We may find Jesus’ invitation in today’s Gospel reading (Luke 6:27-38) challenging us always to, “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly… If you love those who love you, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them.” But we have to remember that Jesus didn’t instruct us to live and practice what Himself never practiced. While on earth, Jesus Christ was the friend of those who were discriminated upon or considered as outcasts and sinners (Lu 15:2) and while still hanging on the cross, with the excruciating pain of the crucifixion, Jesus prayed for those who persecuted Him “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).

A few days ago, the Holy See published an extensive document on artificial intelligence. The title, in Latin as usual, is “Antiqua et nova”. This technology is still in the dazzling phase typical of any innovation. The printing press was a revolution! The railways, too! And the electric light, the telephone, the radio, the automobile, the airplane, the calculating machine! Sometimes newness leads to confusion, especially when compared with common experience. In the 19th century, when a steam train completed its maiden voyage, charitable hands covered with blankets the machine, “sweating and exfoliating”, to prevent it from catching cold. The telegraph was another amazement. You would touch a key and, from across the street, through the wires, the machine would make clicks. Edison explained this transmission at distance with the image of a very long cat: you step on its tail and it meows at the opposite end. The impact of major innovations is enormous. How is it possible to talk at a distance? Or travel through the air? Or, so many things?… But the surprise is short-lived, the thing becomes trivial, and children soon consider it is normal for the fridge to be cold, or the light bulbs to give off light.