Richard Ho Lung
THERE IS an emergence of an extraordinary generation of Christians in our times. At the funeral procession of Brothers Marco and Suresh, I was moved to tears. Somewhere between two and three thousand people accompanied their bodies passing through Spoilers territory and Tel Aviv where there are warring gangs of the same PNP persuasion. We also passed through North and South side of the JLP, so badly inflicted with violence over the past three decades, sometimes amongst themselves. In the midst of that procession there was the murderer who used a powerful gun to kill our brothers, now martyred and gone to heaven.
Throughout our island, as well as overseas, there was a great outpouring of sympathy and shock at the death of two young religious men who simply desired to serve the poorest and the most forgotten of our people. I was moved by a letter from my former Superior General, Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J.:
"Although you now mourn the two dear brothers whom you have lost, faith consoles you with the knowledge that you now have two powerful advocates who intercede for you in the Lord's presence.
"I pray that the witness of their commitment to walking in the footsteps of the Lord, living a life of vulnerable solidarity with the poor, will inspire other young men to join your work of bringing good news of the Gospel to those who most need to hear it."
CHRISTIANS NOT AFRAID
The killer needs to know that all these good Christian people are not afraid. We processed to the homes and the areas where our homeless and destitute are, as well as thousands of hungry ghetto people whom we feed and minister to spiritually. These people in the procession were middle, upper-middle, lower-middle and poor people. They knew how volatile the area has been; yet they voluntarily processed for love of our country, the poor, MOP, and our works with the destitute. Totally vulnerable, they went singing, praying the rosary, greeting our deprived and lost ghetto people, greeting them as they went along. It was orderly and deeply moving, solemn yet joyful.
These Christians understood and appreciated our message. We will continue to love and serve the poor. We refuse to defeat evil by evil so we may testify to the universal love of God who, while condemning sin, forgives sins. The new commandment requires that we love our enemies and through praying for him who killed our brothers, and through forgiving him, we believe we will defeat violence and terrorism in our island.
At night time I listen to the gunshots, gunmen pursuing gunmen, police pursuing gunmen. Yet we go to the slums and to our homes on day and evening shifts. With us are volunteers: many locals, some overseas. They know what has happened yet they come. They believe that Jesus, the Bread of Life, was vulnerable in His ministry while on earth, and can be violated by us sinners in the Eucharist. These volunteers - armed with a new vision of a new world - do not want a comfortable, easy Christianity. They want to interface with the problem of violence, poverty and injustice. They know that when they die they will go to heaven. They carry the cross and the burden of overcoming evil within them.
Christ is coming again. He is in the heart of so many young religious; many new religious orders of young men and women are springing up all over the world. Many serious lay people - Catholic and Protestant - are also coming forward. They want to give more of themselves and to serve the poor. They all want to be holy and perfect before God, though acknowledging, like myself, that they are sinners. Already, I can see "Satan falling like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18). A new day is dawning. It is the Second Coming of Christ.
God bless you at Christmas. God bless Jamaica. In the season of Christ's birth we will increase our service of the poor, the sinners, and those forgotten and rejected. Justice is coming in the person of Christ.
Father Ho Lung is founder and leader of the Missionaries of the Poor.
