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Holy Family, December 29, 2013, by Fr. Kevin Anderson

You know Australia has all the similar gadgets that we do   . . .  IPods, IPhones, Ipads, and ITunes. There is even a recent book called Ikevin.  It is the seedy text messages of their former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, who left in the fall.

Now I am not against all these new devices, but the problem with constantly needing to upgrade and get devices better and faster is that they just could be turning us into I-diots.  [Hold up sign with “idiots” on it].  For just as I found in Sydney, so many people here are choosing to focus on their iPhones and games rather than talk to the person right next to them.

A book I read on my sabbatical is called THE UNBEARABLE WHOLENESS OF BEING.  It is written by Franciscan Sister Ilia Delio. It’s a deep book about evolution and spiritual awakening.  She writes, “Things like personal friendships, dating, conversation and phone calls are becoming obsolete among youth who can no longer distinguish between real and simulated reality.   The average teenager text about 6,000 messages a month.  Teenagers prefer to text then talk because talk for them involves too much information, too much tension, too much awkwardness.  They like the idea of a communication medium in which there doesn’t need to be awkwardness.  You leave before you’re rejected.”

Isn’t that interesting, especially at this time of year when most of us are choosing to be with people who can make us feel VERY awkward . . . our families.  And maybe we don’t have any family members who have gotten up in the middle of the night, packed all their belongings and moved to a different country without telling anyone (like our Holy Family did in the gospel).  But every family has secrets. Every family has done things considered odd.   And every extended family has some goofy members. If you don’t think your extended family does, perhaps it is because you are the ones! 

Now all our gadgets and IPhones are not necessarily bad, for if your use of any technology is bringing your closer to others, especially your family members, then yes bring it on.  But they can also create gaps or divisions. 

This feast today celebrates relationships, especially the relationships we share with family.  Think about your family.  Ask yourself, what you are doing to improve the connections you have?   Even if things are going smoothly, what could make it “more smooth?”  Don’t get stuck on wanting that other person to change . . . start with yourself.

On my sabbatical, I traveled to New Zealand (which is by far the most beautiful place on the entire earth).  There I met a man who had recently moved from the Midwest.  He told me that when he first arrived, he was driving and waiting at a busy intersection for the light to turn green.

When it did, the car in front of him wasn’t moving, so he did what lots of mid-westerns do . . he honked his horn.  Well, immediately this massive man emerges and walks back to his car.  The man is scared, for the approaching man is big.   The man peers into his car and asks, “What’s wrong?  Are you OK?”  “I’m fine,” the man nervously answers.  In the meantime all these other people from the street who heard the honk also are coming towards him.  “Well you honked, so I assumed that you must need some help.  Why else would you honk?”  “Ah . . . my arm must have brushed the horn.”   The big man calls out to the others, “He’s OK, his arm accidently hit the horn.”  And everyone is relieved. 

The Midwesterner realized that this place assumes “a good relationship with all people.”  Their starting premise is that we are here to help one another, to be in good support and good contact. 

He was used to people honking and yelling at each other to get their way.   

In the second reading today, St. Paul gives us some advice about being in relationships with others (especially family), he writes, “As God’s chosen ones, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. But above all these . . .put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.”

Back to Sr. Delio, she goes on to write about texting, “People are frightened by the world we’ve made . . . the economy isn’t going right; global warming continues.  We celebrate our technologies because people imagine that science and technology will be able to get it right.  For some, technology provides a ray of hope that we can be saved from destruction.”   

Maybe that’s why so many of you like to hide into your Ipod or haven’t had a meaningful face-to-face converstation in ages, because we’re scared and want the world to get better.  Well, the world can get better, but it starts with you.  If your gadget makes your relationships better, than by all means go for it.  But maybe, just maybe . . . the world could get better if you tried some personal contact time instead of always resorting to a gadget.  Think about how much of your day is spent in front of a screen, any screen (e.g. a TV, a computer, a smart phone)

With the New Year just around the corner, some of us are trying some New Year’s resolutions.  Here’s one idea, pick one day a week . . . or maybe one day a month . . . or even just one single day and not have any screen time at all.  No TV, no computer, no phone and see what that teaches you.  Maybe instead of automatically turning on the TV, play a card game, or talk about this homily.  Anything . . .

Maybe it might make you look at the Iphone, or Ipod, or Ipad differently and you could start using that other device in your home . . . the Iron.  And maybe improved relationships can start by what you can do to help others.

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