LIVE TWEETING the Holiest 72 Hours of A.D. 2014

When I was a freshman at University of Dallas, my friend Frank was really inspired by Jesus' words in Mark 14:36 "Could you not stay awake with me for even one hour?"   The two of us decided to stay up all night on Holy Thursday to pray and read scripture. We kept the vigil going until 3:00pm on Good Friday (the hour of Salvation) - when we ended by praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. 

Anyway, the idea I'm writing ya'll about doesn't involve staying up all night. I've noticed that with Social Media (especially with Twitter) that a lot of "bloggers," reporters, and others will "Live Tweet" for major events - like The Royal Wedding, Presidential Debates, the Oscars, etc. - In the past, I've "followed" these more closely from time to time and was intrigued by the way they seemed captured so much detail in concise 140 character statements. Sometimes Less really is More. 

I saw a post a while back where someone said that the eye-witness accounts in "Live Tweets" are "just like being there!"  - In some ways that's a sad reflection on our society. This person was referring to a the Royal Wedding. I was thinking about the texts in the Gospels that my friend Frank and I read during our Good Friday vigil and I was wondering what it would have been like if someone were "Live Tweeting" the events of the Easter Triduum (Last Supper through to the Resurrection and Walk to Emmaus).  

I know at first that sounds like it would trivialize this sacred event and it WOULD if it were someone's pop-culture view tailored for a Twitter audience. However, the events are already described moment by moment in Sacred Scripture (God's own Word) - which he promises will "not return void." (Isaiah 55:11)

A while back, I started reading and compiling the scriptural texts and selecting verses from the Gospels. I separated them into 140 character segments (the Twitter limit). I was blown away by how powerful these scriptures were when I was forced to focus on each (140 characters at a time).  Each one has a powerful message on its own.

Here's one that really seemed to impact me more when I was forced to focus on it:

"Then all the disciples deserted him and fled." - Matthew 26:56

I'd read the Gospels before and knew this detail, but I hadn't really thought about or visualized it, until then. This time it really hit home.

A friend of mine who owns a social media marketing company told me about the process for pre-scheduling Twitter posts for specific dates / times.  I've been working on a timed structure for the scriptures to post. I tailored the timing so that specific moments will include multiple "tweets" - posting a few minutes apart - followed by periods of complete Silence (no tweets).

 I found out online that on Thursday April 17th (Holy Thursday) that Sunset will occur in Jerusalem at 7:09pm (11:09 am our time - CDT) - that's when my first "Tweet" (Mark 14:12) will post and the rest will follow in timed segments throughout the 72-hours of the Paschal Triduum.  I won't have to be logged in myself. Once I upload these they will all be on a timer. There will also be groups of posts near 10:07pm CDT (which will be 6:07 AM  - Sunrise on Good Friday) in Jerusalem - I will be posting Peter's denials and the Rooster crow in sync.

The live feed will be on my Blog Twitter account, but also on our main Joel 2:25 Twitter account:

Click here to Follow:  https://twitter.com/Joel_225

Pax Christi,

Jeremy

Isaiah 55:11 - "with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it."