This Word is truly the Truth^[1]

Directory of Spirituality, 54

“Social media amplifies exponential gossip and exponential hearsay to the point that we don’t know what’s true, no matter what issue we care about.”^[2] This phrase belonging to Tristan Harris^[3] gives us somewhat of a glimpse into the dictatorship of the modern culture’s reigning relativism.

Harris argues that “technology is downgrading our attention spans, our relationship stability, community, habits, differences, critical thinking […] our mental health, creativity, intimacy, self-esteem, productivity, common points of interest, our shared truths, attention, governing systems, nations, and values. Technology’s great problem –he continues– is that it’s leading to human downgrading.”^[4]

This issue has not escaped the Pontifices of our times, including Pope Francis, who in his latest encyclical Fratelli tutti speaks of an ensuing “breakdown: everything is ‘leveled down’ by a superficial bartered consensus,”^[5] caused by, among other things, a “feverish exchange of opinions on social networks, frequently based on media information that is not always reliable. These exchanges are merely parallel monologues. They may attract some attention by their sharp and aggressive tone. But monologues engage no one, and their content is frequently self-serving and contradictory,”^[6] and simply “spread mistrust and lies.”^[7]

Two decades ago, Saint John Paul II warned us of the same thing: “[M]edia culture is so deeply imbued with a typically postmodern sense that the only absolute truth is that there are no absolute truths or that, if there were, they would be inaccessible to human reason and therefore irrelevant. In such a view, what matters is not the truth but ‘the story’; if something is newsworthy or entertaining, the temptation to set aside considerations of truth becomes almost irresistible.”^[8]

Likewise, Pope Francis speaks of “the illusion of communication” by means of social media, wherein “digital communication wants to bring everything out into the open; the lives of people [or an Institute] are combed over, laid bare and bandied about, often anonymously. Respect for others disintegrates”^[9] under the false excuse of “a positive form of mutual support”^[10] or under the guise of “a false communitarian mystique”^[11], when in reality, they are simply an association of individuals united against a perceived common enemy.^[12]

Therefore, as we near the celebration of the Incarnation of the Word –Way, Truth, and Life^[13]– , acknowledging that we are called to absolute and total love of the truth, to work so that the principles of the Gospel effectively influence the lives of men and combat error with all our strength, in the midst of a world that believes that among men, error has the same rights as truth, it seems appropriate to dedicate these pages to a (brief) development of the fact that the noble office of being “servants of the Truth”^[14] most of the time brings along with it the opposition of the world. How could we forget that our Lord calls Satan, prince of this world, the father of lies^[15]? As you are all aware, many institutes and members of the Church, who actively work spreading the Gospel, our Institute being among them, are constantly unjustly calumniated, defamed, and poorly presented in today’s virtual services by coward minds which unscrupulously write without knowing what they do.^[16] They speak and proclaim about what they do not know. But it is precisely the full adhesion to the truth of the Word made flesh which frees man. Proclaiming him from the heights and rooftops of this world^[17] is a cause worthwhile to suffer every difficulty in order to faithfully complete the mission entrusted to us.

1.  Modern Totalitarianism

Here, we begin by citing a “memorable” text of Saint John Paul II: “If there is no transcendent truth, in obedience to which man achieves his full identity, then there is no sure principle for guaranteeing just relations between people. […] If one does not acknowledge transcendent truth, then the force of power takes over, and each person tends to make full use of the means at his disposal in order to impose his own interests or his own opinion, with no regard for the rights of others. […] Thus, the root of modern totalitarianism is to be found in the denial of the transcendent dignity of the human person … the visible image of the invisible God.”^[18]

That is why, when “the logic of being is substituted for the ‘logic of power’ and science and technology are subtracted from the service to man (by leveling) and subordinated to increasing productive efficiency, spiritually autonomous beings are not admitted”^[19] and totalitarianism is implanted. This is what actually happens due to technocracy, for which the “greatness” is miserable opulence and its end is well-being. It treats of a satanic inversion of the very concept of well-being that makes men slaves of the “level of life” and feeds all vanity. And since in such a world the intelligence of being is an unbearable scandal, it hates intelligence like all tyrannies.

