Monthly Archives: March 2021

In the courtroom

Posted on by
Reply

One of the wonderful things about the Gospel of John is the Book of Signs a name commonly given to the first main section of the Gospel of John, from 1:19 to the end of Chapter 12. Included within this section are the seven signs of the reign of God as evidence, as witness, to a new creation. The seven signs are

Continue reading →

A clear view

Posted on by
1

Several days ago I posted an article about Artificial Intelligence (AI). In this morning’s New York Times there is fascinating/disturbing article about facial recognition – something not foreign to many users of smart phones that use the technology to unlock phones and open software. But the article by Kashmir Hill is about a company, Clearview AI, that provides advanced facial recognition software to law enforcement agencies, private companies, and public concerns.

Continue reading →

Your response

Posted on by
Reply

Today is the Feast of St. Patrick which has optional readings you can find here.

The scene in the gospel is familiar – “oh sure, I’ve heard this before, Jesus is calling his disciples to be fishers of men” – perhaps too familiar. As with most scriptures, there is more than meets the eye.

The account begins with a wide-angle view with Jesus in a natural amphitheater with a large crowd. Having Simon Peter take him in the boat just a little offshore, Jesus can take in the breadth of the crowd as he teaches. There among in the crowd are people who have heard of the great things he has done in Nazareth and Capernaum, as well as Pharisees, scribes and officials from Jerusalem. There too are the ones who will become his disciples and follow him.

Continue reading →

Hope and Healing

Posted on by
Reply

Today’s readings are a combination of the well-known (the Gospel) and the “what’s-going-on” (Ezekiel). The former is the familiar story of the man, afflicted for 38 years, who encounters Jesus, is healed and has hope restored. The latter is a grand vision of living waters flowing from the Temple into all the land bring abundance and life.

The Ezekiel reading is the follow-on to the “dry bones’ vision the prophet had just proclaimed. In his vision, the prophet finds himself standing in a valley full of dry human bones. Before him, the bones begin to move and assemble into human figures, skeletons rising and begin to stand. Almost as in modern computer-generated visual effect, the skeletons begin to receive layers of living flesh: tendons, muscles, organs and skin. They then arise, standing upright, alive and vital. These are the Israelites living in exile who are returning to Jerusalem.

Continue reading →

Hope and Healing

Posted on by
Reply

Today’s readings are a combination of the well-known (the Gospel) and the “what’s-going-on” (Ezekiel). The former is the familiar story of the man, afflicted for 38 years, who encounters Jesus and is heal and has hope restored. The latter is a grand vision of living waters flowing from the Temple into all the land bring abundance and life.

The Ezekiel reading is the epilogue to the “dry bones’ vision the prophet had just proclaimed. In his vision, the prophet finds himself standing in a valley full of dry human bones. Before him, the bones begin to move and assemble into human figures, skeletons rising and standing in the valley. Almost as in modern computer-generated visual effect, the skeletons begin to receive layers of living flesh: tendons, muscles, organs and skin. They then arise, standing upright, alive and vital. These are the Israelites living in exile who are returning to Jerusalem.

Continue reading →

Artificial Intelligence

Posted on by
1

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has always been a staple of science fiction writing. Isaac Asimov used AI as part of his writing, introducing the robot R. Daneel Olivaw as an investigating partner to NYC detective Elijah Bailey in the 1954 novel “Caves of Steel” – famously revealing the Three Laws of Robotics. But across the full breadth of the “Robot Series” of short stories and novels, R. Daneel Olivaw grows, develops and, in a way, becomes a better human than human. The hope and promise of AI.

AI is broad category of research and application that includes neural networks, machine learning, and more. The field of AI research was born at a workshop at Dartmouth College in 1956, where the term “Artificial Intelligence” was coined by John McCarthy to distinguish the field from cybernetics. The basic trajectory of the research continues the classic Church-Turing idea of whether a machine can exhibit human behavior – the most basic of which is learning. Which implies it has a teacher who provides an environment and information. In other words, show a neural network enough pictures of a cat, tell it “this is a cat” and the AI learns to identify new pictures as “cat” without being told. It just needed enough information and adequate processing power.

Continue reading →

Now is the time

Posted on by
Reply

Our text from the 5th Sunday in Lent (Year B) is located in the final section of the “Book of Signs” in the Gospel according to John. You can read a full commentary here. As a bit of refresher, the seven signs in John’s Gospel are:

Through the story of the raising of Lazarus we already know that Jesus has power over death, but in this gospel account it is revealed that He will give life through death. A death that is quickly approaching as this gospel account occurs after Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem that we celebrate on Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. Continue reading →

Heaven and Earth

Posted on by
Reply

In today’s first reading from Isaiah, the prophet is speaking to the Jewish people in exile in Babylon (or soon thereafter) and reminding them of their mission to be a light to the world of the goodness and justice of the God of the Covenant. Isaiah holds up an image of a “new heavens and a new earth” – a similar image to one spoken of the Book of Revelation in the New Testament…. and those images, I suspect, are quite different from ones we hold in our minds. Images that propose for us, heaven is somewhere not here, a place we hope to go to when we pass from this mortal coil, where God lives. Earth becomes the transit stop on the way. All of this is mingled into the idea of the Second Coming of Jesus. When this latter topic is brought up, I will often say, “That’s right…. but have you ever heard of the Second Going?” Continue reading →

All in

Posted on by
Reply

John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” It is perhaps the best-known bible verse here in the United States.  It appears on bumper stickers and will no doubt appear during the upcoming NCAA basketball tournament. It’s everyone’s favorite Bible verse. Why not? God loves us. Swish – nothing but net. Game over. Nothing left to do but flood the court in unbridled joy!

The language and logic of the kingdom of God is Love. It is the calculus of the Kingdom by which God is “all in”: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”  That the world, the whole world might be saved. The ones whose team hit that game-ending three pointer. As well as the ones whose final shot air-balled, all hope vanishing in a moment. And God still comes. Still loves. Still saves.

But… I’ve wondered whether, if people thought about this verse for just a little longer it might just prove to be far less comforting and far more disconcerting. So let’s review…

Continue reading →

The penitential life

Posted on by
Reply

The small band of brothers living at Rivo Torto and later at the Porziuncula, were drawing others to their way of following Christ in the world.  And if they expected to find a uniform dress code, posted rules, a great deal of organization, a formation program, or even someone to sit them down and explain what was expected – they were in for a surprise. Francis assumed that his followers would learn by imitation. Giving them rules or structures to follow was not merely difficult for him, it went against the grain of the meaning of minority – to be the lesser brother. The new arrivals simply did what Francis did: daily prayer, work at a local leprosarium, go to local churches to participate in Eucharist, eat, pray again, witness to the local Umbrian people near Assisi, and live a life in community.  The brothers had to watch Francis closely and do their best to understand. Continue reading →