Diary of a Ghetto Priest | Devoted to the cause of Christ

I will die for you. I have asked the Lord, why more years? I am now 80 years – more than three score and 10. It is 80 years for those who are strong. I am not strong, Lord, and still, I am alive. If it pleases you, Lord, I will dance for my people and make a fool of myself. I want to make them happy as a man of God. I am here to bring good news to the people.

“Richard, it is not time. I have other things I want you to do.” It is time to die, Lord. Enough is enough. But if it is your will, Lord, I will go on to do your will.

Sixteen years ago, I should have died. My doctor, Gerald Bortalagzo, ordered me: “Come right now, and you must see a heart specialist.” While I was on the operating table, I felt I was in heaven. I recovered by the grace of God, and here I am, 80 years old, full of life. Then there was the murder of our brothers in 2005, martyred by the grace of God. They are there in heaven now, Marco and Suresh. And still, here I am alive.

WE ARE MISSIONARIES

I pray to them – I pray to St John Paul, and I pray to Mother Theresa, those great saints. I love them, and I am devoted to them because they love the poor of Jesus Christ. I want their blessings from heaven, both for myself and my brothers all over the world working with the poor. The Lord has said to his disciples, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must attend to them also, they will need my voice also. So there shall be one flock”. We are missionaries, and the Lord sends all, including myself, on missions.

Why not others, Lord? Appoint others. I am too old. They are the young ones; they are strong; they are the future.”

“You have already founded the Missionaries of the Poor (MOP). They are your sons. You have cared for them for 39 years. You are their founder and their father. There are other sheep. I have told you, the founder is the soul of the community. Without the founder, you will have no soul. You have already given them the vision of Christ. As long as they are faithful to the words I have given you, they will have life.”

Dear Lord, thank you for the privilege of having founded MOP. I am a sinner – the greatest of sinners. Yet, they love me, and, likewise, my people. Moreover, even God loves me, though I have confessed my sins more and more to Him. I do my confession to the Lord and my confessors. I have felt His love and the promise of protection from the thorn in my flesh.

But now, it is time. My mission is still incomplete, but maybe the best wine is left for last. For this reason, the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again, but I lay it down on my own accord.

Lord, you know my voice, my work. You know my voice, my actions. You know that you have called me to be by your side, to work with you, to live with you, and to do what is your command, and finally, to be with you.

Father Ho Lung and Friends presents Isaiah at the National Arena from September 28-29 and October 5-6, 2019.