“What is now happening,” –teaches Pope Francis– “and drawing us into a perverse and barren way of thinking, is the reduction of ethics and politics to physics. Good and evil no longer exist in themselves; there is only a calculus of benefits and burdens. As a result of the displacement of moral reasoning, the law is no longer seen as reflecting a fundamental notion of justice but as mirroring notions currently in vogue. Breakdown ensues: everything is “leveled down” by a superficial bartered consensus. In the end, the law of the strongest prevails.”^[20]

In this context, and in order to better understand the reality of modern totalitarianism and realize that it is not referring to a simple philosophical discussion, it seemed interesting to reference here the opinions of those who were involved from within the social networks that nowadays are used worldwide. Tristian Harris, the Google ex-employee whom we cited at the beginning, himself admits: “The classic saying goes: ‘If you aren’t paying for the product, then you are the product.’ A lot of people thing, you know, ‘Oh, Google is just a search box and Facebook is just a place to see what my friends are doing and their photos.’ But what they don’t realize is they [Google and Facebook] are competing for your attention. […] You know, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, companies like this, their business model is to keep people engaged on the screen. […] It’s a commercial model of misinformation with an end for profit. You make money as long as and to the extent that you allow messages to reach anyone at the best price without any regulation.”^[21] Sandy Parakilas, Facebook ex-employee, for her part holds: “We’ve created a system that biases toward false information. Not because we want to, but because false information makes the companies make more money than the truth. The truth is boring.”^[22]

People of this sphere also talk about how the AI (artificial intelligence) is really the one running this world. The term ‘artificial intelligence’ refers to computers (machines) that imitate the cognitive functions such as ‘learning’ and the ‘capacity to problem solve’. “At these companies like Google there’s just massive, massive rooms, some of them underground, some of them underwater, of just computers. Tons and tons of computers, as far as the eye can see. They’re deeply interconnected with each other and running extremely complicated programs, sending information back and forth between each other all the time. And they’ll be running many different programs, many different products on those same machines. Some of those things could be described as simple algorithms, some could be described as algorithms that are so complicated you would call them intelligence,”^[23] assures Justin Rosenstein.^[24]

Such mega-computers function with algorithms according to some definition of success. If a company wants to sell something (a product, a form of government, a religious, an idea, a cultural model, etc.), they build an algorithm according to this definition of success (which generally has a commercial or political interest) of which the great majority of the time results in profit (money). Every day the computer itself ‘learns’ how to sell more and better: what news to show, in what order, what video to recommend, etc. (and with each person it does it in a different way) in such a way that the person spends more and more time entertained with this product (or idea) until, at last, they buy it or consent to it. In order to do this, the AI needs a lot of information about us and certainly collects it. For example, a person who reads an online newspaper, or receives news by email, or watches some program on YouTube could come to believe that everyone thinks in the same way simply because the opinions he reads, the videos recommended to him by YouTube are exactly the ones he wanted to see, the news is generally the kind he wanted to read, etc. So the temptation grows to accept something which he is not even sure is true (because the distinction between truth and illusion is deformed) and critical thinking is annulled, thinking that something is true just because there is a ‘fabricated consensus’ given by a video’s number of views or comments, etc. Many times this results in something completely false going ‘viral’. Not so long ago a politician from the United States said: “We are a nation of people who have isolated ourselves to only watch channels that tell us that we’re right.”^[25] When one has arrived at this point, he is easily manipulated, because in reality he is choosing to see only the options shown by YouTube, Google, etc. Another example: Facebook tells people ‘I chose your friends’ but they don’t realize that Facebook chose for them, for it only presented those whom the computer ‘thinks’ might interest them. All this has grave cultural, psychological, political, sociological consequences as was predicted.^[26]

An ex-investor in Facebook said: “If everyone is entitled to their own facts, there is really no need for mutual agreement, no need for people to come together. In fact, there is no need for people to interact. [However,] We do need… to share some of the reality that we understand.”^[27]

For this reason in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI had cautioned: “Life is not just a succession of events or experiences: it is a search for the true, the good and the beautiful. It is to this end that we make our choices; it is for this that we exercise our freedom; it is in this –in truth, in goodness, and in beauty– that we find happiness and joy. We must not allow ourselves to be deceived by those who see us merely as consumers in a market of undifferentiated possibilities, where choice itself becomes the good, novelty usurps beauty, and subjective experience displaces truth.”^[28]

