LAST Wednesday night a man named Oswald was found at our main gate at 3 North Street. He is a young man, maybe 21 to 23 years old. He was lying unconscious, practically naked, in the gutter water on the street. He could hardly be seen in the dark of night.

The brothers at Corpus Christi, at 9:00 pm, heard a loud crying, weeping, mourning as if someone was in agony. The young man was stretched out in the dark night like an inert corpse. The brothers lifted him by his shoulders and legs. Blood drained down his chest. Half of his chest, from his head to his waist, was white with pus and blood.

“What happened to you?” asked one brother. “What is your name?”

“My name is Oswald. Some boys throw acid all over me. It burns me like hell! Bad! Bad!” he replied.

The brother looked across the street and saw three boys near a telephone pole. They were laughing and pointing at Oswald and the brothers. Wynton Williams drove up to the scene. Oswald cried out, “Lawd me God, it burn me! It burn me!”

The brothers lifted him into Wynton’s car. “I will take him to the hospital,” Wynton said.

Two policemen drove up in another car, and they saw the pitiable sight of Oswald, half-naked and covered with blood. The brothers said, “We have to take him to Kingston Public Hospital before he dies.”

The police asked, “You know you cannot just take up the man without proper legal permission. You need someone from social services to find out his proper name, address, and what happened to him.”

A brother replied, “We will take him in at Faith Centre, 3 Laws Street, run by Missionaries of the Poor. But first we must take him to the hospital.”

One of the policemen said to the brothers, “God bless you, God bless you! Go ahead and do your good work. We will follow you to KPH.”

At the hospital the brothers found out that Oswald has no house, no job, no relatives, and no identity card. He is Mr Nobody. The brothers explained in the hospital that Missionaries of the Poor will take him in.

We take in the homeless and destitute without charge. We depend upon divine providence to provide for the poor and homeless. They stay with us until they die. We believe that somehow God will provide for the brothers and the poor. We are His, and we belong to Him. We are doing God’s work and He will provide with us.

Psalms 69: 30-35: I will praise God’s name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving.

This will please the Lord more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hooves.

The poor will see and be glad — you who seek God, may your hearts live!

The Lord hears the needy and does not despise His captive people.

Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and all that move in them,

For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah. Then people will settle there and possess it.

It has been 44 years since the brothers have been taking care of the homeless and destitute under the fourth vow of free service to the least of our brothers and sisters in 14 countries. Please pray for us and help us to continue this challenging work in Jamaica, Haiti, India, Africa, The Philippines, and Indonesia.

God bless you. May you have a happy and holy 2025.

Father Richard Ho Lung