Revd. Fr. Carl Williams: Reject Xenophobia, Embrace Philonexia

Interim rector of the Holy Trinity Cathedral Fr Carl Williams is urging the population to reject Xenophobia— hate of strangers and embrace Philonexia— love for everyone, including strangers.

He said God  created human beings in his image to love, recreate etc not to kill but to care gently, with compassion, mercy and to embrace all persons.
He was speaking yesterday at the Police Mounted Branch, Long Circular Road, in St James in  observation of the Feast of St Francis of Assis. The day commemorates the life of St Francis, who was born in the 12th century and is the Church’s patron saint of animals and the environment. It is a popular day for pets to be “blessed”.
At yesterday’s event he blessed the horses and dogs from the  Police Mounted Branch and Canine Unit.
Addressing  those who attended, Williams said, “Love for everyone, including strangers take shape and form, its colour, its movement, its intricacies. It could be one of those poui trees around the Queen’s Park Savannah or as you walk in the Botanical Gardens or as you walk up Chancellor Hill; or a single bud on a flower; an animal or bird, shapely fruit or flowing water. Whatever, gaze at something long enough until you can see through it to its source.”
He suggested that at some point people should gaze at something God has created. “God created human beings in his image to love, recreate etc not to kill but to care gently, with compassion, mercy and to embrace all persons Reject Xenophobia – hate of strangers and embrace Philonexia,” he added
Saying that the world is an icon he noted: ‘What God has created is iconic, that is, we will see and sense the glory and majesty of God, the presence of God, through God’s creation. No one thing is God: no one person is God, nor a flower or leaf, nor a mountain or an ocean, nor an animal or bird.”