Fr. Richard Ho Lung - Diary Of A Ghetto Priest I WATCHED Brother Mark take care of Matthew, a young cripple whose legs are permanently shaped like Vs. Matthew is bedridden. He had messed his pants. I had gone to look for fresh clothes. Brother Mark intercepted and began the process of wiping his bottom. By the time I returned, Brother Mark took the new trousers. Two or three more wipes and Matthew smelt fresh again. He smiled.
Brother Mark lifted the 12-year-old in his arms. Matthew, who is also mute, smiled the biggest smile you have ever seen. Then his arms clung to Brother Mark's neck, and his legs were around his shoulders. For a while he just clung to Brother Mark. In this embrace of love, Matthew went off to sleep. Then Brother Mark put him down gently to sleep. The little cripple boy went off to sleep, comforted and filled with love.
EPIDEMIC
My trip to Uganda was to visit our mission in Kampala. Our Brothers in Jamaica love the work with the poorest in the poorest of countries. Uganda is truly poor, 40 per cent of the people suffer from HIV/AIDS. It is an epidemic of major proportions. There is a mortality rate that is frightening: people die at the average age of 40 years! I am sure that the AIDS epidemic is the major cause. I met many young children who attend our free school and who dwell in the slums right behind our apostolate whose parents died at a young age. The children had to live with relatives, poor beyond a Jamaican's imagination.
So many houses are made of mud in the ghetto; there is no light, no water, and no roads. Many kids do not attend school. Our community is known as the "Jamaican Brothers." We take in the children who are crippled, blind, deaf, and mute. We also have children at our school, some 150, free of cost. We give them a daily meal. Then we take in elderly people who are homeless and destitute. Our Jamaican Brothers work tirelessly. They were all trained in Jamaica. In our island they learned to be Christ-like and tender-hearted to the least of our brothers and sisters. In Jamaica our Brothers learned to pray and worship God, not by words alone but also by works.
By God's grace we have men who get no salary or stipend. They simply pray and work all day in praise of God. The young Ugandan Brothers are now learning that spirit. They are learning pure self-sacrificing love: to give without seeking any returns. They are also enjoying the life of Jesus as the Master did seeing beauty in the castaways of humanity and loving unto death. Our Jamaican music has also gotten into the worship. I was delighted at the ease with which the Africans took to our music.
In our community of Brothers there are young candidates from Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, and of course Uganda. Like all our other Brothers on our international missions, the Africans come to Jamaica. They live and work with us. They pray with us. They inculcate the Jamaican soul. The soul of Jamaica really marries the soul of Africa well. Who would believe that Jamaica would produce so many Brothers and priests? We are now sending out missionaries to the Philippines, India, Africa, Haiti, and soon we'll be sending out Christ-centred men to Central America Belize and Guatemala.
JAMAICAN MISSION
All the men come from Jamaica and all the help is from our Jamaican mission. Even in our times of trouble, Jamaica remains giving and loving. Our men represent Jamaica and Christ the best of which is the power of love and self-sacrifice. In many ways it is a very old vision and a very new vision. Christ of 2,000 years ago is living once again in the hearts of our Jamaican Brothers who offer undying love as He once did. Christ brought a new light and a vision of hope. The Missionaries of the Poor is the first male religious order ever to be elevated in the Caribbean as a religious institute. We are 23 years old, still young, and filled with the vibrancy of young people and the evergreen life of Jesus. Phone us or come and visit with us. I promise you, you will see the Christian faith in a new and surprising way.
Fr. Richard Ho Lung is Founder and Superior-General of The Missionaries of The Poor.
