So you call yourself a “Blogger”.  Why is that?  Why are you doing this?  I have heard people say: “It’s fun”, “It’s an amusement”, “It’s a getaway for me”, “Blogging is an outlet for my writing”………and so on.

As Catholic writers, we should not be worried about how we personally define our time as bloggers.  Instead we should ask ourselves:  “What’s God got to do with it?”  Blogging is neither a good thing nor a bad thing.  Blogging is a benign thing, a new tool in the world of communications.  Not everyone has an attraction to becoming a blogger.   If you are a person, though, who is attracted to this tool of public media, how have you prepared your attitude regarding its use?

Do you have a clear sense that you have taken on a preaching responsibility?  In the public forum any Catholic writer who comments and/or writes declarations about life in general has assumed the role of “preacher”.  Preaching is a public witness about how God is active in your life.   That is the lens that God has commanded that all of us focus through: “Jesus appeared … and said to them: ‘Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.’” (Mark 16: 15)  As bloggers we have been given the tool that literally reaches the whole world in a single key stroke!

Sometimes we get mired in the “small picture” of why, how, what to blog.  Make no mistake, if you are one who has taken up “the blog” become aware of the “bigger picture”; proclaiming the action of God in our lives is really an act of preaching.  Blessed Humbert of Romans († 1277) teaches about that responsibility:

“We conclude that preaching is truly necessary, for without it the glory of heaven would never be realized, hell would be filled up all too soon, and the world would remain sterile; demons would rule, hearts would have neither hope nor joy in their salvation . . . and God’s Church would have no foundation, growth or stability… To illuminate the world, then, is the duty of preachers.”

If you are a Catholic blogger, be joyful at the gift you have been given.  You have a tool that St. Paul would have envied.  “But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.”  (Mk. 16:20)

Kathryn is a retired junior high teacher. A convert with a love for the Church she believes that its teachings have a more than viable application for today's world. She writes practical theological for the people in the pews believing that they have as much right to good catechesis as our youth and converts. Her writings appear on Catholic web sites and local Church publications. She has even been published in the diocese of Australia and most recemtly Zenit. Kathryn holds a Master's in Theology and is a certified spiritual director. Learn more about Kathryn at: www.atravelersview.org

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