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Good morning. So far 2020 hasn’t turned out as most of us would have planned and we’ve all had to reassess what we mean by the very word ‘normal’. I was wondering, then, whether its coincidence or providence that Catholics in England and Wales are also  marking a year-long celebration called ‘The God Who Speaks’, focussing on the Bible – God’s word.
The thing I find about the Bible is that it seems so well-known, that many of us are confident we already know everything it says and means. So I was really pleased when a group of about 30 parishioners decided to read the whole book afresh in 366 days. 
We’ve become so gripped by the biblical stories and characters. It’s not that anyone is coming across them for the first time, but somehow the act of deliberately reading from start to finish means there’s new depth and new insight to be discovered in words we thought we already knew.
I think our reading group is finding out again the truth that things appear different when we look at them in a new light, even if they’re old and familiar. Of course, that doesn’t just apply to reading the Bible. During the lockdown, social distancing and isolation have forced us to find creative ways to do what used to be easy and ‘normal’. 
Maybe then, we can use this enforced physical separation to help us look at our lives and the people in them in new light and perhaps even to discover new depth and meaning in the old familiar phrases: ‘How are you doing?’ ‘Can I help?’ and perhaps, most powerfully of all, ‘I love you.’
Lord God, speak your words to us today. Open our minds and hearts that we may hear you and truly listen to each other. Help those who seek you to find you and inspire us to reach out to the lonely and the isolated. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.