Shortly after I was ordained, I went on a scripture study tour in the Holy Land. While our group was walking along a street in Jerusalem, the leader asked us what we were talking about. We had to be honest… we were talking about what we were going to see later in the day. He chewed us out for not being present in the moment to appreciate the sights, sounds and experiences that surrounded us. Does that sound familiar to you? Have you ever found yourself in a special place and started wondering about other things or scrolling on your device?

Do you long to be more centered, focused and recollected amidst the hectic, often whirlwind pace we keep?

Summer affords us some free time to try a new way to achieve these goals. The way we go about this effort is vital to achieving fruitfulness. Our rich Catholic spiritual tradition provides one particular way that far surpasses merely taking a breath, slowing down or practicing centering techniques because it allows God to be our source of centeredness, where His life-giving Spirit provides refreshment, peace and inspiration. It touches upon a supernatural reality.

Fifty years ago, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland (later Pope St. John Paul II) gave an address during the 1976 Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia on the occasion of the bicentennial celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He said something that many people might consider prophetic in light of the troubles and divisions that have been present in our Church, in our country and in our world.

Are you being duped? The evil one, Satan, is working insidiously to try to deceive us. (See Revelation 12:9) One way it’s being done is by convincing us that moral standards do not apply in particular situations, and consequently, we become ready to justify immoral and inhumane behavior for a supposed socially worthy purpose. This is a psychological concept called “moral disengagement.”

The month of June is traditionally dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Last Thursday, June 11, the U.S. Bishops consecrated our country to Jesus' Sacred Heart. Timothy O’Malley, theology at the University of Notre Dame and associate director for research at its McGrath Institute for Church Life explains the consecration this way. “In the midst of a really perilous political situation operative right now, in the midst of war and violence and the terrors of AI, the Church thinks about existing in a particular country, existing in the United States. Her members now should really dedicate themselves anew to the merciful love of Christ.”

On Monday, May 25, Pope Leo promulgated his first encyclical entitled, Magnifica Humanitas, Latin for magnificent humanity, where he addresses the need to safeguard human dignity and the common good in an era of artificial intelligence, and offers recommendations for its development and use toward that goal.

In presenting the encyclical, Pope Leo indicated that it had been born out of a process of listening — to experts developing AI, political leaders, parents, teachers, and people concerned about autonomous weapons and mass data gathering.