All for a better quality of life – Nov 25 |
By Vernon Khelawan The upcoming national prayer vigil to be held at the Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain on December 7, is in keeping with the recent declaration of the Year of Faith, which began last October 11. In declaring the Year of Faith, Pope Benedict XVI, said, “Faith grows when it is lived as an experience of love received and communicated as an experience of grace and joy.” Based on the Pope’s statement, this prayer vigil will allow Roman Catholics in this Archdiocese to publicly profess the strong belief in their faith while living out a most Catholic experience and through it bring home to the people of Trinidad and Tobago the need for prayer and repentance. The event, in itself, will also serve, in a very practical way, the Synod mandate of the Second Pastoral Priority of Revitalising Catholic Culture and Identity. Public profession of the Catholic faithful has never been a problem in Trinidad and Tobago. Living examples are the annual Fatima Devotions at Laventille, an event that is closing in on 70 years; the annual Corpus Christi procession in downtown Port of Spain, which is even older; the Lenten practice of the Stations of the Cross in many parishes throughout the country and the many pilgrimages that take place every weekend all over the Archdiocese. All very tangible, public expressions of the Catholic faith. The vigil is meant to present the community as one body before God, in united prayer asking for His forgiveness and mercy. The vigil secretariat stated, “God’s word reminds us that ‘if two of you on earth agree to ask anything in my name, it will be granted by my Father in heaven’” (Mt 18:19). Given the main reason behind the organisation of the all-night national prayer vigil, it is expected that the Lord would be praised and worshipped by an overwhelming crowd of Catholics, all eager to profess their faith publicly in the hope and faith that the exercise would bring a better quality of life to the entire country. |
Last Updated on Friday, 30 November 2012 13:04 |