(Stock Photo – Canva)

By Marrick Kowalski

Clickbait. Boom. Gotcha. But for real. Lent is right around the corner and is coming in HOT (is it just me or did January simultaneously zoom by while being the slowest month on the planet?).

So let’s talk Lent and social media. You might be thinking, “but Marrick, it’s what pulls me away from God.” or even, “I spend so much time on it being unproductive! It needs to go!” If you are considering giving up social media for Lent this year, my response is this: let’s use it as an intentional tool for evangelization and personal growth.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had Lents where I had fasted from social media (and technology in general) because I felt that it was drawing me away from the Lord and that I wasn’t getting the amount of prayer time I thought I should be, but I then filled that time with other unholy things (like a bad attitude and grumpiness). I’ve also had Lents where I continued to use social media, but there seemed to be a mass exodus of good solid catholic media because everyone else had given it up. The internet can be a scary and hateful place, but what if we intentionally used it to be a positive and uplifting community? What if we used it in moderation as a helpful tool? What if we viewed it as mission territory?

Here are five practical ways to be a social media missionary this Lent:

  1. If we are intentional about what we send and what we share publicly, our little corner of the internet can help others feel seen, loved, and welcomed. Sharing posts and messages we relate to can create a sense of belonging and an understanding that we are not alone. In today’s culture, sharing a meme can be an act of love (and is sometimes the only communication I have with my long-distance friends for months at a time,) but I have to ask myself: is the humour clean? Will it enrich the life of the person who sees it? Can someone encounter Christ through this message? Your post may be the only encounter with Jesus that someone has that day, week, or month.
  2. Pray for the first person you encounter, whether that’s a celebrity, a person you haven’t talked to in years, or your best friend. You can even reach out to let them know you’re thinking of them and praying for them that day.
  3. If you want to fast from social media to spend more time in prayer, I recommend leaving your social media use to a specific time of day. Use that time to intentionally invite others to pray with you. You might post an Instagram story asking how you can pray for your followers or make an invitation to share a new prayer you’re learning to pray. There are also specific accounts that will go live to pray a rosary or Chaplet of Divine Mercy together – join one of those!
  4. Pray More Novenas has an Instagram page, and they post their prayers every day. Turn on your notifications for their page, and you won’t forget to do it or what day you’re on! Invite others to pray the novena with you.
  5. Go through the list of accounts you follow and ask yourself, “does this page/person share good, wholesome content? Do I see Christ in what they say or what they post? Is this an account I want to continue to feed myself?” If the answer is no, give it a great big unfollow. Unfollowing an account doesn’t remove it from the internet; that’s you creating a boundary in your life, and even Jesus had boundaries.

Social media is not inherently good or evil. How we use it is what determines the impact it has on us and our life. If we fill our feeds with good, healthy content, then our lives will be enriched by it. If we are filling our feeds with potentially unholy content, temptation lies there in wait. Through baptism, we are called to the mission of the Church, which is evangelization. That call does not cease to exist simply because the form of communication has changed. My encouragement to you for Lent is this: let social media become a mission territory, where we encourage encounters with Jesus as opposed to encounters with ourselves.

5 Reasons NOT to give up social media for Lent

By Marrick Kowalski

Clickbait. Boom. Gotcha. But for real. Lent is right around the corner and is coming in HOT (is it just me or did January simultaneously zoom by while being the slowest month on the planet?).

So let’s talk Lent and social media. You might be thinking, “but Marrick, it’s what pulls me away from God.” or even, “I spend so much time on it being unproductive! It needs to go!” If you are considering giving up social media for Lent this year, my response is this: let’s use it as an intentional tool for evangelization and personal growth.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had Lents where I had fasted from social media (and technology in general) because I felt that it was drawing me away from the Lord and that I wasn’t getting the amount of prayer time I thought I should be, but I then filled that time with other unholy things (like a bad attitude and grumpiness). I’ve also had Lents where I continued to use social media, but there seemed to be a mass exodus of good solid catholic media because everyone else had given it up. The internet can be a scary and hateful place, but what if we intentionally used it to be a positive and uplifting community? What if we used it in moderation as a helpful tool? What if we viewed it as mission territory?

Here are five practical ways to be a social media missionary this Lent:

  1. If we are intentional about what we send and what we share publicly, our little corner of the internet can help others feel seen, loved, and welcomed. Sharing posts and messages we relate to can create a sense of belonging and an understanding that we are not alone. In today’s culture, sharing a meme can be an act of love (and is sometimes the only communication I have with my long-distance friends for months at a time,) but I have to ask myself: is the humour clean? Will it enrich the life of the person who sees it? Can someone encounter Christ through this message? Your post may be the only encounter with Jesus that someone has that day, week, or month.
  2. Pray for the first person you encounter, whether that’s a celebrity, a person you haven’t talked to in years, or your best friend. You can even reach out to let them know you’re thinking of them and praying for them that day.
  3. If you want to fast from social media to spend more time in prayer, I recommend leaving your social media use to a specific time of day. Use that time to intentionally invite others to pray with you. You might post an Instagram story asking how you can pray for your followers or make an invitation to share a new prayer you’re learning to pray. There are also specific accounts that will go live to pray a rosary or Chaplet of Divine Mercy together – join one of those!
  4. Pray More Novenas has an Instagram page, and they post their prayers every day. Turn on your notifications for their page, and you won’t forget to do it or what day you’re on! Invite others to pray the novena with you.
  5. Go through the list of accounts you follow and ask yourself, “does this page/person share good, wholesome content? Do I see Christ in what they say or what they post? Is this an account I want to continue to feed myself?” If the answer is no, give it a great big unfollow. Unfollowing an account doesn’t remove it from the internet; that’s you creating a boundary in your life, and even Jesus had boundaries.

Social media is not inherently good or evil. How we use it is what determines the impact it has on us and our life. If we fill our feeds with good, healthy content, then our lives will be enriched by it. If we are filling our feeds with potentially unholy content, temptation lies there in wait. Through baptism, we are called to the mission of the Church, which is evangelization. That call does not cease to exist simply because the form of communication has changed. My encouragement to you for Lent is this: let social media become a mission territory, where we encourage encounters with Jesus as opposed to encounters with ourselves.

Marrick currently works as the Youth Ministry Coordinator at Christ the King Parish in Regina. She spent two years serving with NET Ministries (one year in PEI, Canada and one year in Cork, Ireland), and misses being close to the ocean. When she’s not planning youth group, in the schools doing classroom visits, or running retreats, you can probably find her at a local coffee shop or at home working on her calligraphy technique.