Strive for peace by removing ‘covering of fear’

YEARS ago, I found the record of a letter written by an elderly priest to the young daughter of an Italian count. Dated 1513, the elderly priest wrote: “Life is so generous a giver but we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering, and you will find beneath it a living splendour, woven of love, by wisdom, with power.”

The current prognosis for 2025 is hardly encouraging. Military belligerence between Russia and Ukraine shows no signs of concluding. Conflict in the Middle East shows no mercy for the dispossessed while polarising strife, both home and abroad, shows little chance of détente.

Despite the joys of summer sunshine, an end to the exam season and vacations in the offing, much within our consciousness will remain “ugly or heavy or hard”. So, Mister elderly priest, where is the covering that we may remove to find the hidden living splendour?

The armed conflict in Ukraine continues unabated, yet the recent prisoner swap, itself a hopeful sign of humanity among combatants, for a short while removed the ugly covering of conflict and exposed human joy, albeit alongside human anguish.

The joy of receiving loved ones home, once feared dead, was countered by the anguish of those never to see their loved ones again. Yet in the midst of such conflicting emotions, those in anguish were often comforted by the stranger, cared for by neighbours. In the midst of human misery was compassion – a compassion that stood firm, tenacious in adversity, an oft-hidden living splendour.

Current conflicts may not threaten our very existence, yet loss of faith through fear certainly threatens communal tranquillity. We need to “remove the covering” of fear, openly seeking to understand the nature of conflict and the manner in which such may be resolved.

We need faith in our own ability to overcome our own fears, whether from social disruption, political strife, territorial conflict, even fear of the foreigner. In all our diversity and cussedness, are we not all the children of the living God?

By removing “the covering” of fear may we celebrate the living splen-
dour of the oft-times decadent human species through our own capacity for compassion; to love tenderly and so become instruments of His peace.