Remembering Bondye
Fellow Vodouisants,
I was sitting with my coffee at the altar this morning and after doing my prayers and libations, I meditated for a
while on the Mystery that is God.
As Vodouisants, it is all too easy and too common to get caught up in all the services, the Lwa, learning, etc, that
sometimes Vodouisants end up putting God behind. I see all too frequently, prayers and reverences made to the Great
Master of the Universe done by rote and quickly, so as to move forward with the other things.
In Vodou, we have a phrase that can be found often in the songs, in prayers and other invocations. This phrase is
“Apre Dye” or “After God”. It means that we serve and pray to Bondye first. We remember the Gran Met first. For
God, whether God to you is a He/She/Energy, is the one with the true power. Remember, it is God who gives that
power to the Lwa. Thus, it is God who within the process allows what we desire to happen, happen!
Whenever I open my altar, I always pray the Traditional prayers and invocations, but before I start to call and
invoke the Lwa, I pray to God first. And I pray from my true heart and soul. God is there for everyone, and
anyone can reach out.
As you are all aware, Catholic prayers and liturgy (Litani Katolik) opens up the Priye which starts most fetes.
And when we give a Mani, Prilli or Fiesta, we start by prayers to God, sometimes hiring a prayer specialist (someone
who knows all the Catholic liturgy in the same manner as a Catholic Priest). When we start the music for the
Misterios, we start with our songs for God, after which we follow for songs about work and the Misterios, so on and
so forth . . .
God is very very important. You could build an altar to God if you so desired. Pray and ask and you will receive
and you will know what to do. Personally, though, an altar to God is not necessary. The world is His playground.
God is everywhere.
No matter what situation you may be facing or expierencing, don’t worry God is there. Reach out and God will reach back. Remember God in all that you do, and remember it is He who gives the power to the Lwa Ginen.
Luck
Houngan Hector