Men, respect life. No matter what people say, God is our Father and Jesus is His Son and we are His brothers. People in our time must respect the truth and the life of God. He is our Father. We must not forget as men we must care for all of life. As men our primary responsibility is to care for women, our mothers and the widows. Mary is the handmaid of Jesus; she is the mother of God’s Son. Without Jesus we have no incarnate Son of God and a brother of us all.

Men have the burden to be the primary caretakers of life. Mary is the handmaid who brings new life into the world and must shape and form a home for the family, but men must take the responsibility to provide for the family; work hard, earn money, build a home and provide food and other materials. In addition, we must make sure “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

Why do the brothers, Missionaries of the Poor, take care of homeless men, women, children, the cripples, the sick and the dying? We provide for them, protect them, guide them, guard them, work for them and bury them at their death. Is this unmanly? No. This is responsibility. We are being men!

Forty-two years ago, the brothers were laughed at and ridiculed for being in the street and in public, wearing ancient clothes like Jesus; they are habits like dresses, Jamaican people laughed at us. But now we are respected, honoured in Jamaica because of our deeds and faithfulness.

Two of our brothers were murdered — Br Suresh and Br Marco. None of our brothers ran away or requested to go back to their countries. These two men are now regarded as our first two martyrs. Thousands of Jamaicans marched and gathered in the streets in Southside. It took courage, it took manliness for the brothers to stay in Jamaica, in the ghettos, with the people with whom they worked and sacrificed their lives.

They were more determined to build more communities; homes on Laws, High Holborn, East and Hanover streets. Now we have eight homes in Jamaica to further serve the homeless and destitute. This is manhood in Jamaica. This is Christ. And we do it without cost and receive no money, not even a stipend from the Government.

Manliness requires that we do God’s work. We go to many poor nations, we do not disrespect our women, our widows and our poor. We must teach families to respect each other just as we respect our brothers in our community. It takes great patience to love, serve, sacrifice as we care for each other and the poor as men of God in community.

We men must provide for those forgotten ones, for those in trouble, for those in prison, for those on drugs, all those who are impoverished and have no one to care materially and spiritually. We must build up our country. We must be fathers of our country. We must be patriarchs.

We men must not define our manhood by sexuality, how many women we have had, how much money we make nor how athletic we are. We measure our manhood, our sense of responsibility — morally, ethically, spiritually as well as taking care of others materially. As the prophet Isaiah (42: 1-7) tells us: “I have put my spirit upon him, and he will bring justice to the nations.

“A broken reed he will not crush, nor will snuff out the light of the wavering wick.

“He has established justice and truth… He has to establish justice on Earth.

“I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations.

“To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.”

Strange. But on the other hand, a father must lead the way and be firm and strong, yet he must lead gently. God is a father and He must take responsibility for the poor and the society. It takes women, however, to make the word flesh, the women get things done.

Most of us are loved most demonstratively, powerfully and continuously by our mothers. But men are stricter and more law and word driven while women are more gentle and merciful. Judas is more money driven and concerned with this world but Mary, the mother of Jesus, is faithful and a mother of us all. Mary Magdalene kisses the feet of Jesus and wipes His feet. Martha cooks all day long and never stops building the home. Man or woman, which one would you wish to be? It is not for you to decide, but for God to decide.

God bless you, happy and Holy Easter! We need your help, we will be feeding 3,000 prisoners and 1,000 homeless on April 4 and 5. We need your help by giving and working; please call us 876-782-1493 and ask for Brother Noel.