An explosion of love and hope

Hundreds of people gathered at Trinity College East, Trincity for the 21st edition of Jesus Explosion, a powerful event aimed to inspire the T&T Catholic community to be a beacon of light in the world, amidst the prevalence of sin, hatred, and vengeance plaguing society.

Under the theme Shine in the world as Lights, as you offer them the Word of Life (Phil 2:15–16), the July 7–9 event featured insightful speeches from various speakers. Fr Trevor Nathasingh lamented, “There is deep sin that is killing, it is making people full of hate, people want vengeance.”

He said, “Our world is drowning in darkness, there are no ifs and buts about it. It is bad, it is a real critical situation.”

Fr Nathasingh said Catholics who have encountered Jesus and who have known the mercy of God have a burden placed upon them to bear witness to the truth and power of God. “I believe that where two or three are gathered there God is, and two or three united in prayer, united in faith, could bring about miracles and marvels.”

“Trinidad and Tobago needs us…we are sons and daughters of Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.

Fr Nathasingh said we have arrived at a place where “everything is taken for granted, sin is no longer seen as a dangerous thing.” But he said people must realise that, “sin destroys you personally, it destroys your family, it destroys your household, it destroys your relationships and eventually will destroy the nation as we see happening.”

Focusing on young people, he said while he loves them, he recognises there is a resistance to things of God. “We have failed to demand that they live a holy life. We have accepted mediocrity when it comes and we make all kinds of excuses for our young people, but we have to call them to order because sin is going to destroy them.”

He is of the view that, “because we have encouraged and tolerated weakness instead of calling our people to live lives of a champion, lives of victory, lives of power, we have allowed sin to destroy our people. I firmly believe it is because we have not been straightforward with our people that we are in the mess that we are in.”

“A good cleaning up of your heart costs nothing,” Fr Nathasingh said as he urged  “forgiveness must become part of our language again.” He encouraged Catholics to make use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) and release the burden of sin they carry.

“Come and lay it down at the feet of Jesus, there is mercy, there is healing, there is freedom that you can walk again, that you have an experience of newness…God’s forgiveness switch,” he said, is always on.

Confession is the soul’s bath

Visiting Bishop Neil Scantlebury of Bridgetown, Barbados told the gathering of young and old to think of Confession as having a bath. “Could you imagine bathing once a week? What about once a month? Take a bath once a month and invite your friends to a party and you will know exactly how many friends you have! That is exactly what we need to do with our souls, we need to wash them, cleanse them, clean them through the beautiful Sacrament of Confession.”

God, he said, looks at our hearts. The Bishop then beseeched faithful to “return to the beautiful sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist,” and to let “God’s will be done” in our lives.

Fr Godfrey Stoute who delivered the homily at Mass on Saturday 8 noted the truth is that “people are lonely” and are searching for something. Some go to political rallies, some go on dating apps, others get involved in social media groups, but everything seems to fail.

“People are searching to have a particular itch scratched and they are still itching. What is the solution then? Jesus is the answer. He says, ‘I am the vine; and you are the branches’ (Jn 15:5). When we connect with Jesus, we get the substance of what we need, and we feel alive. Cut off from Him we are just like dead skin on the ground.”

That, Fr Stoute said, is what we must communicate with people. “Once you are connected to Jesus you have a real relationship. Other relationships are either fleeting or insincere.”

In his discourse on the theme, Gregory Goedgedrag of Aruba gave participants a template to become true witnesses to others, urging participants to do good deeds, good work, and give testimony.

In doing this he spoke of the practice of respect, showing love and kindness, sharing the gospel, living a holy life, offering encouragement and support, practising forgiveness, and praying for others.

In the midst of the darkness that exists, Goedgedrag believed there is hope for Trinidad and Tobago. That hope, he said, came from Jesus Explosion.

There will be a Jesus Explosion Revival September 24, Republic Day, at the same venue. —CN contributor