Hajja Salesjana January-March 2021

7 H AJJA S ALESJANA can see inside our own heart. In our posts and comments on social media, St. Francis de Sales has some more specific suggestions. Let your words be kindly, frank, sincere, straightforward, simple and true; avoid all artifice, duplicity and pretense, remembering that, although it is not always well to publish abroad everything that may be true, yet it is never allowable to oppose the truth. Make it your rule never knowingly to say what is not strictly true, either accusing or excusing, always remembering that God is the God of Truth. Furthermore, he suggests, “when it is necessary to contradict anybody, or to assert one’s own opinion, it should be done gently and considerately, without irritation or vehemence. Indeed, we gain nothing by sharpness or petulance.” Last of all, we should stress the quality of our online conversations, rather than quantity. The silence , so much commended by wise men of old, does not refer so much to a literal use of few words, as to not using many useless words. On this score, we must look less to the quantity than the quality, and, as it seems to me, our aim should be to avoid both extremes. As you embark on using social media, keep these guidelines in mind and you will do well to bring the light of Christ to others. PhotobyArnelHasanovic fromwww.unsplash.com