Technology may offer many distractions, but it can also give great advantages. It can even serve as a reminder to pray. This is what initiatives such as '10 minutes with Jesus' are striving to achieve. Within just a few months of its launch, it reached up to 8,000 young people.
The initiative came from a high school teacher, who is also a mother. She wanted to help her children pray during the holidays. So, she asked the school chaplain to send them WhatsApp audios with reflections on the Gospel and tips for Christian living.
JOSE MARÍA GARCÍA CASTRO
10 Minutes with Jesus
'A schoolteacher comes up to me and says, 'What can we do for for my children during the summer? Can you record some audios?' I was listening attentively and with a big smile, but I was thinking: This will never work.'
MARÍA FERIA ROMERO
10 Minutes with Jesus
'I wanted to ask my school chaplain for help. I had a hard time convincing him, but he finally agreed. We saw that the audios were direct, they helped, and they worked. We decided to create a broadcasting group, which started with 70 people. I, in turn, asked them to create their own broadcasting groups.'
The school chaplain did the same and then asked other priests to do also. They created closed WhatsApp groups where young people from their parishes could download the reflections to pray. The success made the groups grow non-stop.
MARÍA FERIA ROMERO
10 Minutes with Jesus
“Right now, we have 160 groups, many in other countries and it's working. The main goal was for it to help.”
JOSE MARÍA GARCÍA CASTRO
10 Minutes with Jesus
“Through WhatsApp around 50,000 people from many countries receive the messages. There is also a Latin American version that has some 60 groups. We also want an English version to reach the Anglo-Saxon world.”
The initiative has a version in Spain (10minutosconjesus.org) and another one for Latin America (10minconjesus.net/).
They are also on YouTube and reach more than just young people. Many adults also use these audios to pray when they can't go to church or when they'd like to pray on their commute to work.
