Just being

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Spiritual reflection with Ronnie Convery, Director of Communications for the Catholic Archdiocese of Glasgow. Script: Hello and good morning to you. One of the more interesting things I do every now and again is to translate books and articles from Italian into English. It’s a satisfying task usually. Though sometimes it can raise a dilemma or two. One example is the Italian word ‘Magari’ which can be translated as ‘perhaps’ or ‘who knows’ or ‘if only’ or best of all ‘would that it were so’. Obviously the correct translation depends on the context. Of course, there are English words that give problems too … have you ever thought of how difficult it is for someone learning English to pronounce the letters ‘ough’? It could be ‘uff’ as in tough It could be ‘’o’ as in though It could be ‘oo’ as in through Or even ‘ow’ as in plough … and there are more! I sometimes wonder how learners ever manage to speak good English! Translation is really all about ‘meaning’. About transmitting something – an idea, an image, a question – from one person to another. But there are certain things that are sometimes best transmitted without words… things like understanding, sympathy, solidarity… When it comes to expressing support for a bereaved person or encouragement for someone living in difficulty, we can find that words fail us, and what’s really needed is an understanding smile, or a nod of the head or a pat on the arm. Sometimes we can be put off helping a person in need because we just ‘don’t know what to say’. If that’s the case, then probably we shouldn’t say anything at all. We should just be… Often ‘being present’ is the greatest gift you can give someone in need. It’s a concept that doesn’t need words to express it… and it never needs translation. So our prayer today might be that we will never leave someone suffering in silence just because we ‘don’t know what to say’. Amen.