A Need for Peace

Important insights don't always come out of our local Chapter gatherings, but yesterday we fell to talking about the upcoming referendum. Charles, curate at a church not far away, was born in Nigeria and served a while at Glasgow's Anglican Cathedral. He was there during the Scottish Referendum campaign, and was reminded of his own native Biafran struggle for independence from the rest of Nigeria. 'The Sunday after the result, I was so surprised by the depth of emotion people felt, no matter which side they'd been on', he said. 'People in the cathedral were in tears. We need to be prepared for that this time. There have been so many lies told in the campaign, and so much personal nastiness, on both sides. There will be a need for reconciliation.'

He is absolutely right. No matter what happens on June 23rd (and no matter what God would prefer to happen, if he has any preference), there is actually an act of reparation required. I certainly feel that, whatever the rights and wrongs of the matter, there has been deep and profound evil abroad which can't simply be left. What we do - exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and a time of prayer, perhaps - remains to be seen, but this poisoning of the spirit requires we do something.