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Three new underground lakes have been found on Mars. Of course, the report links this new find to renewed hope about life elsewhere in the solar system. Are we alone in the universe? The fear of being alone, together with faint pride at being unique, goes right to the heart of our humanity. The first story with developed characters in the Bible is a story of loneliness and connection. A human being is created, from the ground and the breath of God, at one with their environment, communicating with animals, friend with God. None of that is enough. The human being was alone, and lonely. They needed a companion , like and unlike them, to fulfil a need that not even God could meet. Loneliness pervades our experience of the pandemic. Those who are shielding, those we want to protect the most, bear the cost of our love through being unable to touch, hug or just sit down for a cup of tea with anyone but those they live with. Social distancing is hard for everyone, and there is only so much that zoom or phone calls can do. Not that human beings always love company. You just have to see the desperate attempts to keep a little private space on public transport, trying not to make eye contact. Yet deprive us of our normal daily interactions, and life seems to lose its colour. Companionship and intimacy allows human beings to see themselves reflected in someone else’s eyes; knowing better who they are and who they are not, taking their place into a wider system of significance. Human interactions invites us to be part of something bigger, it offers us a place in the universe. In contrast, lack of connection eats away at our humanity. Yet, right now, many are forced into increased loneliness for the benefit of all, but particularly those who are most vulnerable. The question is, when does the balance tip so that loneliness becomes more damaging than risk? Mother Teresa once said, ‘loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty’. Fortunately, it is poverty that does not cost much to relieve. What it costs is intention, looking out for one another, and the will to reach out. In the Bible story of creation, God saw the human was lonely, and God reached out. Recognising those who are lonely, truly seeing them, recognising loneliness in ourselves, is the first step. Then we see that loneliness is something we share, something that isn’t alien, but deep within most of us. And then, then we can reach out, and break the pattern.