We are in a world of dying communication

Plato believed that wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. The purpose of communication is to build communities, to understand and to promote intimacy and mutual valuing. We live in a world of advanced communication. More and more Google and yahoo and other giants are enslaving people to communicate 24 hours for business. Though they serve the purpose of connecting the people they alienate the people in the long run. Heartfelt handwritten calligraphies that were treasured once are replaced by impersonal, typed, one line or one-word emails and SMSs. We live in a world of dying communication. Man is going to be silent very soon and create machines to propose love to his wife, machines to sing National Anthems, and machines to pray to God.

The Gospel demands that we become communicators of the coming of Jesus. We announce the advent of the Messiah and prepare the people through repentance and forgiveness. That is a greater challenge compared to the challenges of communication laid out by the modern Information Technology. While the IT industry tries to silence man for good, Church demands our proclamations be louder. Noisy people are not tolerated; children are avoided; TV programs are restricted to News, church pews are 'noise-less' zones are 'people-less' zones.

Preparing way for God necessarily includes preparing way for ourselves, since we are missing from this world by our selfish attitudes, and mindless rituals and habits. We need to re-accommodate ourselves in families and societies and humans fully alive. Every communicator or messenger has to feel deep down and be convinced that we need the coming of Jesus to make us more feel human and humble and loving. John the Baptist is a great example of the messenger in our modern world: He was single-minded in his vocation; simple and humble before God and man; lived and died for the values of life.

Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after. Today’s gospel should make us feel difficult to sleep. We are all messengers and communicators of God’s love. Our paths are crooked and leading our family and society astray. We need to make our paths straight and that path has to lead to God. Let us pray that God inspires us and motivate us to form a civilization based on loving communion and communication.