Richard Ho Lung - DIARY OF A GHETTO PRIESTI LOVE THE Lord and the Lord loves me. When I was just a boy of 20 years, I could not understand the ecstasy that filled my soul.
The Lord would claim me as His own, He would rest in me and flow through me like a cool running stream, yet be a slow burning fire, steady, warm and alive the living flame of God's love within me. It was Christ the beloved, the bridegroom of my soul. Day after day, in deep prayer, He would come to me and inflame me with His love. I could only close my eyes, sit still, and let Him reside in me and love me as He willed. Those were days of ecstasy that have never left me. Today, I can only say I belong to Him, He is mine and I am His Jesus my beloved, Jesus my Lord and God.
LIKE A TREE PLANTED
A seed was planted when I was just a youth and that seed has grown into a plant and then a tree. Out of that garden within me, out of the depths of the kingdom of God, has grown the mustard tree, the grape vine, the cedar of Lebanon, the wooden cross that reaches up to eternity. And many have come to dwell in that tree the poor, blind, deaf, crippled, lepers, AIDS children and young adults.
And now hundreds of young men have come to dwell on this tree from north and south, east and west. They are given to me for a while, and they dwell on this tree which is my life taken up by God as His own life.
At times I have sinned in my weaknesses. I have been unfaithful to my God and my fellowmen. But these weeds the storm and tempests and passions of my life have not prevailed against the tree of life that has been planted in my soul. That tree is God's love for me and my love for Him co-joined in perfect oneness.
In the hands of God, I am nothing but clay. But the Lord formed me in my mother's womb and made me according to His purposes. I cannot say that my life has been without regrets. My regrets are in my weaknesses and sinfulness, most of all not being generous enough.
USING ME, MOLDING ME
Still, God has used me, molded me, and revealed to me a plan that was made known to me in prayer or sometimes in my intuitions, and directed me without my knowing it.
Everything has been a gift my father and mother William and Janette. Jamaica, land of my birth, has been one of my greatest blessings. The Society of Jesus and the Franciscan Sisters, Mother Church, our benefactors and friends, my wonderful Missionaries of the Poor brothers from all over the world, the poor who gave me Christ and the vision of His heavenly kingdom have all been God's gifts to me.
Jamaica is where it all happened. People overseas say, "You are Jamaican and you are Chinese?" I reply, "I am Chinese and I am Jamaican and really glad to be."
Some would say, 'Your life is too difficult, why live in the ghetto, with the poor, and undertake the task of the homeless and destitute? How do you manage with so many young men, strangers, who are not of your blood?' What can I say but that God, having sent the poorest of peoples to work and live with filling our homes and young people who dedicate themselves to the Lord and the poor, has made me the happiest man alive. And in this effort, we have taken on the poor in India, the Philippines, Uganda, Haiti, and our own Jamaica and found out the depths of meaning in life, and in the heart of the whole experience, God Himself.
MESSAGE TO THE WORLD
And what of these wonderfully talented singers and musicians and theater people who have dared to follow the dream to evangelise Jamaica, and indeed, the world with Christ's message of preaching good news to the poor? They have become blossoms on the tree of life that attract so many people. What a strange and beautiful message the Lord gave us.
It is a message to all the world: 'Love one another as I have loved you. Pour forth your life in self-sacrificing love for one another. Be a Good Samaritan to the last penny you possess, like the old widow who gave of her entire livelihood. Love! Love! Love to the last drop of blood in you!'
This having been done, we will find heaven's door open to us, and, peace on earth and peace in our own hearts.
Father Ho Lung is founder and leader of the Missionaries of the Poor.
