#MoreThanAHashtag
I confess, I
use them. I use hashtags. Doesn’t everyone?
One I use with frequency is: #IHaveFamilyInIraq. But when that phrase was first used hashtags weren’t a ‘thing.’ The person who spoke those words was an Iraqi Dominican Sister giving a presentation to Dominican leadership in the US. She was telling the story of her family (relatives and congregation of Sisters) in her homeland at a time when US political rhetoric was ramping up a plan to invade her country.
US Dominicans at that time and since have kept that phrase before ourselves: “ I have family in Iraq” reminding ourselves that our Dominican life stretches beyond a congregation or a country. We are a global Order in the Church.
The phrase also reminds us that we have a particular family in the Order that has been suffering with their people for a very long time. For us in the US, it reminds us of our need to be vigilant in being informed, to be active in our pursuit of justice and to be contemplatives who are holding this part of the Dominican family in our prayers.
What hashtags are you using? Are they calling you to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God? (see Micah 6:8)
Roberta A. Popara, O.P.
One I use with frequency is: #IHaveFamilyInIraq. But when that phrase was first used hashtags weren’t a ‘thing.’ The person who spoke those words was an Iraqi Dominican Sister giving a presentation to Dominican leadership in the US. She was telling the story of her family (relatives and congregation of Sisters) in her homeland at a time when US political rhetoric was ramping up a plan to invade her country.
US Dominicans at that time and since have kept that phrase before ourselves: “ I have family in Iraq” reminding ourselves that our Dominican life stretches beyond a congregation or a country. We are a global Order in the Church.
The phrase also reminds us that we have a particular family in the Order that has been suffering with their people for a very long time. For us in the US, it reminds us of our need to be vigilant in being informed, to be active in our pursuit of justice and to be contemplatives who are holding this part of the Dominican family in our prayers.
What hashtags are you using? Are they calling you to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God? (see Micah 6:8)
Roberta A. Popara, O.P.
North Palm
Beach FL
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