On her part, Cathy O’Neil^[29] unfortunately sustains “we are allowing the technologists to frame this as a problem that they’re equipped to solve. That is… That’s a lie. People talk about AI as if it will know truth. AI’s not gonna solve these problems. AI cannot solve the problem of fake news. Google doesn’t have the option of saying, ‘Oh, is this conspiracy? Is this truth?’ Because they don’t know what truth is … They don’t have a proxy for truth that’s better than a click.”^[30]

These few examples serve to show how “technocracy allows neither critics of intelligence nor critical thought (substituted by the ‘team of investigation’); neither does it permit, at the root, any dialogue because it only admits one feeling (of those who are within the ‘system’). For a true opponent, there is no space, only an aggressive silence, one typical of dogmatic intolerance ‘against all knowledge that does not have its origin in exterior experience and as results in the calculating at the base of the data.’”^[31] “Reading (which makes one think) is replaced by the ‘civilization’ of the image, that stupidizing hammering of images which allows ‘dialogue’ in only one direction. This tyranny in truth shames the Occidental tradition and carries out an offensive against six essential factors:

1. Against authority, installing an insidious form of authoritarianism in its empty spot (meanwhile ‘speaking’ against it);
2. Against the middle environment;
3. Against feelings;
4. Against every moral principle;
5. Against phantasy; and
6. Against the very political ideologies attempting to procure the syndical-industrial power.

This total reduction itself leads to technocracy by means of ‘rational programming’, to the destruction of the landscape and the sense of nature in the hands of ‘technicians’ and ‘experts’.^[32] They were the first ones to have spoken about the problem of ‘contamination’ (which was provoked by themselves) without mentioning what Sciacca calls the ‘contamination of conscience’ which is its principal and true cause.^[33]

Lamentably, this leads not only to the destruction of the natural habitat, but also to the urban habitat (“all together and each one closed within their isolation”) as well as the social-political habitat; to the “detheologization” which is paralleled to “depoliticization”: a politics without politicians who think, nor thinkers who think politics whose “democraticity” works as follows: first, the plans are planned, elaborated and carried out with technocratic criteria, the only one with the power of decision; then, persuading the working and consuming “masses” with propaganda and publicity; finally, once the persuasion has taken place, submitting the plans to the “democratic consultation that gives the ‘consensus’”.^[34] This way, all remains integrated in the system: “democratized” education (is already foreseen in the machine to learn), confusion of language as a sign of the loss of the exercise of thinking^[35], and, lastly, the technological world-wide “organization”, the great totalitarian tyranny, bigger than communism, liberalism, and the Church thought of as a Christianism without faith nor sense of the supernatural. […] Cultural impiety is, so to speak, the most terrible totalitarianism as an expression of the “making nothing” of Being.

It would be naïve to think that this technocratic totalitarianism only exists in the so-called “popular” or communist democracies, for, as is evident from the massive outreach of the mass media it also exists in the so-called “Western democracies” where men are instruments of production for consumption. “The true ‘product’ of this process is the uncultured man, who though ‘armed by the most advanced technology’ is capable at the same time of the destruction of the entire world of culture out of hatred. It is thus a sort of ‘uncivilized’ uneducated person who ‘has only the appearances of civilization, but barbarous customs and laws: civilization falls into uncivilization’. The right to be well-informed is daily violated by the so-called ‘mass social media’ and true anti-democracy slips into populism because ‘populism is the great enemy of the people’s education. If to educate oneself means to elevate oneself (to perfect oneself as men), then there is not and cannot be a ‘collective’ culture (which is the opposite of culture) nor truly cultural works in ‘teams’ or ‘cooperatives’ of ‘thinkers’. And so, through the abuse of these means (cinema, television, social networks, websites, apps), a culture of the image, substitute of the book… kills the word and thought’ condemning children (and future men) to ‘chronic infantilism, at which the civilization of well-being and technology, the anti-culture, aims.”^[36]

For this reason, a contemporaneous author said that we are heading “toward a dark age with so many interplanetary voyages and other wonders of measuring, all rational calculations without intelligence –whose sign is the limit– all elaboration and technical manipulation of empirical and verifiable data for social welfare, but without love, which is the sign of the sacred. It is an age that will prove to the bottom all the uncivilized misery of man without truth and without God: extreme spiritual destitution.”^[37]

