In it together

hursday 12th November, 2020

Our Parish priest retired ten days ago and we have had locums visiting on a Sunday. It also means that there are no weekday Eucharists. However a lay member of the Parish organises an half hour of silence on a Thursday morning. This morning six of us turned up. Yes, one could be silent at home but there is something supportive in a communal time together. Certainly I am easily distracted when attempting to pray on my own at home and find the presence of others in a common purpose very helpful. It might seem odd to many simply to sit silently together with others in the presence of a Consecrated Host. To the Roman Catholic it is known as Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. To some this may even be superstition or blasphemy or idiocy or foolhardiness but to us it is an act of worship.

I find it deeply moving. I feel I am part of something bigger, something shared. I left and moved on to a Charity Sale. So many charities are in need of funding and the local village has a Communal Hall run on donations and funds raised. It does great work and is much used. There were only two people there in a large hall full of items for sale. I found I bought only bread! As the Manageress of the Hall said ' thank you for coming. It makes one feel the Community are on side'.

Later in the afternoon as I prepared for my walk I popped in to the library. Again there was one other visitor. The Librarian is a very active member of the village ever aware of the needs of others. On two occasions she has helped me in a profound way. It was almost deja vu when she thanked me for coming and commented that it was nice to have support.

These are lonely times. I like aloneness and I like silence but I also realise we are a Community and without each other it would indeed be a frightening and isolated experience and atmosphere. It just struck home that I relished the support of others in my prayer time. Others relished my presence when they were doing 'their thing'.

If only we could treat the world as one Community, as one people with our needs for and of each other perhaps it would be a less scary and lonely planet at times. As we all know ' a trouble shared is a trouble halved'. Let's try to share the world and work for each other. It has been a special day. Not only noting and being grateful for others but also grateful for a warm sunny day. In fact just brilliant.