A long time ago now, I wrote a prayer for people to use before they got online and used the internet. Originally in Latin, it has been translated into many languages (sometimes more than once).
I often forget to pray before using the internet. I often fail in charity when using it. This tool of social communication and research and entertainment has amazing upsides and spiritually deadly perils. We all should be very careful in how we use it – and through – use each other, “use” in the finer sense of “treat”.
It has been a long time since I have received a new language version, but today I found a new one in my email box.
HUNGARIAN!
Az internetre lépés előtti ima:
Mindenható Atyánk, örök Isten,
aki a te képedre alkottál meg minket,
és azt parancsoltad nekünk, hogy keressük, ami jó, igaz és szép, különösen a te egyszülött Fiadnak, a mi Urunknak, Jézus Krisztusnak személyében, add meg nekünk, kérünk, hogy Szent Izidor püspök és egyháztanító közbenjárására az interneten való bolyongásaink közben kezünket és szemünket a neked tetsző dolgokra irányítsuk, és mindenkit, akivel találkozunk, szeretettel és türelemmel fogadjunk.
A mi Urunk, Krisztus által. Ámen.
I invite new versions. I would especially welcome an audio file of a native speaker of a language reading the prayer so that we can hear how it sounds.
Furthermore, at one point of other when the blog was moved to a different server, some of the international characters in some languages on the Internet Prayer Page got scrambled. The Korean and Mandarin versions, for example, were pretty much ruined. There are problems with characters in Croatian, etc. Furthermore, some of the versions I have posted are actually graphics rather than texts. Now that I know more about converting characters to code, I could use some help from you global readers in tidying up the page.
If you can send new versions, or help to fix some of the problems in those present, I would be grateful.
Hope it’s OK to post it here. I fixed the characters in the Croatian version:
Molitva prije spajanja na internet:
Svemogući vječni Bože,
koji si nas stvorio na svoju sliku
i naložio nam da tražimo sve što je dobro, istinito i lijepo,
osobito u božanskoj osobi Jedinorođenoga Sina Tvoga
Gospodina našega Isusa Krista,
podaj molimo Te
da po zagovoru svetog Izidora, biskupa i naučitelja,
tijekom našeg putovanja internetom
upravimo svoje ruke i oči samo onome što je Tebi ugodno
i iskažemo ljubav i strpljivost svim dušama koje ćemo susretati.
Po Kristu Gospodinu našem. Amen.
(The Pope will address representatives of the society in the national theater in a few minutes. It’s raining like crazy but the youth on the main square are in good spirits, waiting for the public adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.)
The Maltese version, in Unicode:
Alla li tista’ kollox u bla tmiem,
li ?laqtna skond ix-xbieha tieg?ek
u ridtna nimxu wara kull ma hu tajjeb, veru u sabi?,
l-aktar fil-persuna divina tal-Iben Wa?dieni tieg?ek, is-Sinjur tag?na ?esù Kristu,
ag?ti lil dawk kollha li jfittxuk,
li bl-inter?essjoni ta’ San Isidor, Isqof u Duttur tal-Knisja,
fil-mixja tag?na fl-internet
inwasslu ?arsitna u g?emilna lejn dak li jog??ob lilek u
n?ibu ru?na bl-im?abba u l-pa?enzja ma’ dawk kollha li niltaqg?u mag?hom.
Bi Kristu Sidna. Amen.
Oh, nice. Well, never mind about that. Maybe it will send over email.
Thanks to both of you! I have correct two versions already!
May I suggest the following for the Italian version?
Preghiera prima di collegarsi a internet:
…
durante le nostre peregrinazioni in rete/in internet
Any more versions?