The technocratic cultural impiety supposes, as we have just noted, religious impiety as well; because this “organization” is considered as the end of all religions. Basically, it is considered as the “earthly fulfillment of the messianic promises”.^[38] In such an immanent and horizontal society only a worldly, “new”, and, most of all, de-Hellenized “Christianity” works, since the existence of a transcendent God is not a Christian but a Greek problem. God has died with Christ and, therefore, Christianity “frees itself from God.”^[39] Moreover, this vertical fall of the Church includes the de-Romanization of Christianity (death of the “Church”-institution) and thus the Church can direct its attention to the edification of Babylon, the impious society.^[40] In the first case, “a ‘de-Hellenized’ Christianity is one that has renounced the logos or the natural light of truth and, with it, being; therefore, it is impossible for it to welcome Christ as supernatural Logos.” ^[41] Without the metaphysics of being (without logos) it is not possible to elaborate dogmatic theology, not even positive theology, and biblical theology is denaturalized.^[42] Such is, then, the first image of religious impiety that supposes the loss of being and, therefore, the loss of respect (piety) for everything. In other words, impiety is “the absence of respect for every thing, institution, and value.”^[43] Thus, the spirit of the world as world imposes itself.

“Hence, this immense technocratic totalitarianism, in relation to the Church, advocates, first, the Church’s integration into the technocratic society in the shared horizon of society of welfare. Perfectly fulfilling, thus, ‘the enlightenment and neo-Enlightenment inspired continuity between liberalism, communism, and modernism.’ Secondly, it advocates for the denaturalization of the Second Vatican Council so as to ‘prevent the awakening of faith within the society of welfare.’^[44]”^[45]

A few years ago, Pope Benedict XVI criticized: “The darkness that poses a real threat to mankind, after all, is the fact that he can see and investigate tangible material things, but cannot see where the world is going or whence it comes, where our own life is going, what is good and what is evil. The darkness enshrouding God and obscuring values is the real threat to our existence and to the world in general. If God and moral values, the difference between good and evil, remain in darkness, then all other ‘lights’, that put such incredible technical feats within our reach, are not only progress but also dangers that put us and the world at risk. […] With regard to material things, our knowledge and our technical accomplishments are legion, but what reaches beyond, the things of God and the question of good, we can no longer identify.”^[46]

The question then arises: What must we do? “We need to learn how to unmask the various ways that the truth is manipulated, distorted and concealed in public and private discourse. What we call ‘truth’ is not only the reporting of facts and events, such as we find in the daily papers. It is primarily the search for the solid foundations sustaining our decisions and our laws. This calls for acknowledging that the human mind is capable of transcending immediate concerns and grasping certain truths that are unchanging, as true now as in the past. As it peers into human nature, reason discovers universal values derived from that same nature.”^[47] “Faith, then, which reveals God’s light to us, is the true enlightenment, enabling God’s light to break into our world, opening our eyes to the true light.”^[48]

In this sense, we have to remind ourselves of the role that media of every kind has in the missions ad gentes, seeing that they can play an essential part in direct evangelization and in bringing to people the truths and values which support and enhance human dignity, together with the transcendent values. The Church’s presence in the media is in fact an important aspect of the inculturation of the Gospel demanded by the new evangelization to which the Holy Spirit is summoning the Church throughout the world.^[49] And we are convinced that Christ, our Divine Redeemer, is the Good News, ever valid, and that he can be and should be preached from all of the different means of communication in order to be Heard throughout all the world.

2.  I am the Light of the World ^[50]

Let us place ourselves in the Gospel passage which stations us in the city of Jerusalem, during the feast of Tabernacles and contemplate the Incarnate Word. As soon as Jesus appeared, He was sought out by the throng (as the Evangelist notes), for some were saying, “He’s a good man,” and others said, “No! On the contrary, he’s leading the people astray”.^[51] At any rate, after having gone up to the Temple, He declared to them that His doctrine is the very doctrine of God who sent Him and whose Eternal Son He is. In this court, and therefore very close to Him, probably on either side of Him, were two gigantic candelabra, on the summit of which lamps were lit which shed their soft light over the Temple. Our Lord sat there, among these enormous lamps which illuminated the countenances of both friends and enemies, and the threshold of the Holy of Holies. He Who is Thrice Holy proclaimed that the Light of God had come to illumine men who walked in darkness: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ^[52]

