PAUSE FOR THOUGHT
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Monsignor Robert Draper, Church of the Sacred Heart and St Aldhelm
o, have you managed to find a way to smile when wearing a mask? When you pass a neighbour (perhaps still socially-distanced), you have probably worked out that it has to be a firm look and nod and raising of eyebrows – that’s how you show that you recognise the other and do so in a friendly way. I have been fascinated by how people acknowledge one another when the usual ways have been restricted. I noticed when hugs were again permitted, they tended to be somewhat tentative but there was a renewed genuineness. I am sure we all have countless stories about what has happened over this last year and a half, but I find the most interesting ones are about how our ways of communicating have adapted and changed. Close relationships kept up entirely through email and telephone, and, of course, endless zoom encounters, the equivalent on social apps – lots for work and lots for socialising, and I am sure we all learned quite quickly how to manage the technology, even if we did not think we would ever need to get around to it. That, of course, is because we all suddenly realised that whatever else was going to happen, we still wanted to communicate. I know we can often give the impression – or get the impression from others – that by and large most of us are self-sufficient and can take care of ourselves. But that is not true and never has been. One of the first things said about humanity in the Bible is significant: ‘It is not good for man to be alone’ (Genesis 2.18). Human beings are – by nature – social beings, we belong to one another, and an essential element of that is communicating with one another. That is why this time of pandemic has been so hard – we have not had the usual ways of communicating. But because it matters, we have all of us, I am sure, developed new ways of doing so. I have been struck by how what would normally be a very limited encounter – in a shop or over the phone, now feels different. I am sure I am not imagining it, but both myself and the other person seem to have a real encounter, not just a business transaction – one person encountering another person. It seems we make more of an effort because we know deep down that it matters – that we have a need to communicate. But it is communication at a much deeper level that has also emerged. We have always been polite and interested in one another, but the pandemic and the lockdowns have also produced an extraordinary amount of care and concern. Of people going out of their way to help others, to meet needs and offer help. This ‘love of neighbour’ is something real and tangible; it is communication at a much deeper level. We could almost call it communion – the idea that we actually belong together and together belong to the one ‘who holds all things in being’.
130 | Sherborne Times | July 2021
