Technology can be a source of so much evil, real tremendous overwhelming evil, but it can also be a tool for good.
Our phones are almost entirely oriented around the ways of the world, the ways of lust, of greed, of envy, of distraction. The ways that lead to destruction. But at the end of the day technology is a tool. And God can still use it. God can still reach out to His people through it. And just as missionaries before us strived to build churches in cities, to sanctify these spaces that had fallen away from God, so too do we have an opportunity to let Christ sanctify these digital spaces.
From Pope Francis: “Wherever there are people, the Church is called to reach out to them and to bring the joy of the Gospel, and the mercy and forgiveness of God.”
We are called to reach out to people wherever they may be, and whether we like it or not, where people are in today’s world is their phones.
But we’ve seen what God can do when we let Him.
We have a tremendous privilege at Hallow. A tremendous blessing to receive hundreds of notes every week from folks who had fallen away, but who, through the app, the Lord was able to reach back out to.
My favorite is probably Lauren’s story. She was a 15 year old, who became very depressed, so much so that one night she decided to end her life. She drew a bubble bath because she wanted it to be a pretty death, but right before she decided to go forward with it she looked up at the ceiling and said: “God, I don’t believe in You. I’m an atheist. But if You’re real, this is Your last shot. Prove it to me.”
A few months earlier, her mom had downloaded Hallow onto her phone. She picked it up and chose a random meditation. It was on Christ’s Passion – on the blood that He shed for us on the cross. And in that moment she realized something. She realized that Christ was real. That He was with her in the bathroom. That she was loved.
He stretched out His hand and lifted her out of the bathtub.
She dedicated her life to serving Him and spreading the Gospel and for the last 3 years has been a missionary serving children in the inner city.
Glory to God.
Let us pray with the Holy Father that all new technologies may be dedicated to and rooted in the Lord, that they all might respect the dignity of the human person, and that they all might lead us all deeper into a relationship with our Father in Heaven. Amen.
Alex Jones
The CEO and Co-Founder of Hallow, the #1 Catholic app for prayer & meditation on a mission to help folks find peace and grow closer to God.