“World Experiencing A Re-Creation” Archbishop Says

By Kaelanne Jordan
Email: mediarelations.camsel@catholictt.org
Twitter: @kaelanne1

In the midst of the accelerating death toll of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the “terrible fixation” on all that is happening around the world, the Lord is “smiling” on us today with readings of hope and readings that speak of a “new beginning”.

So said, Archbishop Jason Gordon in his homily as he celebrated Mass virtually on, Monday (March 23), the Fourth Week of Lent at Archbishop’s Chapel.

The Archbishop foretold that similar to the gospel passage of John 9: 1-41 “…now I create a new Heaven and a new earth and the past will not be remembered and will come no more to men’s minds…” so too the world is now experiencing a re-creation, “the pangs of birth, the pain of child labour”, because God is creating something new.

If we want to be part of this new creation, Archbishop Gordon said, then we have to see where the hand of God is and respond through faith to His desire and His invitation to be part of this new Heaven and earth.

“We will see a new civilisation emerge. We will see family life in a different way and we will see new opportunities for hope and faith and grace and love and life, and we will see a better Trinidad and Tobago, and we will see a better Catholic Church,” he said.

He however warned, if persons continue all the things which they are accustomed doing, and not turning to God then we will have the same “old hell” we had before.

The Archbishop commented on the gospel reading, which spoke of a man who came into Capernaum and experienced a miracle after he pleaded earnestly for Jesus to heal his child.

The next thing that happened, the Archbishop emphasized was that the man and his whole household praised God.

“…his whole household, they believed and they praised God. The invitation for us today, is to beg on behalf of your family today. Plead to God on behalf of your family, plead to God for grace, for family conversion and for the family coming back to God in a brand-new way,” the Archbishop urged.

The old creation, our life three weeks ago was not at its best. It was not the life God wanted for us, and persons were not living in the manner God desired, Archbishop Gordon said.

He explained, “It was not doing the intimacy with God in the way that God wanted, the intimacy with each other. We were not caring for each other. And in our families, we were not building families of faith because we were distracted by so many things.”

The Archbishop observed since we’ve had to “shut down everything”, we’ve now returned to a much different way of living than we’ve had for many years.

He felt since families are now at home and now persons are having more time together, the real challenge is how do we help God in this new creation.

Archbishop Gordon once again called for family prayer, praying the rosary, gathering around the Bible, and talking about the things that we are grateful for.

He then prompted for families to make a list of things they are grateful for and share around the table.