The first time I climbed the stairs to the Living Water's Chapel at 109 Frederick Street, way back in 1983, I was transported back to the "Upper Room" where the disciples shared the Last Supper with Our Lord Jesus Christ. Back then the Chapel, which has now been expanded, was a slip of a room where people came to worship in the middle of the city on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Father Michael Upson, a young American priest, would give very simple sermons which related to our daily lives, and brought much comfort to many who climbed those steep stairs. One of them dealt with "Anger" and his main point was "we will get angry, but we should be able to put it aside and leave the good Lord to deal with the person or persons who may have caused us to become angry."
By this time, some readers must be wondering if I have undergone a total conversion like Paul of the New Testament. "What Carnival Sunday have to do with Living Waters and their chapel?" I could hear the question loud and clear.
Since Ash Wednesday follows on the heels of the two days of Carnival and on that day all lewd and suggestive behaviour forgotten, many a reveller sedately walks up to the altar for ashes on their foreheads, I thought it would be nice if they realised that in the middle of Port of Spain, in the middle of the busy day, there is this quiet place which can be likened to an oasis in a desert with two Ash Wednesday Masses at 7 am and midday.
Masses said daily at 12 noon and Saturdays at 8.45am are now broadcast on Radio 94.1, while Sunday morning Masses are also broadcast live on Trinity Television Channel 10 at 8 a.m, all from the Living Water Community broadcast rooms on the third floor of the building. No longer is there one priest saying daily Mass, there are now about five, Fathers Jason Gordon, Chris Lumsden, Paschal Tiernan, Reggie Hezekiah and Mike de Verteuil.
Maybe you should hang on to this paper if you have neither the time nor desire to read about lenten services on a Carnival Sunday as also during lent there will be Retreats in the Car Park every Wednesday from 7 p.m. conducted by Babsie Bleasdell and Father Mike Moses. While the week before Holy Week there will be daily Mass followed by a short Retreat. Early on the morning of Good Friday the Community conducts the Stations of the Cross through the city ending with readings and prayers at the Chapel from midday for the last three hours that Jesus hung on his cross, and Veneration of the Cross at 3 p.m.
In the Frederick Street building stands also an Adoration Chapel on the ground floor where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed daily from 6 am to 10 p.m. But the people of Living Waters are involved in so much more than Masses, Retreats and Prayers, although they are very clear that there is a strong pastoral/social blend with God at the Centre as everything starts with prayer as without prayer at the center of their lives nothing would happen.
They must raise money to pay the professionals who work for their many charitable organisations and so the funds from the Catering Service, which incidentally provided one of the nicest meals I ate last Christmas, and also serves daily menus in the downstairs cafeteria, all go back into the Ministry, so too whatever is raised from the Family Fair held on the first Sunday after Easter and an annual Raffle.
Over 500 persons are involved in the Covenant Community while there are more than 100 working volunteers, manning The New Life Ministries Drug Rehab Programme; the Food Bank where basic food materials are packaged and given to those in need: "We try to change families every three to six months after they have gotten on their feet but if you have no one we have to keep you going" explained one of the ladies who gives freely of her time on a daily basis; the special Christmas party where 2,500 people are fed in the car park with Santa and the works for the more than 800 children who attend; The Halfway House for Battered Women and Children needs no explanation; the Fountain of Hope at Mt Hope looks after the development of teenaged ladies; and the Duncan Street Caring Centre's breakfast and lunch service to those who drop-in while they wash their clothes or get a change of clothing. There are also soup runs through town in the evenings; and never forget the Hospice, which if my memory serves me right is one of the oldest projects of the Community at Warner Street in Newtown where many of the terminally ill spend their last days on earth.