The one thing necessary

By some fluke, I have been a recipient through these past few years of a number of modern gadgets that drastically facilitate my work. They open for me a bigger, wider, and definitely more exhilarating window to the world.

There's of course the computer with its connection to the Internet and other functions. Then you have the personal digital assistant (PDA) that allows you to virtually carry a whole library of books and documents in your pocket.

Then there's the laptop and the flash drive or USB (Universal Serial Bus) that enable you to do instant research, study and writing practically everywhere and even in those odd moments in-between appointments and activities.

I'm left with a raging sense of gratitude to God and to many kind-hearted donors for all these. All of sudden I find myself paddling in a much bigger ocean of data and information. As they say, these indeed take my breath away.

But they also come with a price, even an exorbitant price. If we are not careful, we can lose our soul. I've seen cases of people falling into some kind of invincible obsessions and hard-to-cure addictions because of these gadgets.

Like any instrument, these gadgets are good to those who are good, and bad to those who are bad. Their morality depends on their users. For one, while with them many good things are made accessible, temptations also proliferate.

Then we have to trade in our intellectual paddles with much stronger and swifter thinking tools. This is not easy to do, especially if we are already of a certain age. The capacity to upgrade our skills and to adapt to new things becomes harder by the year.

What seemed enough for us for many years, and served us quite well in our work so far, suddenly appear puny in the face of the tremendous possibilities these gadgets provide.

This is where we can stir certain dormant potentials we didn't realize we had. We know that not all of them are good. Many need to be purified. When awakened, they need to be restrained and somehow regulated, otherwise we can get into trouble.

This is where the need to be more discriminating and to be more dominating of oneself becomes keener, because it's very easy to get lost in the world these gadgets offer, and even to be enslaved in ways that are most subtle.

Yes, it's quite easy to be sucked into a frenzy of curiosity and activism and to be so absorbed by them that we can easily forget our other duties, even the more important ones like praying and eating and resting.

These gadgets seem not to run out of images, icons, ideas, sounds, etc., to engage both our senses and faculties. They can knock us out, completely leaving us beaten and helpless. The pursuit of knowledge can be so intoxicating that we can ignore what St. Paul once warned us: "Knowledge puffs up, but charity edifies." (1 Cor 8,1) We need to constantly rectify our intentions as we plunge into the ocean of possibilities these gadgets give us.

We should not lose our sense of priority. This should be shown in the way we plan and budget our time. This is a crucial aspect of the matter. Order should be a permanent concern, because disorder can just come spontaneously. No need for invitation.

In the end, there's only one thing that is truly necessary in our life. Let's remember what our Lord told Martha who was doing quite well by fussing about household chores but complained about her sister, Mary, who was simply listening to our Lord.

"Martha, Martha, you are troubled about many things. But one thing is necessary, and Mary has chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her," (Lk 10,41-42) he said.

We need to see that all this facilitated and accelerated pursuit of knowledge afforded by these gadgets truly brings us closer to God and to others. Knowledge is worthless and can be dangerous if not driven by charity and if it does not lead us to love-God and others.