by Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
Today, Trinity Sunday, we reflect on the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity – “the central mystery of Christian faith and life… Christians are baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: not in their names…for there is only one God, the almighty Father, his only Son and the Holy Spirit: the Most Holy Trinity…The Trinity is a mystery of faith in the strict sense, one of the ‘mysteries that are hidden in God, which can never be known unless they are revealed by God’.”(See Catechism: 232-260).
You know the story of St Augustine of Hippo who wanted to understand the mystery of the Holy Trinity. While walking along the sea-shore one day, he saw a child constantly filling a cup with sea-water and pouring it into a hole she had dug in the sand. When he asked her what she was doing, she replied: “I am trying to empty the sea into the hole.” He asked her how she thought she could achieve this goal – tiny cup, large sea. She said: “And you, how do you suppose that with your small head you can comprehend the immensity of God?” The child then disappeared.
We believe in a Triune God who created us in His image and likeness to proclaim the Gospel and to transform the world so that it reflects Gospel values. How are we doing?
Last week I attended the launch of Dr Cuthbert Joseph’s autobiography: The Life I Recall: Other Pathways to Human Development. As a staunch Catholic, Dr Joseph truly lives what he believes. He has opened the “windows of his mind” to critical thinkers from various cultures. His book is replete with references to Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and others. His address to those gathered was filled with passion and a yearning for a T&T in which humanism, which embraces unity and harmony, will become a reality. His words reminded me of Pope Benedict XVI’s words on the concept of a “new humanism”.
In April 2008 the Holy Father said: “How can we respond to…challenges? How can we recognise the ‘signs of the times’? Certainly, joint action on a political, economic and juridical level is needed but, even before that, it is necessary to reflect together on a moral and spiritual level. What is ever more vital is to promote a ‘new humanism’ (which)… include(s) the moral and spiritual dimension. A truly integral humanism must, at the same time, also express solidarity…True and lasting peace is unimaginable without the development of each person and of all peoples.”
Pope Benedict develops this theme of an integrated humanism of solidarity in his encyclical, Charity in Truth when he talks about authentic integral human development.
Sunday, June 19 is also Father’s Day. I thank God for the life of my father, Balgobin Ramdeen, who will be 86 on July 22. As we were preparing to celebrate my birthday on June 16, he reminded me that it is only by God’s grace that I am here today. Apparently, I was at death’s door as a newborn baby and my mother was determined to have me baptised a soon as possible in case I died. Pa, a Hindu, drove her to the Catholic Church in Chaguanas with me in her arms. Canon Max Murphy was the parish priest. He and the organist’s wife stood as my godparents. Thank God, I survived!
I salute all fathers today. As a Catholic community, our task is to help strengthen families. Let us help our fathers and mothers to fulfil their roles. In recent weeks the media has reported a number of cases of violence/domestic violence against women. Within a two-week period three women were doused with gasoline and set alight. For the third victim, a 25 year-old mother from Point Fortin, this had been the second time that she had been set on fire. The first incident occurred about a year ago.
And then there is the rise in school violence. The video showing the merciless beating of a 17 year-old from Barataria North Secondary School by two former friends and the 27 year-old cousin of one of her attackers, must wake us up to seek to transform our society and to build a new humanism. We are all diminished by such behaviour.
Blessed Trinity, we beseech you to heal our troubled land/world. Help us to grow from grace to grace. Amen.
