Leaders urge unity, service and reflection in Corpus Christi messages

Pres­i­dent Chris­tine Kan­ga­loo, Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar and Op­po­si­tion Leader Pene­lope Beck­les all used their Cor­pus Christi mes­sages to urge cit­i­zens to strength­en na­tion­al uni­ty, serve oth­ers and re­flect on the chal­lenges fac­ing Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Pres­i­dent Kan­ga­loo said Cor­pus Christi calls peo­ple to move be­yond wor­ship and al­low their faith to shape how they treat oth­ers and con­tribute to so­ci­ety.

She said the ob­ser­vance re­quires more than re­mem­brance, urg­ing cit­i­zens to let “rev­er­ence be­come ser­vice” and make “the sa­cred vis­i­ble in mer­cy, re­straint and self-giv­ing.”

The Pres­i­dent said the lessons of faith re­main rel­e­vant at a time when the coun­try faces so­cial and po­lit­i­cal di­vi­sions.

“We do not serve Trinidad and To­ba­go when we choose sus­pi­cion over fair­ness, noise over truth, or con­tempt over dis­agree­ment,” she said.

Kan­ga­loo added that cit­i­zens should em­brace “the dis­ci­pline of uni­ty: not same­ness, but shared pur­pose; not si­lence, but speech wor­thy of a free peo­ple; not pri­vate de­vo­tion alone, but pub­lic virtue.”

She said Cor­pus Christi should move peo­ple “from con­cern to du­ty, from dis­tance to neigh­bourli­ness, and from di­vi­sion to the pa­tient work of na­tion­al re­new­al.”

Prime Min­is­ter Per­sad-Bisses­sar al­so fo­cused on ser­vice, com­pas­sion and na­tion­al de­vel­op­ment.

She said Chris­tians ob­serv­ing Cor­pus Christi re­mind the coun­try that “faith is not mere­ly some­thing we pro­fess, but some­thing we live out through ser­vice to oth­ers, love of neigh­bour, and com­mit­ment to the com­mon good.”

The Prime Min­is­ter drew on the lo­cal tra­di­tion of plant­i­ng on Cor­pus Christi, say­ing it re­flects the need to cul­ti­vate pos­i­tive val­ues that will strength­en the na­tion.

“Just as a seed must be plant­ed and nur­tured be­fore it bears fruit, so too must faith, com­pas­sion, in­tegri­ty and love be cul­ti­vat­ed in our hearts be­fore they can strength­en our fam­i­lies, com­mu­ni­ties and na­tion,” she said.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar al­so thanked the Ro­man Catholic com­mu­ni­ty and Chris­tians across Trinidad and To­ba­go for their con­tri­bu­tions through ed­u­ca­tion, char­i­ty, com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice and lead­er­ship.

She urged cit­i­zens to “give thanks for God’s many bless­ings, pray for those fac­ing hard­ship, and recom­mit our­selves to sow­ing the seeds of faith, kind­ness and uni­ty that will strength­en our na­tion for gen­er­a­tions.”

Op­po­si­tion Leader Pene­lope Beck­les used her mes­sage to call for greater uni­ty in tack­ling crime and vi­o­lence.

“We must al­so con­front the re­al­i­ty of vi­o­lent crime with hon­esty and ur­gency,” she said.

Re­fer­ring to re­cent killings in south Trinidad, Beck­les said: “With­in a span of 12 hours, six peo­ple were mur­dered in south Trinidad. Three sep­a­rate in­ci­dents—a stab­bing, a dou­ble mur­der and a triple killing—left fam­i­lies shat­tered and po­lice over­whelmed.”

“This is not nor­mal, and it must not be treat­ed as such. It de­mands na­tion­al fo­cus, not po­lit­i­cal dis­trac­tion.”

She said crime could not be solved through po­lit­i­cal di­vi­sion, adding: “Crime will not be solved by pride or pol­i­tics. It will on­ly be solved by uni­ty, co­or­di­na­tion and hon­est lead­er­ship.”

Beck­les called on the Gov­ern­ment, Op­po­si­tion, se­cu­ri­ty ser­vices, labour move­ment and civ­il so­ci­ety to work to­geth­er to ad­dress the coun­try’s chal­lenges.