Prime Minister Allen Chastanet has called attention to the need for tolerance and mutual respect, ahead of general elections.
“At a time we are about to embark on a general election, we need to invoke the virtues of wisdom, tolerance and mutual respect,” he asserted.
“And tone down the volume of the heightened rhetoric, senseless threats and bickering and occasional tension that we have grown all too accustomed to,” Chastanet said in an address on Sunday.
Chastanet spoke ahead of Monday’s National Day of Prayer and Fasting.
And he urged Saint Lucians to support the activity.
He observed that throughout history, Saint Lucians of many religions and beliefs have turned to prayer for guidance, hope and strength.
Chastanet declared that these are unprecedented times.
But he asserted that it is God who continues to uplift us and give us hope for the work ahead.
“We must never forget to thank him for the blessings that each new day brings and ask him to use us as instruments of his will,” the PM said.
“We need to pray to ask God to give us the capacity to love each other as he himself loves us,” he explained.
Chastanet also spoke of the need to ask God to temper emotions in handling conflicts and disputes.
“So that we do not have to resort to harsh words or acts of violence to resolve issues and how we relate with one another.”
In addition, the PM quoted from the Gospel of John, where Jesus spoke of a new commandment ‘that you love one another as I have loved you – that you also love one another.’
As a result, the PM declared that the love principle must must ‘permeate our hearts, our homes.’
“It must impact our children, our schools, our communities if we want to experience a better Saint Lucia,” he observed.
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