On the occasion of Holy Week I wish to introduce you to Pope Francis the Twitter-er. He is the first pope with the name of Francis and the second one who tweets.
Pope Benedict was the first tweeting pope. In fairness to all the popes who preceded him, none of them could have tweeted. Pope Francis seems keen to keep up this innovative way of communicating with the faithful.
The great thing about "Twitter" is its ripple effect. Whatever one tweets can be "re-tweeted" to "lists" ranging from a handful of people to thousands of people who do not form part of the list of the person tweeting. In a short span of time a tweet can therefore, reach millions. This medium has its limitations. One can only use 140 characters. This may seem a pittance to the verbose but those who use words sagely can communicate a lot with twenty words.
From his election till now, Pope Francis tweeted five times. To-day let’s look at one of his tweets backed by extracts from his homilies. Later on this week I will discuss other of his tweets.
1. Pope Francis @Pontifex 24 “We must not believe the Evil One when he tells us that there is nothing we can do in the face of violence, injustice and sin.”
Since his election to the papacy, Pope Francis has referred several times to the devil. Those who ignore the existence of the Evil One do so at their very peril. Throughout Holy Week we can see, at first hand, his evil work in action. But we can also see how God turns things upside down. The attempts of the devil to destroy Christ lead to his glorification.
The same battle goes on even today.
Last Sunday during the Pope’s homily on the occasion of Palm Sunday there was this reference to the contemporary work done by the devil.
“We must not believe the Evil One when he tells us: you can do nothing to counter violence, corruption, injustice, your sins! We must never grow accustomed to evil! With Christ we can transform ourselves and the world. We must bear the victory of Christ’s Cross to everyone everywhere, we must bear this great love of God.”
This victory of Christ, the Pope say, leads to an attitude of joy.
“Do not be men and women of sadness: a Christian can never be sad! Never give way to discouragement!
Ours is not a joy that comes from having many possessions, but from having encountered a Person: Jesus, from knowing that with him we are never alone, even at difficult moments, even when our life’s journey comes up against problems and obstacles that seem insurmountable, and there are so many of them! We accompany, we follow Jesus, but above all we know that he accompanies us and carries us on his shoulders. This is our joy, this is the hope that we must bring to this world of ours. Let us bring the joy of the faith to everyone!”
I suggest that in the silence of your ears you savour the beauty of these words.