By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 23, 2021 — I think I am still being punished for “stealing” the church wine when I was an altar boy at Our Lady’s Roman Catholic Church in Nassau, Bahamas.
I have reached this conclusion because as a die-hard baseball fan, I really would love to see my fellow Bahamian, Jazz Chisholm Jr., the Miami Marlins rookie sensation, play in person, and even though I have a mobility problem that requires me to use a walker, I really had planned to see one of the games between the Marlins and my beloved Washington Nationals during the Marlins recent visit to D.C. for a three-game series (July 19-21). However, Jazz was on the 10-day disabled list and although I enjoyed watching the games on TV, I really, really wanted to see Jazz play in person.
The reason why I think I am being punished for “stealing” the church wine when I was a altar boy is that during the Marlins’ previous visit to D.C. at the end of April, Jazz also did not play because he was on the 10-day disabled list with an injury.
Whenever I pray the Rosary as a devout Roman Catholic, the following Act of Contrition is included: “O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because I have offended you, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life. Amen”
Now that I have confessed and asked forgiveness for my “wine stealing sin,” I hope that I have been forgiven and my current financial problems will no longer be an incubator of debilitating stress and I can make a long-overdue visit to Freeport, Grand Bahama, in late August, stopping off in Miami for a day to see one of the games between my beloved Washington Nationals and the Marlins (August 24-26).
Given widespread speculation that a general election will be held in The Bahamas in August, more likely than not my visit to Freeport will be after a new government headed by Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis has been installed.
As my good friend the late P. Anthony White used to end his columns in The PUNCH, “For what it’s worth,” I certainly hope I shall have an added reason to celebrate if I do get to visit Freeport in August.
