Richard Ho Lung
POLICEMEN BEING murdered and terrorised by gunmen, citizens being violated by rough policemen, a country without an educational system that educates, poor family life in Jamaica, a media bent not on truth but on sensational news and programmes, a politics distrusted by the general public and caught up in maintaining power despite our country being in ruins, a business class that has not inserted its money and goods to alleviate the sufferings of the poor.
DISTRESSED
Oddly in these times, our churches need to become more deeply spiritual. I cry for my island, this island of my birth. The promises given to us by the Lord, if we followed His commands, were never fulfilled. Having the seventh best natural harbour in the world, not unlike Singapore which has no other resource and yet so prosperous and civilised today, the most magnificent mountains and seas and trees and rivers, the most beautiful and calming of weathers, a people full of natural energy, humour and good sense this is what we needed to concentrate on. As churchmen we need to see the God-given gifts, His divine providence working in our country as He shaped and formed it. As churchmen we need to make demands for justice and integrity and hard work among the politicians, the businessmen, the thinkers, the leaders of our country.
I cry for my island because of the lack of vision and leadership. I cry because there is so much promise that is intrinsic to Jamaica but now being eroded. I cry because I know from my memories as a young boy that Jamaica is specially loved by God and was made to glorify Him - if we were all true to His commands, to one another, and the gifts He has given us.
Our proximity to the United States could have worked for us rather than against us. We are an English-speaking people with great intelligence and a natural intuitive and creative spirit. Look at the men and women who have emerged from our country, not only locally but worldwide in the fields of politics, religion, music, sports, and even business. But we have taken the worst from the United States:
its materialism and hardness, its frenetic liberal morals, the coarse music and theatre, its egocentricity in matters of business and trade agreements, and the baseness and sensationalism of the media. Instead of adopting the natural goodness and kindness embedded in the more truly Christian people of North America, instead of the natural common sense and the deep sense of justice among the Christians of America, instead of the creative, beautiful and courageous spirit of pioneering Americans, we have taken on the least common denominator portrayed so much on their TV programmes and movies the conman. Instead of the natural, direct, simple and loving nature of Americans we have become base and totally yielded to the instincts of the flesh.
Commercialisation of our arts, our education, our media, our hotel industry, have led us to be a fleshy and sinful nation which can only lead to our downfall.
Our people need to get back to our roots, to the Christ within us. We need to develop a prayer life, a deep knowledge of God. We need to develop an entire internal world whereby we know God, His word, and His commands. We need to know how to live, how to treat one another, how to build and respect this land according to the plan of God, and not to exploit it and one another for our own selfish purposes.
WORK TOGETHER
We have got to return to Christ and His ways in a genuine way. We need to develop love for one another, first of all in family life, in church life, and in the business world. The law and the lawmakers must insist on justice and mercy necessary for creating a civilized nation.We must work together with one heart and mind in bringing about God's kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.
I am a Jamaican. I belong to Jamaica. Many Jamaicans have left our island, broken-hearted and lost in wealthy countries that have proven to be a wilderness, living and working meaninglessly to just survive. Here we have an opportunity to build our nation, this paradise given to us by God. Come on! Let's do it right! It is the only way. It can be done. Rise up Jamaica! Rise up!
Father Ho Lung is Founder and leader of of the Missionaries of the Poor.
