20/07/2015

Good morning. My mother ran a model agency and worked full time when I was growing up, so I spent a large amount of my time with my grandmother, whom we all called Nana.
Nana was born in 1909. Her father was an officer in the Royal Navy and her mother was a dress maker – making dresses for the ladies of court. She lived until she was 100 years old, and saw in her lifetime extraordinary technological change – from the advent of cars and roads, to electricity into her home; from aeroplanes and rocket ships, to televisions and computers. She also saw enormous social change. She recalls at age 11 the whole street coming out to see a man in a turban – a member of the British Indian Army - walk past, yet as she grew older she embraced all people regardless of race, colour or creed.
She was also a profoundly spiritual woman, who drew from a deep religious well. From her I learnt to pray, and I learnt a rich religious vocabulary. Words such as Grace, humility, self-sacrifice, redemption, character, virtue, faith, forgiveness, transformation, were part of our everyday conversations. They were part of everyday life, not a thing apart; they were part of her explaining how to live, not some school Religious Studies lesson.
The American writer David Brooks has, amongst others, written of the absence of a moral and religious language amongst young people. If it is one’s vocabulary which allows one to think, then some young people may well have their moral, religious and spiritual experience limited by an absence of words.
Our Lord, give us the words to be able to think of You and Your Will for us. Grant us the language to know You, and to live in a manner pleasing to You. Ameen.