Fr. Richard Ho Lung - Diary Of A Ghetto Priest ST. JOHN the Evangelist tells us we must. We cannot follow Christ unless we hate the world. Remember, however, that the Lord also tells us that we cannot be His disciples unless we hate mother, father, sister and brother. What is the function of Christianity in the world then? Are we meant to be an other-worldly group of men and women who despise and reject the world? Are we to literally hate the world and our family members?
The Lord is talking to us of separation from worldly values. He is calling us to put on His mind and to think of the values of the Kingdom. The world is ruled by the 'prince of the world' and 'the power of darkness'. In our world, power, possession, pleasure and money are the ultimate goals of worldly men and women. These are sought above all. In God's Kingdom, however, all things are subsumed under God Himself, His principles and His purposes.
If we carefully read the material presented by the gospel writers, we will not only get a general and detailed view of God's vision for man but also of the essential mind-set of people committed to God.
First of all, God's Kingdom is meant to be built here on earth. "Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven," says the Lord's Prayer. The people who are the happiest according to the Beatitudes are those who hunger and thirst for God's Kingdom, the poor and the poor in spirit who don't long for material riches; the pure of heart who are undivided in their desire to serve God and not the mammon or any other creature but God alone; those who seek justice and righteousness and not their own selfish desires; those who are meek and humble and therefore obedient to the will of the Father, rather than those who are rebellious and disobedient.
What a strange conglomerate of people called to comprise the
Kingdom of God on earth. It is not the powerful, the most talented, and the physically beautiful; rather, it is the blind man Bartimaeus, the widow with one penny, Lazarus the beggar, the great sinners and the forgotten ones. These are the ones who constitute God's Kingdom because of their humility and total reliance on God's mercy and goodness.
Mr. Gilart Kerr, the father of Fr. Brian Kerr, a Jamaican who is the Superior of the mission in the Philippines, died recently. He had 13 children. This extraordinary man had told me 22 years ago, "Take my son Brian, as for all my children; one thing I want for them is to be men and women of God." Though his entire family of 13 children was poor, this man - so powerfully built, so strong, so masculine bowed down before God, day and night.
This family is mothered by Mrs. Myrtle Kerr. She bows down before God day and night. Together they worked and they laboured. They lived in dignity. Never rich, they never went hungry. Mr. Kerr tried out farming, trucking sand and gravel, running a tractor, and selling drygoods in a store. They were never successful in business but always managed to feed, clothe, educate, and retain the small house on a small piece of land they owned.
This man was possessed by a vision of God's Kingdom, and loved God mightily. Mr. Kerr was really not meant for this world. Though he was in the world, he was not of this world. He also wanted his family to bear within themselves a vision he captured: the riches of another world, the beauty, power, and the happiness of knowing and living with God. This poor man Gilart Kerr had the greatest riches anyone could ever possess.
We, the brothers and I, are poor among the poor. And we really enjoy great peace and happiness. We live in the ghetto, among the poor. We care for the destitute and the homeless each day. We find beauty in them. We find God among us.
Many business people help us. They are in the world. Theirs is a difficult lot. They must serve God and not mammon. How can they have business and not be absorbed and possessed by the world? Our friends who are business people must remember that business is not just for self but primarily for the building and serving of the community. It is for the good of one's own family too. Always there will be a temptation to greed, but we must subject the appetite for transient goods to the Master Himself who is the Lord of all. For nothing lasts except the treasure that "moth and rust cannot destroy."
The Very Rev. Fr. Richard Ho Lung, MOP is Founder and Superior General of The Missionaries of the Poor.
