Real Possession

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12:13-21. 

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus,
“Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” 
He replied to him,
“Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” 
Then he said to the crowd,
“Take care to guard against all greed,
for though one may be rich,
one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

Then he told them a parable. 
“There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. 
He asked himself, ‘What shall I do,
for I do not have space to store my harvest?’
And he said, ‘This is what I shall do:
I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. 
There I shall store all my grain and other goods
and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you,
you have so many good things stored up for many years,
rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’
But God said to him,
‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’
Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves
but are not rich in what matters to God.”

Reflection

After I read the Gospel one thing entered my mind. The greed that Jesus warned us about is not in material possessions today. Rather it is in the greed with which we possess ourselves. People often say that millennials (those aged 18-34 back in 2015) are too self-absorbed, too narcissistic, too involved in their own dreams. Fight over property among siblings has been happening since Jesus' times until today but the greed with which people are willing to kill their brothers and sisters are taking on more vicious forms. Today, we are willing to kill for our self-image.

One doesn't have to look far to see the symptoms of narcissism among millennials and the youth in general. Our social media posts are filled with 'me' and 'what I do'. It's all about self-promotion. Although it has its own merits (most people are on social networks to share their lives with those they love and care) but most are already aware of the temptation to self-promotion. Don't we always want to show the best angle, the best shot, the best photos, the best moments? Don't we feel a tinge of jealousy while browsing over our friends' posts in our news feeds? And don't we feel that urge to post something better or to be cynical about the good fortunes of others?

While it is certainly not categorically bad to post something about yourself online, there are areas in our online life that we need to examine more closely. There are behaviors that tell-tale signs of greed for attention and pride of life. This is the hoarding that Jesus spoke of in the Gospel. We hoard likes and views. Our hearts swell when the comments pile up. Jesus' warning remains true today: one's life does not consist of possessions. Sadly we possess everything today, including our profile page.

Rather we invited to value things that matter most - family, friends, being kind to everyone. Yet above all, we have to value the treasure of life - God Himself. Without God, there is no real life. He is all that matters in this life. Our fortunes come and go. Experiences and memories come and fade away. As the first reading would say, 'everything is vanity' (Ecc 1:2). Even our online life would fade away. No one would care to browse your profile page a hundred years from now. Real and true life comes from a personal relationship with Jesus. After all, for him, you are all that matters.

Keeping Tabs with Tech Direction

These days Microsoft is hosting their BUILD developer conference. Once in a while I check on the developments and directions these technology companies are taking. Whether you like it or not, our world is already being dictated by these multinational corporations. What they plan for the future will shape societies across cultures.

Apple's iPhone and ecosystem is ubiquitous and sought after by both rich and poor. Google saturates all aspects of our lives. Microsoft dominates business and productivity. Our lives is marked by a continuous and steady union of the physical and virtual spheres. This landscape is surely affecting how you live in 21st century.

So what's interesting in the coming years?

1. A new take on User Interface. It used to be that our interface with computers is through the screen, mouse, and keyboard. Expect that to change as technology is entering the Natural Interface: language and touch. Technology is slowly becoming more natural when it interacts with users. There will be more and more use of voice and natural language in giving out commands to your phones and computers.
2. Centralization. I've talked about this before in one of the JPII Cebu sessions. There is a strong movement to centralize information online so that it would match your unique and singular identity on earth. All of us now log-in either with Facebook, Google, or Apple credentials. The same credentials can be used for other services. Some observers would raise the flag for privacy concerns and putting in too much power over information to these companies. But this is the direction we are heading and we need to be aware.
3. Use of Artificial Intelligence. As more information gets accumulated online it becomes more difficult to manage and sort out. Here comes artificial intelligence to help out in making sense of all the data we are all pouring out. Artifical intelligence will make sense of the semantics (meaning) of all the information you put it: your personal information, your social connections, your online habits, yes, all of your life. It will also attempt to act as an interface: you are already using Google Search that has been partly powered by AI for the past years, almost everyone is aware of Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana. These AI's are sure to spawn out more applications in the coming years.
4. A more seamless world. More boundaries will be toppled down and there would be more tension in who and how our human structures can control this ebb and flow of the internet. This openness will challenge governments, convents, and homes. Access to the internet and information would become a hotter topic. Security, privacy and safety both for individuals and businesses will find more challenges. Computer literacy will have to be seriously considered in education. The global village will continue its path of search of identity and organization as individuals and groups try to make sense of the internet.

A Caution. 

While these developments are interesting, I believe we should taper down on our optimism that the internet will save the world. I personally believe that technology will always be an extension of human capacity and nothing more. It will not become more sentient and intelligent than the minds that program it. Afterall, the effect can never be greater than the cause. The internet and its parts might appear more intelligent than the average human simply because it is an accumulation of collective and personal information. It won't find itself useful outside the human sphere.

Nothing can ever replace efficaciousness of personal physical contact. No matter how fast or efficient communications become, whether we enter into a world of virtual and augmented reality, the basic and most important way to get to know each other is always through our persons - as bodies and spirits who need to be near each other in space and time. No text message, chat, e-mail, or video conference can ever replace the tenderness and genuineness of a mother's hug and kiss.

Lastly, technology will remain amoral. Whether it is good or bad essentially depends on who uses it. It could save the world if there are good people using it or it could also destroy everything with the same mad people using it.

Fishing for Men

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 5:1-11. 

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. 

He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. 

Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 

After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch." 

Simon said in reply, "Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets." 

When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. 

They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that they were in danger of sinking. 

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." 

For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, 

and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." 

When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.

Reflection

The reach of social media is almost ubiquitous. It is in our pockets in our phones, in our workplace in our desktops, and everywhere electromagnetic radiation can reach. Where radio and light can touch, there can be the internet. It is not surprising then that in a world literally immersed in the flow and ebb of information, focus is so much harder today. The senses are always engaged, the intellect in danger of information overload.

Preaching the Gospel today doesn't mean competing head on with the noise of the world. Jesus said to go into deep water. That means going to peripheries, to places not many would go, places both physical, spiritual, emotional and existential. While there are physical places of poverty and misery, there are more places, in hearts and homes, where poverty takes on other forms. These places don't know much noise, only silence, loneliness, and isolation. There are people around us waiting for us to reach out to them.

Then Jesus said to lower the nets. Catching men takes faith. We won't know how many we'll snag, how many will care. All the same just lower the nets. It is the Spirit who catches men by touching hearts. He needs us to provide the occasion and that takes faith.

Faith begets faith, life begets life. That is the law of the Kingdom of God. Faith no matter how little if put in God's hands will yield much, to quantities that will amaze us and sink us to our knees in humility like Peter. Jesus tells us not to be afraid. The work of catching men, of New Evangelization, is Jesus' work. We are the fishermen and the fish, Jesus is the net that catches men and fishermen.