Hi everyone, I hope this finds you and those in your circle OK. Between Covid and the other circumstances of life, things are challenging, and some even experience the last challenge of this life - passing through death. I hope you may be finding the solace of the presence of God in this time, however it may be playing out for you.
A Note
Please remember people like me and others around the world - maybe the majority of the world - who are in a more rigorous lockdown, while having marginal internet and communication access. I often get communications from folks in the States, and it’s easy for folks there to overlook this problem and its effects. My internet speed is about 1 to 5% what is typical for a city in the US, and the reliability comes and goes. In places like here, the internet situation explains why social media apps and WhatsApp are ubiquitous - they are very low bandwidth applications. Chatting and social media occupy almost all activity. Video calling, viewing websites, or anything that is beyond the most fundamental internet load, is very low-use and sometimes practically non-existent (except in certain commercial realms where there is wealth).
And now that networks are overloaded with school video classes, internet trickles at a time when it’s a primary resource for social interaction and partcipation. Writing this one post takes over an hour, as there are long delays in website loadings, saving pages, obtaining links from YouTube - a lot of steps that move quickly in the States but delay for minutes on end here. (The videos I’m posting took all night to upload.) Uploading one single photos can take one minute, or 15 minutes. And then there are the interruptions in service that happen throughout the day and last from several to 10 minutes.
My situation is not unique. Most of the world - by population - is in a similar situation. I do have access to a decent-sized property with other people, and there’s some less strickness on lockdown in the country here. But there are many living without those benefits, in a strict lock down unable to leave their homes, and with poor internet access. So, please remember us …
I’m also finding that there is not much activity or response from subscribers on this website, which, given its much larger workload to post and update, makes it I think less useful for reaching and connecting with people. This is why I am moving more of my activity away from this site and to Facebook, where there is much more interaction and engagement for a lot less work. You can find me here: https://www.facebook.com/jerome.kiley.9/
Please note in the comments if you’re still interested in engaging with these posts on this website. I’ll listen to your feedback in the comments section, and that will help me to choose the right platform going forward. Thank you.
-Jerome
Update on Food in the Desert videos
After some feedback and reflection, I’ve updated the Food in the Desert videos in a few ways:
I split the original video into 2 naturally separated parts, to make viewing easier. Each part ends with a few general questions for reflection.
I’ve added another scripture reflection example from the Gospel of John
I’m including the videos here in English and Spanish.
I hope to make more videos of more examples from the Gospels.
Preparing these is very time-consuming as you might imagine. First is making the Powerpoint presentation, second is finding a good space to record, third is to record through the presentation, fourth is to post-process with editing in a video editor, fifth is to produce the huge final file, and sixth is to upload to YouTube. So, being in quarantine gives me some time to produce these, which can be useful at any time and for most anyone, and are an important sharing of a key part of the spirituality that I live and promote.
So, enjoy: