Watching and listening to the news reports of this marvellous intervention, and to the interviews with members of the surgical team, expressing their awe at what they had achieved, I found myself wondering about our connections with one another.

The twins had to be separated in order to survive.  Their physical union was not compatible with the independent living necessary for human life.  And yet, we need one another.  We cannot live alone.  Our independence – to be healthy and meaningful – requires an interdependence, a connection with others and the world around us.

Having been separated physically, the twins  are now free to enjoy and develop the bonds of kinship, friendship and those that come through sharing the gifts of creation.  These are spiritual bonds that must be strengthened and maintained.  Our spiritual togetherness is the vital connection we cannot do without.  If our focus is exclusively, or even mostly on what is physical in our relationships, we will wither and die.

The connections that matter are the ones that enable us to share ourselves with others, to contribute to life around us, to develop and use our own gifts, and to draw in the beauty,  strength and wisdom that abound in creation.  Such connections bring fulfilment and ensure life goes on.  These were the connections that brought a highly skilled team together this week and enabled a surgical procedure to be so life-giving.

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