Fear can terrorise us and make monsters of us too

Below is the 'Thinking Anew' column in today's Irish Times.

Michael Commane
It’s more or less a cliché at this stage, nevertheless, the sentence from the inaugural presidential address of Franklin D Roosevelt in 1933 is loaded with a wisdom that stands the test of time:

"So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is ... fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyses needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

Fear plays a useful role in all our lives. It gives us a sense of protecting ourselves against imminent harm. It would be an unwise person who would place his or her hand in a roaring fire and reasonable parents will always keep a close eye on their young children. Fear prompts us all to protect ourselves and those close to us from danger.

But there is also a fear that terrorises us, as Roosevelt alluded to in his famous speech. And that sort of fear can so easily paralyse us.The people who caused the mayhem in Brussels in Holy Week have created a terrible sense of fear across Europe. And that's part of the purpose in their actions. They want to frighten us and they have frightened us.

It's more or less the same with demagogues. They make great efforts to cause fear in their listeners. Donald Trump in a speech he gave to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee assured his listeners that he would have no hesitation in destroying the enemies of Israel if they put one foot wrong.

It was a carefully crafted speech, in which he stoked up fear. He read it from a teleprompter and all the time pandering to the fear of the Jewish community who worry about their security.

None of us wants to be placed in danger. If we live comfortable lives, then we want to remain secure in our comfort. And once that comfort is threatened we are susceptible in a way that is most unpleasant. We can turn nasty. The goodness in us can so easily be paralysed.

Fear can make monsters of us. It can make us the pawns of powerful demagogues. And it can also make us far too slow to accept any sort of positive or worthwhile development in our lives. 

In the years after the Second Vatican Council there was a tangible atmosphere evident that the Catholic Church was about to experience a new sense of the presence of God in the world.

Of course that particular generation, like all generations has no exclusive rights to anything, including wisdom.

In many ways that sense of new horizons beckoning 'failed' and a younger and newer generation has cast scorn on that earlier vision. 

Especially in priesthood. Many younger priests today consider Vatican Two priests to have failed the church and so there is the temptation on their part to revert to pre-Vatican Two ways in an effort to make the Christian message more plausible. But surely such a retrenchment is the child of fear?

These days ministers of religion are too easily inclined to cast scorn on the secular world. Was the world not always a secular place? And is that criticism of the secular world not also created and driven by fear?

People who are truly Christian will work away and live out their Christianity in the now, all the time believing that irrational and unfounded fear or anything close to fear is simply a waste of time.

In tomorrow's Gospel John tells the reader that the disciples were so afraid they cowered behind closed doors. But the mood changes when Jesus appears in their midst. He talks about enhancing their lives with the power of the Holy Spirit and that life is to be found by believing in his name.

Should our belief in God not be powerful enough to rid us of any whiff of fear? Surely it's a matter of getting on with it and living in the now. All the time relaxing in wonder at God's creation.