Jamaica, our identity

By Richard Ho Lung, diary of a ghetto priest


We already have an identity, but we do not know it.  We're like a wild orchid with graceful lengths of flowers in the rainforest that simply are what we are: beautiful, but without self-consciousness.

What we don't know is easily lost or given away cheaply because we take it for granted.  Jamaica and the pearl of great price; Jamaica and its exotic flowers in the mountains, Jamaica, our music and drumming; Jamaica and its strange orchid people - growing naturally, freely, beautifully - only to be seized by strangers.

We don't know who we are; we don't know what's inside of ourselves.  We will lose our souls - if we do not grasp our own inner riches and own up to our God-given inner being.

I was curious as a boy born in the countryside of Richmond, St Mary.  Who are these lovely people swathed in smiles, chatty and friendly, on the move but never in a hurry.  What are those bamboo trees doing gently waving in the sky and wind?  Why are the African tulips just blossoming - for what purpose?  And the mango trees full of fruit in the wild with no one to eat them?

Rivers, rain and sea - everything glistering gleaming studded with diamonds from the sunlight.
Everybody, everything in the Jamaican countryside pronouncing, 'God! God! God!'

At age 12, I discerned Christ.  Everybody was talking about Christ - the higglers, the farmers, the teachers, the children, the mamas and the papas.

When we bathed in the aluminium pan, our nannies were humming softly, "What a friend we have in Jesus."  When we misbehaved, we were chastised in Jesus' name.  When we skipped rope, it was done to rhymes about the Lord.

Then the telling of the stories of the feeding of the 5,000, the walking on the water, the miracles of Christ's love for the sick and the poor, then His terrible crucifixion, and His forbearance.

I was hurt deeply by His pain and suffering, this Son of the Creator, this Jesus who loves me so deeply and gave me everything.

Christ's value

My inner soul responded to Christ, and now I seek only to serve Him.  He is the depth of Jamaica's music and kindness.  He is the foundation of our identity, our humour, our optimism and our dynamic drive for meaning, purpose and evangelisation.  He is our gentleness, our sternness, our confidence, our strength in suffering, our struggles on our way to grace and dignity as a people.

We must not lose Him.  Not for the highways, foreign clothes, foreign music and technology, and advanced but godless education and values.

We don't know it.  But the dynamic element in the Jamaican personality - in our athletes, our music and culture, in the best of our political leaders and intellectuals - are rooted in Christ.

Our self-assertion and confidence come from Him.  Our God and Saviour who has given us so much has also sustained us all these years.

I have one fear: That we will sell out to foreign gods.  I pray that we will know who we are, where we come from, and where we are going, carrying at all times Jesus at the depth of our souls.

Father Richard Ho Lung is founder and superior general of the Missionaries of the Poor.  Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mopfathergeneral@missionariesofthepoor.org.

August 08, 2012

Jamaica Gleaner

Jamaica is still a Christian country, so let us be Christian! ...United we stand, divided we fall

Christianity: Save us!


by Richard Ho Lung

WE KNOW it can be done: Christ can save our island.   Christianity can save our island.   We are losing faith, because we are not one, not united.   I am not talking about tolerating one another.   I am talking about loving one another and working together in fulfilment of a vision presented to us by Christ.

What is this vision?   It is set out by Christ: "I have come to preach the good news to the poor; to set the captives free."   Justice and mercy will be exercised when Christ is here.   If we really want to know the presence of Christ today in our world, in Jamaica, it is where the Church is doing the works of justice.   From the times of the Old Testament to the times of Christ, and now in our world and in Jamaica, justice must be done if we want to give witness to the one true living God.

We must agree on certain points, the fundamentals of our faith.   We must not waste time talking and debating whether gay marriages, abortion, euthanasia, this denomination or that, is right or wrong.   All these issues are obviously misguided and can be answered by questioning: Does God want same-sex marriages; a mother to eliminate the child of her womb; old and sick people be euthanised?

We need to work with the poor and rejected ones; we need a Church of the poor.   Even if Churches are wealthy or middle class, churches and schools must form the consciences and carry out activities of justice and mercy that give glory to God.   God will be pleased; God will dispense all the riches of the earth to accomplish His kingdom here on earth, the salient characteristics being justice and mercy.

Powerful Christian faith

I believe the civil state needs us, and I believe our Christian faith is so powerful that it can change the attitudes of everyone, including politicians, if only we as Church really become God's kingdom here on earth.   Psalm 72 verses 2 through 4 says:

"O God, give your judgment to the king ... that he may govern your people with justice, your oppressed with right judgment ... that he may defend the oppressed among the people, save the poor and crush the oppressor."

And Psalm 82 verses 3 and 4 asks God to:

"Defend the lowly and fatherless; render justice to the afflicted and needy; rescue the lowly and poor; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

But first and foremost that fundamental principle must be met: to serve justice and mercy to the poor, not only in word but in deed.

Too much talking, too many words; too many belaboured arguments and permissive foreign ways; too much mediocrity and middle-classness, have led us into a wilderness and confusion that are wrought by the devil himself.

Jamaica is still a Christian country, so let us be Christian!  United we stand, divided we fall.  First of all, we must love one another and work with one another for justice and mercy.  Jamaica is a most unusual country.  The spirits and souls of Jamaicans are strong and serious.   Let us give an example to the world, as we have done in so many other endeavours.

Let us require once and for all a strong moral family life.  Politicians are cowards in requiring marriage and fidelity with a punishment for those who are promiscuous and then themselves bear children out of wedlock.  Men and women must stop living like animals on our streets.  There must be a law that is seriously enacted on those who bear children outside of marriage.   That should be so for all classes of people.

Strong moral Christian values must be taught once again by teachers in the schools regarding personal behaviour, sin and virtue, right and wrong, and an absolute sense of responsibility towards the poor.

There must be a right and wrong, punishment and reward, heaven and hell, justice and mercy, not only taught but exercised in family life and in the schools.

We must become a Church of the Beatitudes.   I believe we are approaching the Age of the Beatitudes, wherein Christianity will be judged worthy and relevant to the life and benefit of modern man on the basis of how effectively she implements the works of mercy and justice among the most needy and marginalised - materially and spiritually - in our world.   Time is running out: the Kingdom of God is at hand! Church, are you ready?

Feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com

December 22, 2011

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