In these 40 days of Lent we either centre on Christ and become really close to Him or we reject Him and hate Him. These are days when we are given opportunity, provided by the Church, to love Jesus or otherwise to stone Him, and kill Him. According to the gospel from St John 10: 32, the Jews told Him, “We are not stoning you for doing good works, but for insulting God; you are only a man, and you make yourself God.”

People reject Christ because He threatens their desire to do what they please and their habitual religious customs. There are those who do not want to believe in Christ’s absolute statement that He is the son of God, and that He should have mastery and power over all of us. In truth, non-believers do not want to be separated from their own will and ways, especially the pleasures of this world. Our modern world does not want the true God, who is divine, to whom we must bend down low and worship.

As for us serious Christians, however, we want to bend down low and worship Christ; our salvation is in Christ. He alone is the greatest of all, He alone can heal us from all our ailments. He alone can save us from our sins and bring us to heaven, the everlasting kingdom of our Heavenly Father. Christ is truly our God and yet our brother. What He says, what He does, and what He presents us with is His divine presence. What He calls us to be is from the almighty God. He is the son of the Father and the mediator of the Father’s great goodness.

Everybody has a god or seeks an absolute purpose in life. Money is the god for many. So, too, sex or pleasure. We look at politics, power, or position as our god. We want to be considered to be the greatest or the best in our ambitions in life but, in truth, our only salvation is God, the one true God, Jesus Christ who tells us that He is our Lord and saviour, and shows us what is happiness, meaning and a true purpose in life.

Jesus shows us by His works and His words that He is the one true God. There is no other who has done what He has done or anyone who has said what He has said. “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). Jesus says this because He does not want us to be confused. But He wants us to follow Him and bring about a world of truth and love, a world of justice and peace.

Because of my love for Him and my absolute certainty that there is only one true God, and only one true Son of God, I wrote a hymn recently:

DEAREST FATHER

I will live in you

And you’ll live in me

And we live eternally.

Oh Father, dearest Father

There’s nowhere else to be

Oh Jesus, dearest brother

The Father lives in you

You and I in the Father

And the Father lives in you

Come to me, my son

Come and live with me

I will give you life

Ask of me, and I’ll give you everything,

Gifts that will never die

CHORUS

Eat of my flesh, my friend

Drink of my blood, my friend

You will live in me, my love

And I will live in you

Father, dear father, thank you

For sending Christ your Son

Jesus gave me His own life

Your one begotten Son

Every word you give

I tried to live

I’ve sinned, you forgive my wrongs

And you take me to yourself, Lord

And raise me gently to yourself

Thank you, oh dearest Father

For sending your only Son

You showed us your mercy

You send Him to die for us all

(Go to Verse III and end with chorus).

I wish you all the best this Holy Week, which celebrates the crucifixion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead. The promise has been made that if we die with Him we will rise with Him into eternal life. God Bless you all, my people of Jamaica!

Come and visit our poor and contact us:

Rev Fr Richard Ho Lung, MOP

Founder, Missionaries of the Poor

87 Hanover Street, PO Box 8525

Kingston CSO, Jamaica, WI

Tel: (876) 948-0280

E-mail: mopfounder81@gmail.com

Web: www.missionariesofthepoor.org