Saints in Cyberspace
How new technology is introducing people to the lives of the saints.
“Preach the Gospel,” said St. Francis of Assisi. “Use words when necessary.” Today, that clever but profound remark could be reworked as "Preach the Gospel. Use all forms of modern technology when necessary.” Over the next week, I'll be embarking on a “blog tour” to talk about the saints and discuss my book My Life with the Saints. What's a blog tour? That's what I asked when my publisher first suggested it to me. Essentially, you “visit,” or write for a series of Catholic blogs, one per day, for one week. It's a "tour" that's similar to the more traditional “book tours” that authors use to promote their new books.
Of course a “blog tour” is a new way of spreading the Good News, but the saints were used to being creative with evangelization. From the earliest days of Christianity, the saints understood that it was important to use any way possible to tell people about Jesus Christ. St. Paul for example, travels by land and by sea, writes long letters, and does whatever it takes to bring the word—or rather the Word—to a world that had never heard of Jesus. Also, Paul wisely used familiar images, just like Jesus did in the parable stories, to tell people about the Church—famously comparing it to a person's body with many parts.
Other saints built on his legacy, presenting the Gospel in new ways, and through innovative and untried “media.” St. Augustine virtually invented the genre of autobiography to tell the story of his conversion.
St. Francis of Assisi wrote poems like “The Canticle of the Sun.” St. Ignatius of Loyola asked people to use their imaginations, which was considered in his day a highly suspicious way of praying! The saints understood that any media that could lead people to God was worthwhile.
It’s the same today. And not only are people spreading the Gospel in new ways, but the lives of the saints themselves are being told in new ways. Just think of all the great movies about the saints. “A Man for All Seasons,” about St. Thomas More. “The Song of Bernadette,” about St. Bernadette Soubirous. More recently, the lovely movie “Millions,” about a little boy's love for the saints.
Even more on the cutting edge, the saints are now finding their way into cyberspace. Just Google the word “saints” and you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about. Just recently, a reporter asked me who the patron saint of the elderly was, and instead of looking it up in Butler's Lives of the Saints, I turned to the web. (It's St. Anthony of Padua, by the way.) There's even a website called “Saintcast,” which uses podcasts to tell the stories of the saints.
So, all in all, the notion of a “blog tour” to talk about the saints, and the way that they can be our companions and our patrons, is not so surprising, given the history of Christianity. And I'll bet that if St. Paul were still around, rather than visiting Ephesus and Corinth, even he might be tempted to send them an email or two!
James Martin, SJ, is the author of the
award-winning
and best-selling book
My Life with the Saints.
His blog tour starts on June 6.
