They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Tweets?

Mercy and sacrifice. Prayer. Trust. How do we trust? Go to God. Let the Holy Spirit guide. Let Mary lead us deeper into knowing her Son. Be not afraid to let God be a real, transforming part of your life. Christ must be the center of our lives, all the time.

Have you been reading the papal tweets? It seems so long ago now that I stood and watched Pope Benedict’s first tweet live from Rome. (I called him the “slowest Tweeter,” all out of love and the need for contemplation.) It seems a whole new world now — really one in renewal — and since being elected, Pope Francis has tweeted 172 times. My friend Scot Landry, now of Catholic Voices USA, has put them all in one easy list, toward compiling a top-ten list. Reading through them to find your own could be a worthwhile reflective exercise this Thursday. The @Pontifex tweets are a reminder that wherever we are, we can be heralds of the Gospel, we can invite people into a deeper faith, by pointing to Christ, to our almighty Father who loves us beyond anything we can ever earn or deserve, and to a Holy Spirit who is our counsel. We only have to pray and listen and serve, living in His love and mercy and justice. We must — we are called to be missionaries in the world, as well as faithful members of the Church, ever-deepening in our love of and knowledge of God through encounter with Him, being with Him, and engaging others in Him.

This is all what Pope Francis has been tweeting about.

The message of Pope Francis isn’t an invitation to like a man in Rome, to rejoice in his celebrity. He’s pointing to Christ. That’s what he’s tweeting as he points to prayer and Beatitudes and our lives as children of God, living here together, called from our frequent indifference to and impatience with one another.

Pick your top ten Pope Francis tweets here. They help us walk in faith.

Among my favorites is his most recent:

Dear young people, do not be afraid of making decisive choices in life. Have faith; the Lord will not abandon you!

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) October 14, 2013

I am reminded of how many young people were drawn to the Eucharist through John Paul II’s explicit invitations and engagement with them. And, oh my goodness, is it a reminder that we are forever young – how many of the older among us struggle with trust and courage through our last days?! His Sept. 26th tweet is so crucial a message for lifting darkness:

God’s forgiveness is stronger than any sin. — Pope Francis (@Pontifex) September 26, 2013

God wants to forgive us. Ask Him for forgiveness. The pope, of course, tweets this too:

Mercy is the true power that can save humanity and the world from sin and evil. — Pope Francis (@Pontifex) October 7, 2013

Oh, only that?! It’s everything. Christ is everything. Do we believe that? Do we live like we do? That’s the point of the tweets. It’s a model. For social media. For our lives. For:

We cannot be Christians part-time. If Christ is at the center of our lives, he is present in all that we do.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) August 19, 2013

Choose your top ten tweets here.

NEW: Scot’s top ten list is here.