The Rev. ChatGPT on being subordinate - UPDATED

Update 31-Aug 4:10 pm CDT - Jean mentioned in the comments that she has heard different takes on this Bible passage in non-Catholic churches that members of her husband's family attend.  So I asked ChatGPT to also write a Southern Baptist sermon on the same passage.  I've pasted it below the Catholic homily that begins right after the break.

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Last weekend, the second reading at Sunday mass was what might be the single most controversial passage in the Bible: St. Paul's discourse in Ephesians which contains the notorious line, "Wives should be subordinate to their husbands out of reverence for Christ".

I didn't preach last weekend, but I sat in the deacon's chair for two masses.  One reader (a man) read the long version of the reading, which includes the phrase in question.  From my seat, I have a good view of the congregation, and I observed a couple of husbands nudging their wives or snickering toward them, with the wives striving to put up the appearance of being good sports about it.  At the other mass, the reader (a woman) clearly had misgivings about reading that passage from the pulpit.  She asked me before mass if she could read the short version, which has cut out the line about wives being subordinate.  I told her it was fine with me but she should check with the priest, in case he was planning to address the passage directly in his homily.  He told her to please read the short version.  

Of course, no homilist is obligated to preach on that passage, even when it is one of the appointed readings.  In my experience, most homilists see the path of prudence as avoiding that reading with the proverbial ten-foot pole.   This second priest did briefly and cautiously allude to the passage, characterizing it as a call for spouses to love one another.  That strikes me as in harmony with what St. Paul wrote, but it takes a bit of reflection and unpacking to get there.

As you know, occasionally I ask the ChatGPT artificial intelligence engine to crank out a homily.  One can find the texts and videos of many homilies (from humans) on the Internet, but as a general rule, I don't crib from other homilies when I preach.  I do consult sources, but I consider it part of the homilist's job to pray, reflect and struggle with the text him/herself, and produce an original work on it.  But in my opinion, ChatGPT did such a good job explaining this passage that I'd happily read it aloud from the pulpit.  I'm pasting it below the break, and would welcome your thoughts on it.

Eucharistic Renewal: Walk With One

Walk with One: Eucharistic Revival

We are all called to evangelize, and thanks to the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are well-equipped for this mission. It may not mean spreading the Gospel in a foreign land or going door-to-door with the Good News—and it may require overcoming some fears—but the Lord is asking each of us to step out of our comfort zone and evangelize one-on-one.

There is someone in your life right now whom Jesus longs to call to himself. He wants to spark a relationship with them and bless them with his sacraments. In this Year of Mission, Catholics across the U.S. are saying “yes” to a special form of heart-to-heart accompaniment called the Walk With One initiative. 

The Stages of Spiritual Companionship

On Forgiveness

There was an interesting review of a book by Kaya Oakes on the NCR site, "Not So Sorry; Abusers, False Apologies and the Limits of Forgiveness" New book from Kaya Oakes explores the limits of forgiveness | National Catholic Reporter (ncronline.org)

Dreaming

A priest makes a major life decision based on the contents of a dream.

St. Ulphia, bless our little toads

I mentioned in another thread that Monday I found a little toad in my garden. There he is at left. 

I'd gone out to check on the basil, which dies off in the heat, but sometimes revives in cool spells. And there he was, an eastern American toad, about three inches long, soaking up the moisture (they don't drink but absorb water through the skin) from the weekend rains.

Toads and frogs get a bad rap in Western culture. We all know about the plague of frogs in Exodus, and things go downhill for our amphibians friends from there.

Toads appear in fairy tales, like the Perrault story, "Diamonds and Toads." If you don't know it, a nice girl gives a mysterious old lady a drink and is blessed so that every time she speaks, diamonds fall from her lips. The nice girl's bad sister refuses the same old woman and is cursed. Toads and snakes fall from her lips. The bad sister is then driven into the woods and dies all alone.

Milton said that Satan squatted next to Eve like a toad. Shakespeare called Richard III a "poisonous bunch-backed toad." Or consider the toad-like Jabba the Hut from Star Wars.

A couple of other tangential thoughts on the Eucharist

I preached this past weekend on the Eucharist.  Sharing here a couple of other thoughts that occurred to me in the course of reflecting on what to say about the Eucharist.

Our Eucharistic faith

This is my homily for today, the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B.  Today's readings are here.

Happy Feast Day

 I have always liked this feast day, the Assumption of Mary, falling as it does in high summer.

Today I learned of a custom to celebrate the day which is a bit unusual.  This article was on the America Medias site:  The Assumption of Mary brought me peace after my mother’s death | America Magazine

The article, by Patricia Lawler Kenet, first appeared in 2021.  It is a touching tribute to the author's mother's faith, and finding comfort after her death: 

The action takes place in New Jersey, on the sea shore.

"I am standing with my mother and her friend Stella on the beach in Atlantic City. I am 12 years old. Our toes sink into the wet sand, and we wiggle them free as the waves retreat. Stella searches the horizon, her head cocked back, poised in a salute to the scorching August sun overhead. My mother’s olive skin, like Stella’s, has turned toasty brown after only a few days. On the other hand, I inherited my father’s Celtic genes and am a splotchy pink."

"It is Aug. 15, 1973, the Feast of the Assumption. We are waiting for the bishop to fly overhead inside a tiny plane to bless the waters in which we are standing."

