NO matter what others claim, there is no other God but Jesus Christ. I do not believe that any god who promotes violence, power and dominance, individualism, selfishness, and wealth can be considered a true and good god.

There are gods who have been pronounced but in matters such as oneness, truth and reality there is only the Trinity, with Jesus Christ the Messiah who is the one Son of the Father, united with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is from all ages and yet came to us in time; the King of Peace and the Lord of Lords; the word made flesh, begotten before all ages.

I say all this just as a simple man, born of simple parents, in a simple village called Richmond in St Mary. I am surprised that Jesus came to all of us in a simple place, from simple parents, and yet we are born no different from the divine Son of God and are called to be like Him.

My mother and my father, Janet and William, could not speak English. Though my parents were Buddhists, and they loved nature and respected all people, they did not know of a deep, personal Christian God. But Sarah, our volunteer helper, loved my parents and us their children and had pity on us. She taught us about a loving Jesus, a kind and gentle Saviour who loved the poor.

Then there were stories about a personal Jesus, an individual God. His name was Jesus Christ, who came into our lives and loved us and took care of us. He revealed Himself to poor people like my family, said Sara; He liked simple people, and did many favours, and spoke kind words to simple people and encouraged them. Yet, at the same time, He revealed Himself as King and Lord while remaining simple.

At Christmas time, three kings followed a brilliant star in the heavens. It was the brightest of all stars that ever shone in the skies. This star travelled and led the three kings to a little village where there was a little manger, where there was a simple woman, Mary, and her carpenter husband Joseph.

With Jesus warm in His mother arms and the grass, sheep and shepherds who surrounded them, they knelt down together in peace and perfect happiness. Flooded by the light of the Bethlehem star which stood still, high in the sky above the manger, there were angels who sang, “Glory to God in the highest and peace to men of goodwill.”

How can it be that three kings, powerful and royal, had gathered around the shepherds, the sheep, and the poor maiden and her husband and the child, adoring them as though they were royalty when they were, in fact, simple? The three kings brought gold, frankincense and myrrh, symbolising royalty, divinity, death and burial. At the same time, happiness, peace and joy filled the surroundings everywhere on Earth.

This child was still and quiet, bringing about goodness, joy and contentment. In a world normally full of darkness, pride, anger, power and self-importance, Jesus — Prince of Peace and Lord of Lords — had come into the warlike world, not like a king or giant with great power but as a child who fills the world like a simple, humble servant, vulnerable to the Herods and Pontius Pilates with swords in their hands.

We are all called in this new year to develop a new world of peace and love with the poor women of Jamaica who are so much like Mary, the mother of Jesus, humming Christmas lullabies in our hearts for the rest of our lives.

Father Richard Ho Lung is founder of Missionaries of the Poor.

E-mail: mopfounder81@gmail.com

www.missionariesofthepoor.org