Diary of the Ghetto Priest | Jamaica! We are losing our way

Jamaica! Jamaica! Where are we going?

There were so many gunshots this past week.

There are so many dead each week.

There are so many wounded this week.

The anger multiplies with children battling with each other in the streets. Gunmen indiscriminately shooting, caring not who they kill. It doesn't matter. "All of dem bwoy pon de odda side must dead." Little children killed - two years old' four years old' 12 years old. Who is the killer? "Me don't know. Me can't tell. Me don't dare to tell. Odda wise me dead."

Dear Father in heaven. Where did we go wrong? We have lost our way. We travelled the road of our own passions. We did what our feelings dictate. What our appetites dictate. Lord, forgive our nation. Forgive us! Forgive us! Forgive us!

Peaceful Jamaica

If we do your will, Lord, surely we will not be lost. If we do your will, Lord, surely we will be peaceful and happy. Jamaica, our homeland, where are we going? What should we do Lord?

We are dying as a nation.

We are like a stillborn child; A nation given so much, so much promise, but we do not seek to be ourselves - children of God, brothers to Jesus.

I am going to stay by my country. I was born here not by accident, but by God's will. My parents came from China, but I was born in Jamaica. I have lived here all my life, I will die here if it be God's will - more than likely, since I am nearly 78 years.

It began in the 1970s. Violence was introduced by the politicians. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," and we have continued that tradition spawned in the concrete jungles of Jamaica.

We glamourised pleasure, money, greed, the good things in life. We cast out hard work, sacrifice, service, self-control.

Look at our streets, look at the children spawned out of lust rather than love; look at the women labouring for a little living; look at the men gambling and playing dominoes from dusk to dawn.

'I have sinned, you have sinned'

We are a nation of children without parents - sanctified by the leaders of our country.

We can't keep having children without morals.

We can't continue to have parents without marriage.

We can't have sex without love and commitment.

Self-control, sacrifice, service to one another! We know this is God's will! If we do not go the way of God, we will go our own way - our own way is the way of Adam and Eve - according to the way of the flesh, the way of the world.

Look at Jamaica! A beautiful land beyond comparison; look at the tradition God has given us - a Christian faith, a country of decency, respect, laughter, sense of humour, charity, and, love for one another; then there is boldness and courage, the talent, and love of our God.

It is being lost! The sense of gratefulness and thanksgiving to our Creator and for His son Jesus! What goodness and abundance the Lord has given to us in our Island Jamaica - and the people! So warm, so sensible! This all came from our love of the Lord.

Now we are going our way! I have sinned, you have sinned, all of us have sinned! We have not gone the way of the Lord. We must stop blaming and condemning each other. We must each say "I am guilty!" And, thereafter correct in Christian way each other.

My sin, our sin, is all rooted in one sin; selfishness, self-concern, little concern for others, little concern for God and his will for our country.

Look at it, this beautiful land and the seas! Look at it, this beautiful people, look at our Christian tradition and we have the greatest leader! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!