rishard.khan@guardian.co.tt
There needs to be more emphasis placed on having a meaningful presence to those around us.
This was the advice from Vicar General Father Martin Sirju, to hundreds of worshippers in his homily during the first Corpus Christi Mass and procession through the capital since the pandemic began over two years ago.
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Independence Square in Port-of-Spain was filled to capacity for the mass which included representatives of over half a dozen schools from Port-of-Spain and environs.
“You must know and be real about your presence to others,” Father Sirju said as he asked congregants to evaluate the kind of presence they have to those in their life.
“When we look at family life, are husbands really present with their wives? Are wives really present to your husband? Because when the husband is not present to the wife enough she might go and get a sweet man outside and when the wife is not present to the husband he might go and get a sweet woman outside,” he said.
Acolytes lead the procession out of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception after the Corpus Christi Mass, which was followed by the procession through the streets of Port-of-Spain yesterday.
EDIDON BOODOOSINGH
“Presence. Sincere, genuine presence is very important for family life.”
He said if it’s missing, it could lead to some of the concerning issues currently being witnessed in the news. He said if parents are not spending the necessary meaningful time with children to offer guidance when needed or address cries for help, it could result in violent outbursts.
“They are crying out for help and we cannot read that help because we are so caught up with work or the business of the day. We are not present to our children. We are not present to their tender bodies crying out for guidance in this confusing world of gender flexibility and so we need to be, my dear friends, more present to our children, more present to our children in education,” he said.
“When a child feels unloved, uncared for, uneducated, cannot read, cannot write that leads to low self-esteem. What else would you expect but violence? Violence if not to self but to others.”
Father Martin Sirju is sheltered while he walks along Charlotte Street during the Corpus Christi procession in Port-of-Spain yesterday.
EDISON BOODOSINGH
However, it does not stop there. Father Sirju also urged people to consider their presence on the planet.
“The wine and the wheat, the grape where does it come from? It comes from the earth and this Eucharistic bread is therefore connected to the planted,” he said.
“This Eucharistic bread we throw out into the world also reminds us that we have to take care of planet Earth. The Hindus are right and they used the term long before Catholics—the Earth is mother. If we treat Earth as mother, well then the Earth will, in turn, will treat us well.”
Following the mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the hundreds of congregants took to the streets to make their way through East Port-of-Spain.
The procession went west along Independence Square South, then turned north onto Henry Street and proceeded up to Park Street before turning east and then onto Charlotte Street.
Father Martin Sirju leads the Corpus Christi Procession along Charlotte Street, Port-of-Spain yesterday.
EDISON BOODOOSING
It had intended to turn onto Nelson Street towards Piccadilly Street but police did not allow this to take place and as the rains came down, the procession continued down Charlotte Street and back to the cathedral where the march ended.
