KEVON FELMINE

kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

What lit­tle Car­ni­val sea­son there was is now over and as Chris­tians en­ter the Lenten sea­son Ro­man Catholic Arch­bish­op Ja­son Gor­don is call­ing on cit­i­zens to re­flect on the vi­o­lence in their hearts.

It is on­ly the sec­ond month of 2021, yet the coun­try is reel­ing from a heinous mur­der and nu­mer­ous trag­ic blood­shed.

As he de­liv­ered Ash Wednes­day mass at the Pro-Cathe­dral of our La­dy of Per­pet­u­al Help in San Fer­nan­do yes­ter­day, Gor­don said if cit­i­zens were liv­ing a right­eous life, the na­tion would not be in its cur­rent state.

He said it was as sim­ple as peo­ple lis­ten­ing to the way they com­mu­ni­cate with each oth­er, even on so­cial me­dia. He said vi­o­lence comes out of peo­ple’s mouth, even in the fam­i­ly set­ting.

Gor­don said the fam­i­ly is sup­posed to be the school of love and the first place chil­dren learn Chris­tian­i­ty.

He said, “Our hurt­ful words in­side of fam­i­lies is re­al­ly a cry of dis­tress, is not it? And even when mom and dad are hav­ing dis­agree­ments, the lev­el of those dis­agree­ments in front of the chil­dren. The chil­dren start hear­ing words of harm and hate and vi­o­lence from ever so young. That breeds a na­tion that where vi­o­lence be­comes part of a par­cel of the na­tion and the fab­ric of the na­tion. That breeds peo­ple whose hearts are turned out­wards to­ward vi­o­lence and against God.”

Gor­don said he cringes when­ev­er he hears a child tell a par­ent ‘I hate you’ as words have con­se­quences.

He said the dis­re­spect heard on na­tion­al ra­dio and tele­vi­sion, for each oth­er and high of­fices as erod­ing the fab­ric and soul of our so­ci­ety. 

A prayer, fast­ing and sac­ri­fice are the main fea­tures of Lent, he called on every­one to pray to God that fam­i­lies re­turn to be­ing the schools of love, that peo­ple re­place vi­o­lence in their hearts with an out­pour­ing of love and that cit­i­zens will give alms to those in need.

It was the first time in prob­a­bly 80 years that T&T has not grand­ly cel­e­brat­ed Car­ni­val.

Ac­cord­ing to Gor­don, it means the coun­try com­mem­o­rat­ed Ash Wednes­day like the rest of the world, with­out a Car­ni­val Mon­day and Tues­day rev­el­ry on the streets. He said Car­ni­val ex­ists be­cause Ash Wednes­day is a day of na­tion­al re­pen­tance.

“It is the day when the whole com­mu­ni­ty is called to ask for­give­ness for how we as a peo­ple have lived our lives. It is ask­ing for­give­ness for the way that we have not done what God has called us to do. It is ask­ing for­give­ness for the way in which we as a church have not been the wit­ness and the light that this na­tion ought to have had,” Gor­don said.

He said it is al­so recog­nis­ing that par­ents were not the shin­ing ex­am­ple to their chil­dren while spous­es did not live as they should.

“Broth­ers and sis­ters, if we were liv­ing as we ought to live, the na­tion could nev­er be where it is right now,” he said.