Citizens must stand for the things that are right and pleasing to God

For almost four decades, members of the Trinidad and Tobago community at Christ the King Church in Southwest Miami have been engaged in ministry and have, for most of that time, commemorated the Independence and Republic anniversaries of T&T with a Thanksgiving Mass on a Sunday followed by a Healing Mass on Monday evening.

Annually, a priest from T&T is invited to be the chief celebrant, and this year it was Fr Godfrey Stoute.

The choir at the Mass on Sunday, September 15 was led by Marcellin Peters of the St Anthony’s Point Fortin Music Ministry. They performed powerful renditions of faith that had the congregation singing, clapping, and participating.

In the homily, based on the Gospel reading Mark 8:29 when Jesus asked His disciples, “But whom do you say that I am?”, Fr Stoute reminded the faithful that this question is also for all of us: “Who is Jesus to you?”

He emphasised that if Jesus means something to us, then the quality of our lives and our “witness will testify to that.”

Fr Stoute lamented that many people go to church “and warm the pews” on a Sunday, but their hearts are far from where they are supposed to be.

“And that is evident in the way we criticise everybody. The pastor gets the first share, ‘cause you know the fish rots from the head, and we get the lion’s share, and then you criticise everybody else,” he said.

But Fr Stoute said we must look at ourselves. Taking a line from a song sung by Michael Jackson many years ago, he said, “Start with the man in the mirror, the person looking back at you.”

Oftentimes, he said, when we criticise others, it is a “projection” of who we are. “So we see our own faults reflected in others, and of course, it’s easy to point a finger of condemnation,” but he reminded all that “when you point one finger, three are pointing back at you.”

He recalled that when Trinidad and Tobago gained independence in 1962 and the red, white, and black flag went up, Archbishop Count Finbar Ryan OP prayed that the country would be a people after God.

“For the most part,” he said, “we have been that, but we started to lose it. We have our problems like many other nations. We have crime and criminality. We have all kinds of things to deal with.”

But he said all is not lost. “For the most part, we are a God-fearing people.”

Fr Stoute urged each of us to live the kind of lives God calls us to—to speak about others with “charity and love” and to teach our children values such as “manners, fear, love, and respect.”

“We have got to stand for the things that are right and pleasing to God, as a nation and as individuals… And if you know what is right, the foundation that was laid in your life by your own parents, you hold on to that. You pass it on to your children. You know the saying, ‘Monkey see, monkey do’? So, if they see you doing something, that is exactly what they will do. No double standards. Don’t tell them to do something while you’re doing something else,” he said.

Following the Mass, Fr Stoute greeted members of the parish and shared in a lunch of pelau and salad prepared by members of the Trinidad and Tobago community.

—Story and photos courtesy Spencer Sant, Christ the King Parish, Miami, Florida