PM's Corpus Christi message: Be your brother's keeper

The Prime Minister said his government has been paying specific attention to the levels of both school violence and the reported series of incidents of intra-family conflicts and will continue to make appropriate interventions. He called on people to be their brother’s keeper as the Christian community celebrates Corpus Christi.

He said the celebration comes at a time when all citizens, regardless of religion, should recognise the need for all as humans to reach and call out for the intervention of the Almighty in the lives of all in the nation. He said there is a definite need for all to have faith as the nation is facing various challenges.

“We are a small, newly-independent nation, which by our history, physical and human resources can be classified, as enjoying a quality of life, according to some indices, which places us alongside some countries in the developed world.

"However, other indices will place us in another direction, based on events which appear regularly in our news. As a resource-based economy, our livelihood is still subject to the vagaries of the international energy markets. At a glance, there is also an obvious need to improve our national infrastructure of water, electricity, roads, etc, attend to the pockets of poverty among us, and improve the social conditions.”

Dr Rowley said what seems obvious is that the family structure has been eroded.

“The family unit appears to be no longer sacred. How do we fix this is a question that some of our better minds, in the fields of sociology, psychology and social work will need to examine and provide strategies on how to rescue the traditional family unit.

"Today, we should, according to tradition, occupy our minds with the basic tenets of love in every circumstance, extending to each other courtesy, patience, kindness, temperance, humility, and sincerity, at all times.”

He said Corpus Christi is known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ and the day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of the Holy Communion. He said this 13th-century tradition is one of the fundamental tenets of Christianity, specifically within the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches. It is a day when Jesus Christ is praised for nourishing us with love.

The PM wished all a holy, enjoyable holiday.