Dear friends,
Hope your days are going well and you enjoy the warm weather.
I would like to appreciate you all to have taken part in the Mass of the Assumption of Our Blessed Mother Mary this past Tuesday and Wednesday.  This just shows that faith here is still alive.  Praise the Lord!
The Pope on the fourteenth of May this year had an encounter with the Cardinals, Bishops, religious and the laity of the Diocese of Rome.  This encounter was a session of questions and answers.  This took place in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome.  To one of the questions about the youth, the Pope said that he was worried that the young people are enmeshed in the Virtual World.  This he said after having an experience with a youth group which he went to visit.  The group with all eagerness welcomed him and tried to reach out to him.  And the pope tried to stretch his hands to reach out to them.  But to his surprise and shock all the young people were holding mobile phones in their hands trying to take pictures and selfies.  Pope Francis says that he understood that their world is virtual and they have to land on reality.  Their priority is not human contact, but a virtual reality.
I happened to see a small video clip on Facebook.  There were three generations of people and they were asked what was their fun time or what did they do to have fun.  The older generation people said all about their interesting time with their loved ones and being out in the natural world where they had contact with people and nature.  The younger generation people, who were kids of 5-13 years old said that their fun time activity was to spend time with video games and social media.  One boy said that he spent at least five hours a day on such stuff.  He never seemed to care about relating with people and the reality to him was only the electronic gadgets.
These incidents show that what the Pope said is true.  The world is becoming a world of gadgets keeping people away from each other.  The Pope says that the people, especially young ones, should be taught to land on the real world without neglecting the technology which we need.  According to him the best means to land is the works of mercy.  These works of mercy would help a lot to make the young people land on reality and would also help them to understand the world and develop contact with the people.
It is really alarming to see young people and kids always having mobile phones and other such electronic gadgets with them and always meddling with them.  They become so addicted to them that a separation from them hurts them a lot.  That is a very dangerous sign for the future of society where they may not even know how to communicate with each other.  Without this basic communication, the society would not be a society of people but a bunch of non-communicable people governed by electronic gadgets.  In such a situation the society would be virtually dead.
We should try to govern the electronic things and not let ourselves be governed by them.  We should not introduce that stuff to the kids at a young age and should teach them that those things are there to help us and not to get ourselves enslaved to them.  This may be hard but if we want our kids to enjoy a live society, we need to do this.  I am not an enemy of these scientific inventions of these kinds.  But these innovative elements should smoothen our life, without make our lives lifeless and passive. That is my point.
Have a blessed time and God bless.
Yours sincerely in Christ Jesus,
Fr. A. Antony
 

Dear friends,
 
Hope you are well. The week seems to have been good. Let us hope and pray, we may have a good weekend ahead.
 
I came across a small story, which goes like this. An anthropologist left some candies in a basket and told the kids there that whoever reaches the basket first could have all the candies. But surprisingly all the kids held their hands together and ran to the basket and took the candies and shared among themselves and all enjoyed the candies. When they were asked why they did not try to come each by himself or herself to avail the candies, they said, UBUNTU, which meant, “I am (what I am) because (of what) we are”. This is amazing. This is from the African culture.
 
When I wanted to look up for that word on the internet to know what it really meant, there was another aspect for that word and that is, this ‘ubuntu’ is a computer operating system, an open source Debian-based Linux distribution. Interestingly the meaning of this word is based on the concept of sharing and that system being for free. This concept of ubuntu is an interesting one as we understand meaning, which is “I am because we are”.
 
How true is that each one of us exist as long as others exist. Our existence is not our own or it is not determined by ourselves. Our existence is determined by others and in another sense, it is meant for others. This feature of our life makes it more meaningful and interesting. If we keep our life to ourselves, it becomes not only meaningless, but also it is also monotonous and boring. Because only when other people involve in any activity, that activity becomes very creative and innovative which in turn makes it more and more enjoyable.
 
Added to that only when others are able to intervene in our lives with good intention and acts, our life becomes enriched. Because we all are dependent on other people to some extent. That is why Socrates was right in saying, “Man is a social being (animal)”. For one to be social, one needs a society, which is the other human beings around us. They make our life complete and they make our life meaningful.
 
This concept of ubuntu also to an extent involves an aspect of sacrifice. I would like to reciprocate the meaning of it by making it, “we are what we are because of what I am”. I don’t mean to be arrogant or selfish, but I want to offer myself up for you and others to make a better “WE”.  Because as an “I” is not possible without a “WE”, so also a “WE” is not possible without an “I”. This “I” sacrifices itself to make the “WE” possible and the otherwise also. In that process, this “I” factor may seem to suffer a loss, but that is not so. If properly understood, it is in giving that we receive (St. Francis of Assisi). This is what we need to understand, because this is basically the spirit of Christianity.
 
Let’s contribute to the others that we may become full.  I am what I am because of what we are.
 
God bless.
 
Yours sincerely in Christ Jesus,
 
Fr. A. Antony