蜜芽传媒

Good morning.

I recently decided to take up swimming 鈥� I鈥檓 not a great swimmer, but I hear that it鈥檚 good for the whole body. I found my local pool online, and got up early one morning to go there. I don鈥檛 know about you, but new things like this 鈥� as small as they seem 鈥� can make me more anxious than familiar things, even if those ones are more complex. It can feel easier to stay within what we know: veering from this demands new internal 鈥榤uscles鈥�. I arrived at the leisure centre, ready to be congratulated for my dawning bravery: only to find that there were no people behind the desk, but only screens, on which to scan in. I didn鈥檛 know I needed to book ahead using an app! With the morning slots already filled up, I could only turn around and go home.

This stung. I鈥檓 a relatively young man, and as a priest my current role involves working with young people each day 鈥� so I like to think I鈥檓 fairly literate in the world of tech. But to be thwarted by a computer in this way felt frustrating, and silencing.

Ultimately, this is no big deal 鈥� I鈥檝e now learned for next time how to book a slot at the pool. But it gave me thought to people, young and old, who for whatever reason can be isolated in a world that has become mediated by screens. Pope John Paul II once said, 鈥渢he body鈥� and only the body, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine.鈥� When we remove each other from a situation, we remove the soul of that other, and we鈥檙e prevented from a moment of encounter, which we so need 鈥� even just to say, 鈥榩lease can I go swimming鈥�. In a world of ultra-connectivity, we each need to make an effort to seek real and deep connection with the people around us 鈥� let鈥檚 resolve to begin with those around us today.

Lord,
you have made us in your image.
Help us to know what a gift our humanity is,
and allow it to be seen by others.
Amen.