G7 Summit, Euros 20, The signs are there that normality is on the horizon. And yet the news of rampant Variants causes us to pause. Are we heading for another wave? I tend to feel a mixture of both optimism and caution. Notice I purposely don’t use the word pessimism. “It is the absence of facts that frightens people: the gap you open into which they pour out their fears, fantasies and desires.” Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall. And yet, there seems an innate strength in people that amazes me. Yes, there are issues associated with these unprecedented times such as real mental and financial hardship, but that innate decency has risen to the surface wonderfully. I see it in the parish. I see it in our schools. I see it in the ordinariness of a daily walk. My one main concern – even at parish level – is that unease I feel at a growing sense of outright hostility towards the Other! The obvious targets are there, but what of the less obvious? “Pure love and suspicion cannot dwell together: at the door where the latter enters, the former makes an exit.” Alexander Dumas. Whether we agree with this or not, there is no exception in our Faith to living the former. There are pedlars in non-facts out there. “Religions are diverse, but reason and goodness are one."
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