He was not misspoken. He did not say that He was like the light; He did not say that He was like those lamps which illumined the darkness; He didn’t say that He was the light of some but not of others. Rather, He said that He was that very same Light which is identified with the Truth and that illumines all men who come into this world. To say something like this, Jesus had to know all things. However, His audience did not remember having seen Him in any of the great schools of Jerusalem, neither having seen Him seated at Gamaliel’s feet. Therefore, those who heard Him –common folk, Pharisees, Levites– cast glances at one another until finally someone asked: Who are you? They were stunned with the declaration that He whose Truth was the Light of the world possessed it from all eternity: You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world […] If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.^[53] His hearers, not grasping the great truth that He was the Light of the world, asked: Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? ^[54] The response of Our Lord was an affirmation of His Eternity: Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: he saw it and was glad.” They therefore said to Him: ‘You’re not fifty years old yet, and you’ve seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I am.’ ^[55]

By saying “I am”, Yahweh, Jesus made Himself equal to Light, equal to Truth, equal to God. It is Our Lord’s battle-cry to an erring world, a tocsin sounding to slaves to be liberated in the name of the Truth which makes men free. But just as the midday sun is too strong for weak eyes, so the Light of the World was too brilliant for minds yet accustomed only to the candlelight. And so, in their fury against One Who claimed to be the unique Truth of the world, the Light of Life, and the Wisdom unborn in the agelessness of eternity, they picked up stories to throw at Him.^[56] But as their arms drew back for the sling, He had hidden Himself,^[57] proving once more that He was the Truth, for Truth always hides from those who seek to kill, and do not search in simplicity and humility of heart

About these people the Holy Father stated: “There are people […] who cannot live in the light because they are accustomed to darkness. Light dazzles them, they cannot see. They are human bats: they only know how to move about in the night. […] But the worst part is that their eyes, the soul’s eyes have been accustomed to living so long in darkness, so much so, that they end up ignoring what is the light. They lose their perception of the light because they are used to the darkness.”^[58]

“The thing about Jesus that scandalizes is His nature as God incarnate. And as they did to Him, ‘they try to set traps throughout life’ for us as well.’”^[59] Just as Christ suffered opposition, rejection, and even death in order to testify to the Truth, so too must his followers suffer. The Incarnate Word does not deceive us, He clearly tells us: They will hand you over to the courts. You will be beaten in synagogues. You will be arraigned before governors and kings because of me, as a witness before them… You will be hated by all because of my name.^[60] That is why, Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen wisely hinted: “Being tolerated [or accepted] is at times a sign of weakness; and being persecuted: a compliment. The mediocre survive. The person who is persecuted is he whose belief is taken seriously and the cause which he defends must be eliminated in order for evil to win. It is true that the evil are also persecuted, but they do not enter into the beatitude, for as Saint Paul says: if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.^[61] A martyr must die for his faith, not for his belonging, nor for his good name, nor his party. There are many martyrs who are the architects of their own martyrdom, but they have no place in the ranks of those who were promised the Kingdom of Heaven for carrying the cross on their shoulders.”^[62] What we mean to say is that, although many –even “religious believers”^[63]– try to destroy us, and attack us “in networks of verbal violence through the internet and the various forums of digital communication; even in Catholic media, limits can be overstepped, defamation and slander can become commonplace, and all ethical standards and respect for the good name of others can be abandoned,”^[64] our task continues to be giving testimony –splendidly and strikingly^[65]– of the inevitable truth that the Word was made flesh…full of grace and truth.^[66]

Now, consider whatever other ‘teacher’, philosopher, spiritual guru, great thinker, moralist, or preacher who has walked on the face of this earth; it doesn’t matter which. Not one of them identified himself either with the Truth. They all said: “I will point out the way”; but Our Lord said: I am the Way. They all said: “I will tell you how to possess truth or how to discover light”; but Our Lord said: I am the Truth—I am the Light of the World. They all said: “I will help you attain undying life”; but Our Lord said: I am the Life. Every reformer, every great thinker, every preacher of ethics in the history of the world pointed to an ideal outside himself. Our Lord did not. He is the Ideal with capital letters. There was no system outside His person. His adorable Person is the system. There was no way apart from His Way, no truth apart from His Truth, no life apart from His Life. There was nothing outside or beyond Him, for in Him all the scattered ways and truths and lives found their center and source, to such an extent that Christ could affirm with all authority: Without me you can to nothing.^[67] Which is like saying: ‘you can buy and sell without Me, you can make your buildings bigger and increase your possessions without Me, you can construct ships and create incredibly powerful technologies, but you cannot take even one step toward the Idea, which is Divine Life, without Me, because I am the Life. You cannot even go to the Father without Me, because the Father and I are One.’^[68]

