In the face of this mega Hurricane Melissa, what can be done? The width of this great tribulation spans the hurricanes in the Caribbean and the Philippines. There is nothing now that I have seen that has been as disastrous and frightening as Hurricane Melissa. And yet last week Talisay, Cebu, in the Philippines was hit by Typhoon Tino, a storm of much greater magnitude than Melissa.

There are brothers from Jamaica living and working in the Philippines with the homeless and destitute, young and old, hopeless and without a home. Thousands upon thousands of cars and even containers are piled up and swallowed up by water and river floods. Look for this on the Internet, you will see a hurricane disaster like you have never seen or can imagine from the beginning of your life.

Remember now, brothers are there serving as missionaries from Jamaica. Aside from Melissa and Tino, there is a third Typhoon Uwan (Fung-Wong) which is closing in on Manila and Luzon, which is just as big as Tino.

I feel helpless and immobilised. Our brothers have gone to Montego Bay. We bring water for drinking and cooking. We carry food in packages and fresh foods. We bring clothes and medicines. We transport these in trucks to Montego Bay. We can only humbly provide for the sisters and the services to the poor at their clinic where they sleep.

The roof for their convent has been blown off, their doors have been smashed. We pick up the pieces of destruction and try to be positive. But this is all we can do as humble servants of the Lord. We can only pray that other helpers will rebuild the convent.

There are so many people who are lame, hungry, hopeless, and in this great tribulation. They describe their hurt in the sense of helplessness, the state of homelessness, the loss of loved ones and their dwellings.

Over 120,000 Jamaican homes are smashed and the roofs torn off. They speak out their desperation, not having anywhere to go. They are sleeping on wet mattresses and broken chairs with darkness all around. They try to remove the broken wood, sticks, and glass. And they worry for the five or six members of their families who are weeping and yelling in fear for their future fate. How will they live? How will they go to school? Where will they get money or goods? They are in desolation and sadness, what can we do. We can only do our best.

We have in Kingston about 400 homeless and destitute people who live with us. They are our residents who require full care day by day. I encourage our Compassionate Franciscan Sisters of the Poor to give them whatever we have and the brothers to help them in whatever way they can. I keep thinking that I must trust in God. He took care of us and our eight homes in Kingston, preventing us from being destroyed by Hurricane Melissa.

We are close to the sea on the south side of Kingston. Melissa was heading directly to attack us. We prayed all day and all night long from October 26 until the hurricane passed us.

We thought of the horror it would have been had Melissa made landfall in Kingston. If the monster Melissa struck us the water would have swallowed up and drowned the little children at Bethlehem home. The brothers would have drowned with the children who slept at the children’s home. The old ladies, and the old men, the mentally retarded and the cripples would have died, overcome by the floods. The brothers in their seminaries would have had to throw open their doors to welcome all the homeless people who have no place to go. But thank God for placing his hands over Kingston and St Andrew to protect us.

Aside from Jamaica, we are praying that the hurricane that struck Cebu and the one coming to Luzon will not unleash further destruction. Both are worse than Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica. Pray that this will not be the end times.

Matthew 24: 21…29-30: “For then there will be great distress unequalled from the beginning of the world until now — and never to be equalled again…Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.

“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the Earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.”

Father Richard Ho Lung

Father Richard Ho Lung is founder of Missionaries of the Poor. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or mopfounder81@gmail.com/www.missionariesofthepoor.org