“Every Christian is sent to be an apostle of unity, of hope and of salvation…There is a danger that many will ask – ‘What can I do’? But if only members of the Church both as individuals and in cooperation with others would stand up for Christian principles, practising and insisting upon justice, practising the self-sacrificing love Christ asked of us, denouncing corruption and partiality, it would be amazing how much would be achieved.” (AEC Bishops – True Freedom and Development in the Caribbean – A Christian perspective – 1982).
After all these years this short 20-page document remains relevant to us Catholics as we seek to read the signs of the times during this Easter season. When I was in London recently, my friend, Sr Monica Tywang, and I browsed through this and other AEC documents produced over the years. We must thank God for sending us discerning bishops in our region and in the world.
I ask your prayers for Sr Monica who had to cancel her planned trip to T&T due to illness. In our Church there are many, like Sr Monica, who work selflessly in the communities in which they live. Sr Monica’s name is synonymous with the Caribbean community in the UK, with Notting Hill Carnival, with the Caribbean pilgrimage to Walsingham, with the annual Mary Seacole celebration and so on.
The section in the above document that relates to Governments and Human Rights reminded me of some of the words uttered by Archbishop Harris recently, when he urged leaders to serve people with humility. In the 1982 document, the AEC Bishops, in their focus on Caribbean Governments, said:
“…we commend those who have given dedicated political service to their countries in the face of great odds. These are true servants of their countries and worthy of the highest praise. But, unfortunately, too many of those who have entered politics have been far more intent on personal gain than on serving the people. Consequently a number of politicians have fallen far short of what we expected of them with great damage to their countries. We have clear examples in the region of those who exercise the role of government riding roughshod over human rights.”
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Christ has risen and lives among us. We must let Him work in and through us to transform our wounded world.
While I was in London I was invited to tea by T&T-born author, Lakshmi Persaud, and her husband, Bishnodat Persaud, an economist. Lakshmi will be coming to T&T at the end of April to launch her fifth novel: Daughters of the Empire. Her other novels are: Butterfly in the Wind (1990), Sastra (1993), For the Love of My Name (2000), and Raise the Lanterns High (2004). Her novels “explore gender, race, power and politics, using a combination of drama, romance and humour”. Her novels are studied in literature courses at universities in the USA, Canada, UK, and UWI. Extracts from her novels have been used in English exams in the Caribbean. T&T and the Caribbean have produced some really talented people.
During our discussions, Lakshmi, who is Hindu, told me that as a young child she loved going to Sunday school in Tunapuna – just to receive cards with Jesus’ image on it. She always made sure that she got a card on which Jesus’ image was covered with glitter. In fact, she said, once she was given a card on which there was no glitter on Jesus’ image and she handed it back to the teacher.
What is your image of God? Do you see the risen Christ in all those around you? In nature? In yourself? The image of the wounded Christ in today’s Gospel (John 20:19-31), should remind us of the challenges we face as we seek to implement our Archdiocese’s Mission to build a civilisation of love. Fr George Smiga rightly links Jesus’ wounds to the many real physical wounds in our world—“wounds of sickness and violence, of prejudice…of poverty and war. Our mission is not to escape the world but to confront the evil of the world and to bring God’s love and kingdom into the lives of the flesh and blood brothers and sisters with whom we share this planet.”
In today’s Gospel Jesus says to His disciples gathered in the locked room: “Peace be with you.” May the Peace of Christ rule in our hearts and fill the world.
