God does not make mistakes

By Rosemarie Sant

With heartfelt candour and spiritual fire, Fr Trevor Nathasingh shared his extraordinary testimony at the Magnificat Women’s Ministry breakfast, held August 23 at All Saints RC Church in Broward County, Miami, USA. His story, a journey from interfaith confusion to Catholic priesthood, moved the audience deeply.

“I owe my life to my father,” Fr Trevor began. “My mother wanted to abort me; I was the 12th child. But my father, a Hindu, stopped her.”

Born to a Muslim mother and a Hindu father, he recalled practising both religions, attending a Hindu school, a Presbyterian college, and a secular university. “And I ended up Catholic,” he said with a smile.

After becoming a civil engineer, his parents arranged for him to become engaged. But something stirred inside. “I had this strange desire to go to the Mount, a monastery on a mountain. I didn’t know anything about Christians; I thought I’d meet nice girls,” he said chuckling, as the audience erupted in laughter.

Instead, he encountered something divine.“As I knelt, the statue came alive. A woman stood in front of me and said, ‘I will lead you to my Son’.”

The encounter happened again two weeks later. Puzzled, he sought answers from a man dressed in white, a monk, though he didn’t know it at the time. After hearing his story, the monk began to laugh and said, “That’s alright, Our Lady is talking to you.”

As a non-Christian, Fr Trevor said he had no idea who ‘Our Lady’ was. The monk introduced him to a priest and so began his journey of faith.

Fr Trevor eventually called off his engagement, a decision that came at great personal cost. “My parents disowned me. My father told me, ‘You are no longer welcome in this house’.”

Despite the pain, he moved out, rented an apartment, and leaned on the Christian community for support. “Fr Laughlin journeyed with me. He taught me about Jesus. I am forever grateful.”

He was engaged twice more, but both relationships ended. “God had a plan,” he said. “The last young woman, my fiancée, told me, ‘I think God is calling you’.”

Still, Fr Trevor wrestled with the decision for eight years. “I drank, rebelled, ran from God. But He never forgot me.”

It was another mystical encounter with the Virgin Mary this time on a street corner that reignited his vocation. “She said, ‘Did I not say I will lead you to my Son?’ and disappeared.”

That moment brought him back to the Church. He applied to the Archdiocese, was accepted to the Seminary and was ordained a priest in 1989. “When God chooses, He never makes a mistake. And if He chooses you, you can try to run, but you can’t run from God’s purpose in your life,” he said.

This June marked 36 years of his priesthood. “It’s been a journey of grace, mercy, and blessing. There have been challenges in serving the people of God, but it has been 36 great years of ministry. I am very thankful,” he reflected.

“And I’ve lived to see every one of my brothers and sisters become Catholic. My mother and father became Catholic before they died. I’m sharing with you today as a reminder to all of us about the goodness of God,” he said.

Fr Trevor told the audience he was the first Caribbean priest to come entirely from the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. He also revealed that when he was baptised in the Holy Spirit, he experienced physical healing.

“I stammered badly and suffered migraines. But the night I was prayed over, I never stammered again. I was healed and miraculously, my migraines also stopped.”

He emphasised that the Renewal is not optional for the Church today. “I firmly believe what the Charismatic Renewal represents is a necessity for the Church. It is not an option. It is not a group. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to renew and to revive the Church, because nothing works without the grace of the Holy Spirit. We have to pass this spirituality on to the next generation because this is not a generation of faith, it’s one of technology. We must find new ways to bring the Spirit to them.”

Throughout his ministry, Fr Trevor said he has brought renewal to every parish he’s served. “There’s no power, no grace, no anointing without the Holy Spirit. And if you love Mary, you must love the Spirit, she is the spouse of the Holy Spirit.”

Even amid suffering, God’s hand remained. Two months before his ordination, his family home burned down, and his father was injured. “I told the bishop I didn’t want to be a priest anymore. I quarrelled with God. But through it, the Church rallied around us. God used it to humble me.”

He also shared that losing both parents in the same year deeply affected his health. “My family thought that as a priest, I was the strong one. I buried my mother in May and my father in November of the same year. I didn’t have time to grieve, and the stress affected my body’s ability to produce melanin. But I had to learn to trust God, even in pain.”

In closing, Fr Trevor reminded everyone of their mission: “You are not just here to be fed, you are here to feed others. That is what evangelisation is about. God is still doing something among us.”

With gratitude, he added: “I used to tell my parents, ‘You have 14 children I will do one better, I’ll have 15 children’. God gave me 15 godchildren. One of them is becoming a priest next year. God always has the last laugh.”

“God,” he said, “never calls perfect people. Perfect people don’t need God. But He can take our brokenness and make beauty out of it, if we learn to trust Him.”