“The Incarnate Word rules the entire law of the bonds of the supernatural and the natural order, but he also rules what within the latter should be ordered, without unhealthy dialectics and against any false monism.”^[69] For this reason our Constitutions clearly state: “Our Lord is the Way we must follow and the example we must imitate^[70] and the truth we must announce. Even when they contradict us or want to tear down what we have just barely set up with so much sacrifice, even amid the harshest poverty and despite our greatest miseries. Christ, true God and true Man, is and must be forever the platform from which we boldly plunge ourselves to restore all things.”^[71] This is our noble mission, for God wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.^[72] We must recognize that Christ Himself sends us to the mission, meanwhile promising us His divine help: Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.^[73]

Acting in any other way would not only be living out of reality, but also betraying the very purpose for which God has created our Institute. Without the Incarnation of the Word our faith has no foundation and without faith our life collapses.

It is true that, as Saint John Paul II mentioned, “the world of the media can sometimes seem no more friendly an environment for evangelization than the pagan world of the Apostles’ day. But just as the early witnesses to the Good News did not retreat when faced with opposition, neither should Christ’s followers do so today. The cry of Saint Paul echoes among us still: Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel.^[74]”^[75]

“In a particular way –describes the Constitutions and as we have heard growing up in the religious life– there is an urgent necessity for apostolic endeavors in the so-called ‘modern Areopagi’. In these new environments, we first find the world of communication, upon which the work of evangelizing modern culture greatly depends. This world of communication is ‘unifying humanity and turning it into what is known as a “global village… The means of social communication have become so important as to be for many the chief means of information and education… In particular, the younger generation is growing up in a world conditioned by the mass media.’”^[76]

Social networks belong to these areopagi spoken of by our proper law. Even if, as stated in the beginning, many use these platforms to spread lies and diffuse confusion, these means do not stop being a valid means to proclaim the truth. To reinforce this, Pope Benedict XVI affirms: “These technologies are truly a gift to humanity and we must endeavor to ensure that the benefits they offer are put at the service of all human individuals and communities,”^[77] and later when speaking of “the extraordinary potential of the new technologies,”^[78] he exhorts Catholics “to bring the witness of their faith to the digital world.”^[79]

For just as “in the early life of the Church, the great Apostles and their disciples brought the Good News of Jesus to the Greek and Roman world. Just as, at that time, a fruitful evangelization required that careful attention be given to understanding the culture and customs of those pagan peoples so that the truth of the gospel would touch their hearts and minds, so also today, the proclamation of Christ in the world of new technologies requires a profound knowledge of this world if the technologies are to serve our mission adequately. It falls, [… to you] to take on the responsibility for the evangelization of this ‘digital continent’. Be sure to announce the Gospel to your contemporaries with enthusiasm. […] The greatest gift you can give to them is to share with them the ‘Good News’ of a God who became man, who suffered, died and rose again to save all people.”^[80]

We do not want to move forward without mentioning that by God’s grace, the Institute uses these means to promote Christ’s cause and His task of evangelization in various parts of the world. Nevertheless, in our opinion, there is a lot left for us to conquer in terms of quality in the presentation of the message and the pedagogy when it comes to presenting topics which are in and of themselves very profound.

*     *     *     *     *

Jesus, the Incarnate Word, is the Light of God that “makes encounter possible. He makes communication possible. He makes knowledge, the access to reality, to truth possible.”^[81] Therefore, it will always be a duty and privilege to proclaim the truth, the glorious truth about human life and man’s destination revealed in the Word made flesh. That is why we, religious of the Incarnate Word, must affirm not only with our lips, but also with our testimony of life, and by our apostolic works that the “Word is truly the Truth”^[82] Everything in Him is transparency, authenticity, sincerity, coherence and truth: I am… the Truth^[83] […] In Him there is nothing empty, hollow, or not assumed hypostatically; there is nothing superficial, feigned or camouflaged; no lie, falsehood, insecurity, secret or hypocrisy. He is One Only,^[84] the Word, in two distinct natures; both of which are perfect, whole and hypostatically united.”^[85]

