A Holy Faith Sister has called on young couples to promote the principle of “paying it forward” to spread goodwill and trust in the wider community.

Sr Marie Young, who lives in Valencia was addressing Couples for Christ and Handmaids of the Lord on “Family Life” at the St Francis Church in Sangre Grande, Monday, September 12.

Speaking to a little more than 40 parishioners, Sr Marie outlined the concept she had first seen in a movie by the same name Pay it Forward , in which a seventh grader introduced the idea of repaying a good deed to someone else instead of the source. His project proposal called for the deed to be repaid to three other persons instead of one.

Sr Marie said that people were more familiar with the term “pay it back” which sometimes works positively but more often negatively when we try to “get even” and seek revenge.

“Pay it forward” also works negatively when we transfer our anger and rage against one person onto another. She was able to elicit some examples from the group.

Sr Marie Young

Among them was the idea of a mother getting a hard time from her husband and transferring her anger to children or a father and mother getting a hard time at work and taking it out on children.

Children may also feel they are getting a raw deal at school from teachers and peers and direct their anger towards parents or siblings.

Sr Marie urged her audience to set aside their anger, quoting from Colossians 3: 13, “… forgive each other if one of you has a complaint against anothe r”. She encouraged them instead to love each other as in Romans 13: 8. “ The only thing you should owe to anyone is love for one another, for to love the other person is to fulfil the law .”

In reference to the gospel for the week, Matthew 18: 15- 20, she said Peter had asked Jesus, “ Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times ?” Jesus replied, “ Not seven I tell you, but seventy -even times ”.

Sr Marie, herself a mathematician, said there was no mathematics in forgiveness and urged parishioners to direct their energies to building trust in the national community

Using diagrams, Sr Marie explained how “pay it forward” works positively by redirecting the good deed several times and creating a multiplier effect.

The group contributed some very creative ideas on how it could work. She called on members to employ the principle in their homes, their places of work, the immediate community and the wider society.

“We need to break the ‘you and me' cycle and look outwards. It only takes a spark to light and fire. You see the effect of a stone being thrown on the water,” she said. “All it takes is one person in the family to do a good deed.”