I love my God

I love my country

I love Christ

I love my community

I love the poor

I love my people

I love my church

I give thanks to God for my gifts.

At the age of 85 I am grateful for the blessings the Lord has poured upon me. I want to give back to God all that He has given to me. The Lord claims all that I am, and I give Him t
hanks for every moment of my life, all the people I have known, and the vision He has placed in my heart and my mind.

The vision He has given me is a religious community who serve the poorest of the poor, building a community of men and women who pour out their lives and who do not wish the riches of the world for themselves, but want to sacrifice their lives and gifts to build the kingdom of God. Such a community is the most wonderful gift the Lord could give me.

He gave to Missionaries of the Poor everything, and now we give all back to Him. He has told us that He will give us not only our lives and struggles here on Earth but also the riches of the heavenly kingdom — which are greater than anything we have ever known.

It is true that we are all sinners but as 1 John 1:8 tells us, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” How can He love us so much, we who are so wicked and sinful? What a God we have! What a Saviour! What a lover! The Lord claims us despite our sins and our wrongs. We have so little to give Him and yet he gives us everything, especially Himself

This is the God who created us all and created everything to share and to give to one another. Thus we have all we need, and one another, to be a community and to provide for one another. We are here to serve one another and sacrifice ourselves for one another. This is the task that brings to us and to others happiness and peace. Why not be satisfied with this simple and very deep purpose that the Lord has given to us?

I consider the pigeons in our backyard. I consider the doves, the canaries, the hummingbirds, they all seek so little yet we stone them. Give them food, give them sanctuary, give them the love the Lord has given in His creation of them. Remember that the Lord loved them into being, just as He loved us into being. In Matthew 6:29 Jesus says: “Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.”

Have you ever thought how precious every human person is, even our enemies? Have you ever thought that every poor person is here to bring us salvation and love, by kindling in us charity and concern for the least of our brothers and sisters?

Have you ever thought how the old and forgotten love you and need your love and kindness, which brings us closer to God?

Have you thought that the babies in the womb, the 70 million in the womb of mothers who are yearly killed, and the 26,000 killed in the Jamaican women’s wombs are most precious in the eyes of the creator and have a right to life, our love, and the love of God?

I give thanks to God for all of life’s gifts.

The Very Rev Father Richard Ho Lung is founder of Missionaries of the Poor.