Wednesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
As the world has been dealing with environmental challenges, some people are optimistic that we now have a new tool to better manage the impacts of the ecological crisis and protect the planet: artificial intelligence (AI). According to a World Economic Forum report, AI refers to computer systems that “can sense their environment, think, learn, and act in response to what they sense and their programmed objectives.” The bottom line is that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been credited as a game-changer for the environment, serving as a new tool that can optimize energy use, improve waste management, and enhance conservation efforts. But while technology has changed a lot, especially with the rise of AI, human beings have remained the same for the last 2,000 years. It might be impossible to read St. Paul’s letter to the Romans without thinking of the ways in which human beings have continued to curse the earth through their actions; the first-century Romans wreaked ecological havoc, just as contemporary businesses and individuals pollute the earth.
St. Paul characterizes the age of suffering as creation’s labor pains, during which the creation groan. But just as the earth suffers as a result of humanity's sin, it will be liberated with humanity's redemption when God's children are identified, marking the time of salvation. So, believers must participate in the birth pangs as they await the completion of their adoption as the children of God in the bodily resurrection. Their salvation is not complete yet, but it requires patience and hope. Then Paul used the language of predestination. Here, Paul did not claim that certain individuals will be saved over others or that some have been predestined for salvation, but rather to identify the dependability of God's call in Christ. It is God who creates a family of Christ-like siblings who share God’s righteousness and glory. Finally, Paul provides a summary of the chronological sequence of salvation (Ordo Salutis) from predestination in past eternity to future glorification in eternity. The bottom line is that all birth pangs are the process in which Christ is restoring humanity into the image and glory of God.