“Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.”– 1 Peter 3:15
Will we ever manage with our faith and testimony to change the minds of world leaders, convince everyone in this global village of our brotherhood, and live in peace even with our differences? Or are we simply naive dreamers who will wake up at some point hopeless?
Jesus Christ, being a carpenter, chose fishermen, tax collectors, soldiers, teachers and prostitutes to be his spokespeople. Since then, he continues to convince men and women of all cultures of the greatness of God’s love for the humans he trusts.
It’s that humanness that has to discern what is the best and right thing in every circumstance. While artificial intelligence continues to take amazing steps in all fields of society, we still need human consciousness.
A machine will not be able to replace a woman’s feelings when she sees her newborn baby after going through labor pains. Technology will never take away the tears of those at the bedside of a dying loved one. Robotics cannot supplant the inner joy of a heart that knows it is forgiven for its mistakes, thereby receiving the opportunity to grow even with the crude scars of its arduous learning.
No device created by a human being will ever experience the infinite joy of discovering the gift of a friend who has made me expand the horizons of my individual existence and has transformed me into an “us.”
The Word of God became man to show us the unfathomable beauty of the feelings that reflect God’s feelings — God who suffers with every man who lives in error and who rejoices with each one who has finally found peace. There was nothing artificial in the birth, life and death of Jesus, who thereby taught us the content of the resurrection, always ineffable.
Let’s enjoy the wonderful achievements of human intelligence while we fall to our knees in awe, because the Creator of it all continues to arouse compassion amidst injustice, illness or fearsome loneliness. “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.”– 1 Peter 3:15
Believers are not naive — we are men and women seeking with all our intelligence how to answer the questions of our complex world.
We, the believers, are Carlo Acutis, Thea Bowman, Conchita Cabrera, Dorothy Day and thousands more who have put their faith into the actions and desires of their hearts, which beat in unison with the heart of Jesus, who rejoices in seeing our sincere effort to be his imitators.
May Mary, who with her faith gave us the entrance to the intelligence of God, guide us on this path. She knew with her intelligent heart that, for the Almighty, nothing is impossible, and that our human wisdom is just a waterdrop in the ocean of his wisdom.
This article appeared in the October/November issue of Northwest Catholic magazine. Read the rest of the issue here.