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Good morning. Today is Diwali – and will be celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains throughout the world. But, not as usual. Here in the UK, families & religious institutions are working out how to best celebrate this annual occasion within the responsibility to protect each other and wider society. I’ll visit the temple in Cardiff tomorrow – but for only 15 minutes without the ceremonies and congregational singing we normally enjoy. A greater blow is missing the excitement of the hospitality and warmth and embrace of visiting relatives and friends. Often, Hindu families who lose a family member leading up to Diwali, do not feel it can be a ‘Happy Diwali’ that year. This time round, there are so many more families missing a loved one at the dining table – perhaps someone around whom their Diwali season has always centred. But Hindu texts remind us that if we cannot do all of the usual festive celebrations, visits and religious observances – we can compensate by a deeper and more thoughtful expression of the things we can do. Devotion, it’s said, lies not in the casual performance of various rituals – rather it is found in the meditative contemplation of the meaning and purpose behind such activities. There is a Sanskrit word – shraddha – which is commonly translated as faith. But it’s not faith as belief in something. ‘Shraddha’ means ‘that to which our heart is drawn’. Each of us may hold some core factor or principle to which we are drawn for comfort in dark times. For some it’s the Divine to whom they express their fears; and from where they find hope and strength to persevere. Many Hindus know the story of how Hanuman – the dedicated servant of Rama and Sita – was challenged that he seemed disinterested with their present to him of a valuable ornament. He explained that just knowing of their joy was itself more valuable than any gift. Famously, he was willing to rip open his chest to prove that Rama and Sita were always present in his heart. Perhaps, ordinarily, we over-rely on the outward casual expressions of gifts, food and well wishes as our way of acknowledging those we care about. I think these times of enforced distancing from friends and loved-ones call us to be more demonstrative – to make up for the missing externals. Maybe we can’t physically be with our families – but we can declare our affection, gratitude and love much more boldly. Because, whatever the circumstances, whatever the restrictions– there is nothing that can stop us opening up our hearts. I wish you all a blessed Diwali.