recently I was in my Santa Barbara
office I'm working at my computer and I
encountered a problem I'm not very good
with computers so I called my friend
Brandon vaad who's not only a very able
a content director here at word on fire
but he's also a trained engineer and
kind of a tech whiz
so got Brandon the phone and he tried to
kind of talk me through the issue but
wasn't going very well so finally he
said let me just take over your screen
so he has this capacity to make some
moves where he is and he can actually
take over and work on my screen and he
was in Atlanta at the time at a
conference and from Atlanta he begins
then to manipulate you know the cursor
and you solve the problem so what he was
finished I said to him I'm always kind
of amazed by that and I said no I know
it's a stupid question but it's just all
done to like phone lines or our
satellites outer space involved what he
just did so I'm sure he was suppressing
a laugh but he he kind of patiently
explained to me about digital data and
breaking down and waves and phone lines
and he said and in some cases or at
least partially satellites are indeed
involved in this process and then he
said to me something that was kind of
interesting and it kind of you know
dreamy voice he said you know it only
reminds me of the community of saints
and I said well you better unpack that
one for me and he said well you know
look we send up all this information to
satellites thinks from computers and GPS
systems and iPhones and everything else
going up to these satellites that
receive the information huge amounts of
it and then send information back to
earth and this is happening all the time
but he said it reminds me of the way we
send information up to heaven and how
influence comes back from heaven I said
when I wouldn't that make an interesting
little reflections oh this is the
reflection think for a second now as
Catholics we invoke Mary all the time so
this morning I prayed my rose
you know so over and over again I trade
hail Mary full of grace I'm not just you
know exercising my mind or I'm not just
the same pious things in some very real
way I'm convinced that Mary hears those
prayers and responds to them now think
of all the people all over the world who
are praying in different languages the
Hail Mary think of the way we invoke the
Saints all over the world every day all
the time
Catholics invoking the Saints praying
for their intercession and asking for
favors
addressing them and more to it were
convinced that the Saints can in some
cases respond to us and actually have in
effect in the world now I realize
there's a temptation especially today to
see this as oh just so much you know
free scientific mumbo-jumbo I mean how
could anyone really take seriously that
Mary in heaven is actually hearing these
prayers I mean isn't it just a lot of
wishful thinking and kind of a
pre-modern fantasy well I can keep
Brandon's comparison in mind there are
machines of our contrivance up in the
heavens right now that are indeed
receiving enormous amounts of
information and sending enormous amounts
of information in such a way that the
world here below is changed every time I
get my car and I'm tooling along and
there's my GPS system working
beautifully
well that involves information going up
now think of all the cars I don't know
how many go to which satellites all that
but think of all the information from
all these cars going up to these
satellites and then coming down and very
really influencing the world if it can
happen at that level
why couldn't we say a fortiori even more
powerfully can happen in regard to
intelligences at a higher pitch of
existence see now think about the angels
and the Saints and the Blessed Mother
not just you know other beings in our
ordinary world but
intelligences at a higher more intense
pitch of existence if our little
machines that we make can do this
extraordinary thing how much more could
these realities who listen oh ow are
participating in the supreme and
infinite intelligence of God think of
the angels the Saints plus a mother as
participating more intensely in the
all-embracing intelligence of God why
would we find it so hard to believe that
Mary indeed here's all the Hail Marys
being offered to her that Mary indeed
can't influence the world the Saints
can't have an impact on the world here's
another angle on this thing we think of
matter and spirit in a very modern way a
Cartesian way so remember Rene Descartes
said that the soul is like a captive
inside the body it's the ghost in the
machine right it's in there that's not
the way Thomas Aquinas thought about
soul Thomas said the soul is in the body
not as contained by it but as containing
it that's a line that I think spend a
whole retreat thinking about that the
soul is in the body but not as contained
by it like a little ghost in the machine
but rather the soul the spiritual is
more embracing that the spiritual
dominates the materials and it affects
the material in the most dramatic way
and sold them in the spiritual realm of
the Angels the saints of God ultimately
head has a massive impact on the
material world because it's at a higher
pitch of existence okay here's a last
comparison think again of the satellites
it's worth going along in the highway
we're using our cell phones were using
our computers and satellites are
intimately involved intimately involved
in the functioning of all these things
how often even think about them I mean
the satellite is is out of sight it's up
there somewhere
I don't even see it I don't think about
I'm at my computer sending messages and
doing various things email and how often
do I think of all this and yet these
invisible realities these unseen
realities have an enormous impact on our
ordinary lives how much more the Saints
the Angels the bus and mother who are
unseen invisible realities and yet can
have a massive impact on the world of
our ordinary experience why would we
find that we who are now so accustomed
to these things why would we find this
so hard to believe so I guess I'd throw
this out as a little challenge maybe
something that lifts you up spiritually
is next time you're using your computer
you're in your car with the GPS you're
using your cell phone maybe think of a
community of sites