Today and forever we raise high the banner of the “Only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ^[86], and that a reference to all creatures is contained in Him. [For] He is the point of meeting and union between the comprehensor and the wayfarer (comprehensor et viator); the Master^[87] and the slave^[88]; the century and the moment; the universe and the atom; the from now on of salvation and the up-to-now of the promises; the not yet of what we are waiting for and the already-realized. He is the point of meeting and union of God and man, of eschatology and the Incarnation, and of sidereal distances and the inch. For that reason, nothing escapes Christ, neither space travel nor the world of electronics and computers, neither the most current science nor the most sophisticated technology, nor recent discoveries, the family, work, culture, politics, economics, etc.”^[89]

Let us learn and teach to others to follow the wise counsel of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, “Stop your ears, therefore when anyone speaks to you at variances with Jesus Christ…”^[90] May we “leave no stone unturned so that the love of Christ may have the highest supremacy in the Church and society.”^[91]

Yes, it is true that preaching the Word made flesh is a scandal which is accompanied by the persecution of the world. It is better to remember: every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God, and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world.^[92]

We must not be deaf to the anguished cry made to us by the Incarnate Word from the Cross:

“I am the Light, and you do not look at me.

I am the Way, and you do not follow me.

I am the Truth, and you do not believe me.

I am the Life, and you do not seek me.

I am the Teacher, and you do not listen to me.

I am the Lord, and you do not obey me

I am your best Friend, and you do not love me.

If you are unhappy, it is not my fault.”^[93]

May we satisfy God’s thirst and soothe man’s spiritual destitution with the clear and valiant preaching that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us… full of grace and truth.^[94]

[1] Saint Augustine, On the Holy Trinity, 15, 14, 23.

[2] The Social Dilemma: a documentary produced by the company, Netflix, in 2020. Netflix forms part of the same reality which we are denouncing in this writing, for its promotion of not only antichristian values, but also unnatural and degrading values. We take only what is useful in order to make our point from this documentary, because in it, those who have been involved in this great world-wide commercial manipulation speak about what we are referring to here.

[3] Harris was engaged as an ethics specialist in the designs of Google and is now the co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology.

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGx5n_CX72M&feature=youtu.be

[5] Fratelli tutti, 210.

[6] Ibidem, 200.

[7] Ibidem, 77.

[8] Saint John Paul II, Message for the 35^th World Communications Day (May 27, 2001).

[9] Cf. Fratelli tutti, 42.

[10] Ibidem, 43.

[11] Ibidem, 28.

[12] Cf. Ibidem, 43.

[13] Jn 14: 6.

[14] Cf. Evangelii Nuntiandi, 78.

[15] Jn 8: 44.

[16] Cf. Lc 23: 34.

[17] Cf. Mt 10: 27: What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

[18] Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 44; cited as a “memorable text” by Pope Francis in Fratelli tutti, 273.

[19] Cf. Fr. C. Buela, IVE, El Arte del Padre, Part III, chap. 24.

[20] Fratelli tutti, 210.

[21] The Social Dilemma.

[22] Ibidem.

[23] Ibidem.

[24] He is an engineer, ex-employee of Facebook, who worked precisely in increasing Facebook employee’s productivity. He is also the co-founder of Asana, a designing application to help work teams organize and direct their work in a more effective and efficient way.

[25] Marco Rubio, Republican Senator of the state of Florida (USA). Cited in The Social Dilemma.

[26] The same thing happens with products to be sold. If one searches for and/or buys a determined product online, warnings and notifications arrive after similar products… even when one is reading a newspaper online. For these mega-computers do just that: this personalized work and propose things according to the user’s interests.

[27] Roger McNamee is an investor and founder of the Elevation Partners y Silver Lake Partners firms. Although having been an investor in Facebook, he turned out to be a great critic of this social media network for its influence in the American society and democracy.

[28] Message for the 43^rd World Communications Day (May 24, 2009).

[29] Cathy O’Neil is a doctor in mathematics, dedicated to analyze how the use of ‘big data’ and algorithms in such fields as insurance, publicity, education and government regulations, can lead to taking decisions which negatively affect the poor, reinforce racism, and amplify inequality.

[30] The Social Dilemma.

[31] Cf. M. F. Sciacca, L’oscuramento dell’intelligenza, Opere Complete, Marzorati, Milano 1970, vol. 32, p. 132.

[32] Ibidem, pp. 137-139.

