Roman Catholic Monsignor Christian Pereira has lamented that too many people in T&T are rejoicing over the pain of others by spreading bad news.
He was speaking at the annual New Year Eve's mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help RC Church on Wednesday night. The mass, which ended an hour before midnight, was lauded by scores of worshippers. Pereira urged the congregation to focus on spreading good news and blessings rather than spreading curses.
" Our society is riddled with the false adventures of people who wait for a piece of gossip and make it their business to share that gossip especially if it is a nice juicy story about bad things," Pereira said.
"We take it upon ourselves to spread curses, spread bad news, spread terrible stories and it has become a sad connection of our modern civilization that instead of taking joy in sharing something good, we are always quick to say something bad," he added. Pereira said there was some perverse joy that people had about sharing gossip.
"When we share something bad about somebody we enjoy the multiplication of bad news. We take pride and joy in making sure that many people know about the pain and disasters and curses that have fallen on some people," Pereira said. He urged the congregation to give thanks for their blessings.
"All blessings are from God and God's blessings are for all. And when we fail to recognise God's blessings or the blessings that God gives us we find ourselves tied to curses. Even in those difficult moments you and I are called on to focus on the blessings that God has bestowed on us so that while the curses are real it allows us to go through these realities," Pereira said. He added that the blessings of God are shared and repeated.
"There was a joy in seeing the birth of a child . We must find a way to share that blessings with others. We must share good news. Let us share our blessings and find a reason to praise God," Pereira said.