Minutes of Hope

We simply can’t just go back from where we were before the pandemic. Maybe the pandemic has given us some time to reevaluate and to see how we should treat the environment in a balance, how to manage the wealth of the world and how to protect the poor. There are already a number of change makers in the world. In business we have China, AI, Agriculture in China and other countries making their deserts as agricultural areas, the use of media communication for meetings, religious celebrations, delivery of foods with the use of online deliveries and sharing, etc. the computer has even beaten the greatest chess players in the world, even the best basketball players, football and even table tennis players. In medicine, we have algorithms that can identify sickness through Xray using a cellphone, or a cellphone that can identify a person who has a Parkinson’s disease. In many factories, robots are now operating in many countries. Robots serving in restaurants and stores. The wo...

Just in few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has created a huge change in the world. This is used in many applications and technologies that many people are using nowadays. And they cost our privacy. And what do we get out of this exchange? Leisure and access! Not bad. Well, maybe. But what we do not know is that some big companies and businesses are paying for our information and privacy. In fact, all our calls, recordings, videos,  conversations, email and home address, friends, family, phone numbers, photos and all other private information are already owned by the APP owner that we have downloaded. That is the exchange! And they sell that to companies who are willing to pay for a huge price. If it is true, they say that even after we delete the messages, photos, videos, or even calls, they are already saved in the huge machine somewhere that people can always use them against any of us. And we know that information is very crucial. While we do not care about it...

In the end, it will still be the middle class, the rich and the super rich people who will benefit from this pandemic. The poor will remain pickers of the excess crumbs that fall before them from above. The economy will backlash after the pandemic. Oil will go back to its high price. Food, groceries, medicines, basic commodities will remain expensive and only those who can afford can breath normal. The poor? Mostly, they will remain poor - dependent on their "masters", with  their meagre salaries and income, dependent on the garbage and excess of other people. While the rich will have doubled their assets, the poor will be left empty.

Today's gospel reading is a learning conversation of Nicodemus with Jesus. Nicodemus, a master in Jewish laws, lived in a Mosaic tradition where everything seems clear and understandable. As a teacher of the law, he somehow holds the knowledge of the Jewish faith. But hearing the stories, life and teachings of Jesus, Nicodemus seemed awed and fascinated. Little did he knew he was already breaking some of his beliefs as Jesus creates a vacuum in his faith. It was quite difficulty for him reconciling his idea of God and the one Jesus teaches. Like Nicodemus, perhaps, we also have our own ideas of God, what and who He is or what He does or cannot do. But some things are simply beyond our own understanding. As St. Augustine said, ""God is not what you imagine or what you think you understand." Sometimes, it's all about leap of faith. Let's trust everything to God. We may not understand everything today, of what is happening in the world but learning fro...

God’s love endures forever. God’s mercy endures forever. God’s mercy endures even in the unfaithful hearts, doubting hearts, unworthy hearts. This is the heart of the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday. The first reading tells the effects of God’s mercy to the apostles. They gathered together, prayed together, helped each other and inspired other people. Many people followed them who shared all they had. That mercy has been shared to other, to many. Hope, faith and joy. These are the images given by Peter in the second reading. He knows the difficulty of many people. He knows their sins and weaknesses. But Peter was confident that trials were allowed by God to test our faith and fidelity to God; to train our hearts to trust in Him. Peter, likewise, reminds them that even if they haven’t seen God, they showed love and believed. And there they found joy, that indescribable feeling as they attain their goal. That is our Goal, to love and serve the Lord. In the gos...