Archbishop Gordon: Trinidad and Tobago will see the light

IN a time marked by fear, uncertainty and isolation, Archbishop Fr Charles Jason Gordon delivered a sermon of hope on Christmas morning, urging Trinidad and Tobago to look forward to brighter days ahead despite the current darkness. However, he acknowledged that recent changes have impacted this Christmas season more than ever before.

“It’s different because we’re lying in a high sense of anxiety right now….plenty people in this country right now just don’t have what it takes to even put something on the table today. The stream of people who used to be able to support themselves and organise their lives and now cannot, is overwhelming. That’s different.”

This has been felt nationwide.

Just a week before Christmas, MPs throughout TT said they were bombarded with requests for food hampers and food cards by their constituents. The requests, they said, came by the thousands, showing an unprecedented need for basic items, especially in eastern Trinidad including Arima, Sangre Grande, Tunapuna and Malabar.

The Salvation Army reported a similar trend.

Despite giving out around 1,000 hampers between December 17-18, a representative said demand exceeded what the organisation could supply. The case was the same with several other charity organisations which all reported that demands for assistance far exceeded previous years.

Alongside this, grocery prices throughout the country have also spiked.

Although the inflation for November rose by only 0.1 per cent, grocery price comparisons done by the Consumer Affairs Division showed increases in items like meat, eggs and dry goods in some stores.

For Fr Gordon, food affordability and insecurity were not the only things weighing heavily on people’s minds. Although joking that TT must now be the "most secure nation in the world", as he alluded to increased military presence of the US in the southern Caribbean Sea, Gordon noted the genuine fear recent geopolitical events have brought.

“What will we wake up to tomorrow morning,” he asked.

He said recent events have also turned the tables on locals accustomed to seeing conflict unfold in other parts of the world on international news.

International reports over the past months have documented not only the killing of over 100 alleged narco traffickers off the coast of Venezuela, but also TT’s stance on the US-Venezuela tensions. An article published by CNN on November 19 listed TT among the Caribbean nations “supporting US military moves."

It noted events like the arrival of the US Navy destroyer USS Gravely in October and quoted Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar saying, “I have no sympathy for traffickers; the US military should kill them all violently.”

Other events like the visit of Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff General Dan Caine in November, visits by US Marines for military drills with the local Defence Force and the recent installation of a military-grade radar in Tobago have also caught international attention.

“We are now the people everybody is commenting on. It’s us you’re seeing on Fox and BBC and CNN…we have to be aware of that anxiety because we really don’t know what this whole thing in the gulf (of Paria) will take up. We can’t see yet how that will impact our lives going forward,” Gordon said.

He added that this, along with increased feelings of isolation among youths and the elderly, put a significant strain on what was meant to be a merry season. He remained resolute in his message of hope, quoting the biblical refrain, "The people living in darkness have seen a great light!"

“If you’re filled with wonderful joy and exuberance and you just can’t believe how wonderful this Christmas is, I thank God for you and don’t lose your joy for nobody eh.

“But if this Christmas, you’re feeling a little darkness, a little worried, a little afraid, just remember that a people who lived in darkness have seen a great light. And remember, John said a light came into the world, a true light that darkness cannot overpower. And that’s why we celebrate today.”

Gordon delivered the sermon during Christmas Mass at Sacred Heart Boys RC, Port of Spain.