[33] Fr. C. Buela, IVE, El Arte del Padre, Part III, chap. 24.

[34] M. F. Sciacca, L’oscuramento dell’intelligenza, Opere Complete, Marzorati, Milano 1970, vol. 32, p. 142.

[35] M. F. Sciacca, Il magnifico oggi, Opere Complete, Città Nuova Editrice, Roma 1976, vol. 41, pp. 13-16.

[36] Cf. Fr. C. Buela, IVE, El Arte del Padre, Part III, chap. 24.

[37] M. F. Sciacca, Gli arieti contro la verticale, 9, Opere Complete, 1969, vol. 30, p. 150.

[38] M. F. Sciacca, L’oscuramento dell’intelligenza, Opere Complete, Marzorati, Milano 1970, vol. 32, p. 178.

[39] M. F. Sciacca, Gli arieti contro la verticale, 9, Opere Complete, 1969, vol. 30, p. 80.

[40] Ibidem, pp. 83-84.

[41] Ibidem, 180.

[42] M. F. Sciacca, Prospettiva sulla metafisica di S. Tommaso, Opere Complete, vol. 40, Città Nuova, Roma 1975, p. 44.

[43] M. F. Sciacca, Il magnifico oggi, Opere Complete, Città Nuova Editrice, Roma 1976, vol. 41, p. 18.

[44] M. F. Sciacca, L’oscuramento dell’intelligenza, Opere Complete, Marzorati, Milano 1970, vol. 32, p. 179.

[45] Fr. C. Buela, IVE, El Arte del Padre, Part III, chap. 24.

[46] Benedict XVI, Easter Vigil Homily (April 7, 2012).

[47] Francis, Fratelli tutti, 208.

[48] Benedict XVI, Easter Vigil Homily (April 7, 2012).

[49] Cf. Saint John Paul II, Message for the 35^th World Communications Day (May 27, 2001).

[50] Jn 8: 12. Some of the ideas in the following paragraphs have been taken from the book: The Eternal Galilean by Ven. Fulton Sheen.

[51] Jn 7: 12.

[52] Jn 8: 12.

[53] Jn 8: 23; 31-32.

[54] Jn 8: 53.

[55] Jn 8: 56-58.

[56] Jn 8: 59.

[57] Ibidem.

[58] Cf. Homily in Saint Martha’s House (April 22, 2020).

[59] Francis, Homily in Saint Martha’s House (June 1, 2013).

[60] Mk 13: 9, 13.

[61] 1 Cor 13: 3.

[62] The Power of Love, “Those Who Suffer Persecution”, chap. 42.

[63] Fratelli tutti, 46.

[64] Cf. Ibidem; op. cit. Gaudete et Exsultate, 115.

[65] Directory of Consecrated Life, 284; op. cit. Lumen Gentium, 31.

[66] Jn 1: 14.

[67] Jn 15: 5.

[68] Jn 10: 30.

[69] Fr. C. Buela, IVE, El Arte del Padre, Part III, chap. 1.

[70] Constitutions, 60.

[71] Cf. Directory of Spirituality, 1; op. cit. Eph 1: 10.

[72] 1 Tm 2: 4.

[73] Mt 28: 20.

[74] 1 Cor 9: 16.

[75] Saint John Paul II, Message for the 35^th World Communications Day (May 27, 2001).

[76] Constitutions, 168.

[77] Message for the 43^rd World Communications Day (May 24, 2009).

[78] Ibidem.

[79] Ibidem.

[80] Cf. Ibidem.

[81] Ibidem.

[82] Directory of Spirituality, 54; op. cit. Saint Augustine, On the Holy Trinity, 15, 14, 23.

[83] Jn 14: 6.

[84] Cf. Rm 5: 17.

[85] Cf. Directory of Spirituality, 55.

[86] Jude 4.

[87] Cf. 2 Tm 2: 21.

[88] Cf. Phil 2: 7.

[89] Cf. Directory of Spirituality, 57.

[90] Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Trallians, 9, 1.

[91] Saint John Paul II, Address to Episcopal Conference of Tuscany, September 14, 1980; OR (9/21/1980) Spanish Edition. Cited in the Directory of Spirituality, 58.

[92] 1 Jn 4: 2-3.

[93] Inscription on a Flamencan Crucifix from 1632.

[94] Cf. Jn 1: 14.