My mother was a human praying mantis. She was convinced that God had given her five children so she could allocate to each of her children one decade of the rosary when we knelt around our parents' bed for night prayer. She was a firm believer that the family that prayed together, stayed together.Another thing I remember about my mother's nightly prayer ritual was that she always urged us to pray for priests.
She said because priests had dedicated their lives to doing God's work, they were subject to a great deal of temptation from the evil one.I recall her saying that sometimes they do not speak for themselves, but the evil one speaks through them and when that happens, we must forgive them.I had cause to remember my deceased mother's words at Sunday mass in St Vincent on Sunday, July 20.
There I was, listening to the sermon when I heard the priest talk of a prominent citizen who had been locked up in his car trunk. He wanted to know if Vincentians were imitating Trinidadians now. I was so shocked that I immediately retorted: "Excuse me."Some members of the congregation looked at me. I thought what a different experience I had had at mass in Dominica when a priest had asked the congregation to stand and pray the Lord's blessings on me for my work in child rights in the Caribbean.
At the end of the mass, when the commentator asked if there were any visitors, my colleague, an American jurist, and I stood up and were warmly welcomed to St Vincent. We were not asked what country we were from. I felt it incumbent on me to speak, so after all the other greetings, I stood up and thanked the congregation for the warm welcome.
I revealed that I was from T&T, the country which they had been advised not to imitate, and that I wished to remind the congregation that T&T was also the country from which their Bishop Rivas had come.The congregation burst into applause. After mass, one parishioner reminded me that we had given St Vincent not one bishop, but two, as Bishop Gordon, the present Bishop, was also a Trinidadian.Another parishioner revealed that she was surprised that that priest had said what he did, because he was from Jamaica.
Hazel Thompson-Ahye,
via e-mail