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Good morning. In recent years, there has been a sharp decline in the public’s appetite for news. Last week’s Reuters Institute report said that more than a third of people say they actively avoid it, especially the weighty stuff, in order to protect their mental health. I know that reflex well. Sometimes I am simultaneously both compelled and repelled by relentless news. Occasionally, my instinct is to unplug completely. Do any of us have a duty to pay attention to it, even if the Washington Post’s Phil Graham once called it ‘the rough first draft of history’? Perhaps not. Is there any point making yourself depressed by doomscrolling through endless bad news? Then I think of the words of the Christian mystic Simone Weil: ‘Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.’ For Weil, attention is at the very heart of Christian vocation. It is something a Christian should cultivate so that they notice what is really going on for themselves, others, and the world. She suggests it is a habit we can acquire which helps us be still and engage hopefully with even the world’s worst aspects, without being destroyed by it. The relentlessness of the news cycle makes such focus difficult. Nonetheless, Weil offers, I think, a strategy to sift and assess. By seeking to still myself when the latest political bombshell drops, I find I can better attend to the human stories and complexities that lie beneath. In John’s Gospel, Jesus says to the crowds who follow after him, ‘Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.’ If this invitation was originally made to those unsure about his trustworthiness, I think it can apply as much to the present as we seek to make up our minds about how to respond to twenty-four hour news. Jesus’s words indicate that sound judgment requires insight and reflection. Some of what I’ve said about Weil’s approach might make her sound like she commends a form of intellectual coolness, verging on disengagement. She also says, ‘Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love.’ I think she means that when we still ourselves and really attend to our fellow human beings and the tough realities behind news headlines, for example, we will be moved to respond with compassion; We will want to be more engaged with the world rather than less. I find that quite an idea: imagine if, by giving greater attention to the news, we might become more loving rather than less.