Murmuring about the Eucharist

From this week's bulletin of my parish: 

My Sisters and Brothers, 

Jesus said (and says), “I am the bread that came down from heaven”. And the Jews “murmured”. It makes me wonder how many times and in how many ways all of us still might “murmur” about this ultimate gift of love we are privileged to share in the Eucharist. 

Let me give you some examples of modern-day murmuring. “Mass is boring”; or, “I didn’t like the music”, or “the homily was too long”; or, it could be the way we dress, or habitually coming late, or just not even trying to sing and participate. Or maybe, “I was just too busy with other things”, or even worse, “I just felt like being lazy and sleeping in”. The examples are many and varied, and  I am guessing that most of us are guilty of “murmuring” about the Mass at one time or another or in one way or another. And yes, I am sorry to say, that includes me. 

This is not meant as a guilt trip for any of us, but rather as a reminder to never lose sight of how blessed we are to share in the love and life of God through the Eucharist. One might say, “It just doesn’t get any better than this”. The challenge is, when we do something that seems the same (or at least very similar), we could take it for granted.    

Celebrating the Eucharist is not primarily what we do for God, but a response to what God does for us. Jesus, our God, gives His entire life to us in this great sacrament.  We respond with open and grateful hearts to the greatest gift of God’s love and with the commitment to do our best to, “Do this in memory of Me”. The “this” means to try and replace the murmuring with a commitment to bring the love and joy of Christ to others, “to become what we receive”, and to be instruments of bringing others to share in this precious gift.

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.. next weekend we begin a prayer initiative to invite people back to Mass who have been away for various reasons. Start thinking of people who you can personally and lovingly invite. We will explain more as we go about this

Fiftieth Anniversary of Nixon's Resignation

On the evening of August 8, 1974, President Nixon addressed the nation and announced his intention to resign. The next morning, White House Chief of Staff Alexander Haig presented this letter to President Nixon to sign. The President’s resignation letter is addressed to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who initialed it at 11:35 a.m.

On September 8, 1974, the new President, Gerald Ford, issued a full pardon to the former President for any offenses he “has committed or may have committed.” Even before President Nixon’s resignation, speculation had swirled around the possibility that the new President might pardon him, but at the time and later in his memoirs, President Ford strongly denied that there was any “deal” to trade a pardon for a Presidential resignation. In his televised address announcing the pardon, President Ford said that trying President Nixon would only further inflame political passions and prevent the country from moving forward. He also said that Nixon and his family had suffered enough, that he might not be able to receive a fair trial, and that a trial might prove inconclusive.

The resignation and pardon mark the conclusion of the events we know as Watergate. . . .

From Richard Nixon’s Resignation Letter and Gerald Ford’s Pardon, National Archives Foundation, <https://www.archivesfoundation.org/documents/richard-nixon-resignation-letter-gerald-ford-pardon/>

My earliest political memory is of Richard Nixon. In Cincinnati, Ohio, on the Saint James of the Valley Catholic Church parking lot, which doubled as the school playground, Gayle R, the daughter of the family friend who would become my Confirmation Sponsor, gravely told me that if the Republicans won the 1956 election, Richard Nixon would take all of our bicycles away. 

 

Scratching the Surface: An Example of What ChatGPT Can Do for Language Learners

[David asks ChatGPT] For someone who wants to learn a new language for enjoyment, and their choices are either Polish or Esperanto, could you give the pros and cons and advise which one to study?

Choosing between Polish and Esperanto for language learning can depend on various factors including your goals, interests, and the time you are willing to invest. Here are some pros and cons for each language to help you decide:

Surprise!

 Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota governor Tim Walz for her running mate:  

https://omaha.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/elections/native-nebraskan-tim-walz-now-minnesota-governor-named-kamala-harris-vice-presidential-pick/article_8303908e-5389-11ef-b753-cf684e16966b.html

"Everyone said" she would pick Josh Shapiro. But that didn't happen. However Walz seems like he will work out fine.

Little known facts about Walz; though he has lived in Minnesota for many years, he was born in West Point, Nebraska, a town in northeast NE. He got his degree from Chadron, a college in the state system, in northwest Nebraska. He is a Lutheran, not too unusual for either Nebraska or Minnesota.

He is the same age as Harris, 60.

How many connected devices do you have? (UPDATED)

UPDATE

In answer to Jean's definition question, I first looked at the 

Digital Economy Report 2024

from which Statista got their infographic, (which did not have the total definition)

and finally at the 

Cisco Annual Internet Report (2018-2023)

which was the source of the data.

Their summary and definition are below

Statista on Overconsumption, the desire for more devices  

Electronics are highly energy and resource-intensive to produce. From mining raw materials to manufacturing and shipping the finished products, to charging them during use and finally to disposing of them, each item leaves its mark on the Earth. And while recycling efforts are improving, as well as policies to make such processes more efficient and sustainable, the ever-growing demand for electronics is proving hard to keep up with in terms of protecting the environment.

Data from the Digital Economy Report 2024 published by the UN Trade and Development shows that this rising demand isn’t simply a case of more people buying electronic devices worldwide, but also that the average number of devices per consumer is increasing. As the following chart shows, the average number of devices owned per capita worldwide rose from 2.4 to 3.6 between 2018 and 2023.

Bernie Sanders on Gaza

I, am of course on Bernie Sander's mailing list. While most of the e-mails are for fund raisers for Democrats or asking for support for some initiative of his on congress,, or support for his going arund the country, this was just strait talk as only Bernie can do it. I am sure he would not object to me reprinting it here