are:

1. Feed the hungry.
2. Give drink to the thirsty.
3. Clothe the naked.
4. Shelter the homeless
5. Visit the sick.
6. Visit the imprisoned.
7. Bury the dead.

The Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy are:

1. Counsel the doubtful.
2. Instruct the ignorant.
3. Admonish sinners
4. Comfort the afflicted.
5. Forgive offenses.
6. Bear wrongs patiently.
7. Pray for the living and the dead.

With all the time I am going to have away from Facebook, I intend to adopt one corporal work of mercy and one spiritual work of mercy into my lenten practices. There are so many ways to do the works of mercy. Being creative with them can bring an abundant amount of self-satisfaction and humbleness. I will return to Facebook after Easter, hopefully with a much calmer, less political feed. Being a total introvert, Facebook gives me a way to help others and preach the truth. I have a Facebook page called, “Reflecting Warmth and Hope”. I use this page to bring hope to the hopeless. Anything I find inspiring or comforting, I post it on this page in hopes other’s will feel the same. A beautiful heartfelt post or picture may cheer up someone during their darkest moment and that makes my heart happy. Social media can also be a great way to keep in touch with family or those who are like minded, but we need to monitor our time on it. Anger can spread so quickly starting from just our finger tips and before we know it we are caught up in a heated debate for hours. By the time you decide you are done arguing with someone, your heart is cold, and you feel farther away from God. This has been my experience with Facebook since the election. I hunger to spend more time enveloped in God’s presence. I look forward to practicing my spiritual self-discipline, becoming closer to God, and celebrating Christ’s triumph over sin and death.