Our Father Thou Art in Heaven
Ambassador Renaud Bernadin (died on 4 October, 2002)
[[ translation from French by Hyppolite Pierre]]
Dear Lord, teach us the art of praying
With the same spirit as those righteous men and women who worked
• For light to fall upon darkness
• For us all to hear the cry of the poor
With the spirit of
• Karl Lévêque, who fought with conviction for more than twenty years against government-sponsored terror back home, but sadly died after 7 February, 1986.
• Raoul Léger, the Acadian civilian assassinated in Guatemala because of his struggle for the poor.
• Oscar Roméo, the Salvadorian Bishop, assassinated by death squad because he was fighting for human rights in his homeland.
• Martin Luther King, the principled nonviolent man who died victim of violent racism.
• Willy Roméus, our Bishop whose prophetic voice denounces the injustices done to the poor.
• Julia Esquivel, the poet and preacher who uses her voice to loud the cries of the voiceless in Latin America.
Teach us Dear Lord, with the spirit of Your Son our Savior and a Redeemer, whom You sent to us out of love.
OUR FATHER
• Father of Jean-Robert Cius, Daniel Ismael, Mackenson Michel,
gunned down in November 1985 inside their school yard.
You Lord, Our Father,
• Father of Christophe Channel, gunned down in Cap-Haïtien at his tailoring shop while sitting down, sewing.
And You Lord, Our Father,
• Father of those killed with a gun, or through electrocution at Fort Dimanche.
And You Lord, Our Father,
• Father of Bernadette Victor, Vladimir David,
Father of all those Young men and women gunned down by our army. You Father of those whom we knew to remember, and Father of those anonymous victims of atrocities while demonstrating for justice, human rights, and the right to live.
And You Lord, Our Father,
• Father of Charlot Jacquelin of Alpha Mission, captured in September of 1986, and who has since then disappeared, leaving behind a pregnant wife.
And You Lord, Our Father,
• Father of 1042 peasants from Jean-Rabel who have been either assassinated, or severely wounded from machete wounds.
And You Lord, Our Father,
• Father of each and everyone whose life conditions are both painful and degrading, because their misery is the source for:
○ the education of our petite bourgeoisie
○ the insulting luxury of the leech-minded few, who shamelessly entrap themselves onto our skin
○ the wealth of the thieves
○ the wealth of our compradors
○ the high living standard of wealthy nations
○ the mind-boggling expenditures for weaponry
And our Lord, Our Father,
○ Father of the poor and the persecuted on earth, whom You have chosen to create a new Church and a new Society.
And our Lord, Our Father,
○ Father to all of those who will die to ensure us a better future.
Our Lord, Our Father,
Father, our very own Father
Why this silence?
Where were You when they were killing us?
When our blood was enriching the soil of Haiti, our land?
When our blood was sprinkling the land, leaving in a red spot, redder than the burning sun, so much more potent than flame?
Why do You let them misuse their freedom?
Why don’t You react?
If You turn Your eyes off of us, who will we turn to?
They say that we have no Father
… but I know that You are there
… and that You wish us well.
THOU ART IN HEAVEN
Father, You Father to all of us,
Where is this heaven, Your home, which they promise us
as the reward for all our sufferings on earth?
Today, You tell us, not to despair,
To conquer this new earth and the new skies,
As proof of Your alliance with us mortals,
and that this new earth and these new skies are a deformed image of Your Kingdom among us.
They say that Our Father is way behind the clouds.
But we believe
○ that You are among us
○ even among those who mistreat us, torture us, crucify us
○ always, despite everything else, their Father as well, their Father who is in pain because of their misuse of their freedom.
Dear loving Father
Dear crucified Father
Father who keeps us free
Hallowed be thy name!!!
HALLOWED BE THY NAME!
Be blessed Our Dear Father, through our trials and tribulations. You should not have allowed our hair to fall off had You not known
• that we have the strength to endure the pain
• that we have the courage to support it all and even more, until our very suffering becomes our ultimate weapon
• that we have an ultimate weapon against which our enemies are powerless
Be blessed, our Lord!
Be blessed, for we can see hope passed our repression, and envision a better life
Be blessed, our Lord!
Be blessed for You give us strength that allows us
• to oppose
• to fight with the spirit of persistence
• to struggle tenaciously
• and to win
Be blessed, our Lord!
For we know that we shall win and when we do, we will proudly call Your name, for other reasons, with those like us who will be reborn in happiness, well-being, and in the spirit of our common humanity…
You, The God of Life,
Be blessed our Dear Lord!
THY KINGDOM COME
Kingdom of justice
• where swords will become plough shears, and machetes’ blade will become bed frames for our sick.
• where the tax money, from our coffee sorters, from products sold on our public markets, from our farmers, our professionals, will no longer be used to buy weapons that will kill our sons and daughters.
Thy Kingdom come
to ensure the eradication in Haiti of the system which tolerates
• children in virtual servitude in others’ home
• landless peasants, or those who work it to mostly benefit others
• oppression
• suspicion
• the wickedness of spies
• the wickedness of informers
• the impunity for murderers
so that everyone can
• eat when hungry
• rest without fear, sleep with both eyes shut tight
• dress properly in clothes, tailored for them and which fit them well
• learn in school and in life
so that
• the sick can be cured
• the homeless or quasi-homeless can have a real home
• the peasants can once again breed our race of native pigs, our kochon-kreyól
• those who lost their land can recover it
• those in prison for speaking the truth can be returned to their families.
• our ports and sidewalks no longer harbor our sons and daughters who give themselves to prostitution for just a few dollars.
• so that our children’s laughs and smiles no longer have the trace of malnutrition
• so that each one of us can grow up as the human being that each one of us is
• so that our political leaders learn to understand that they are public servants, not the public’s predators.
• so that this new earth be born in Haiti and throughout the world.
So that I do all I can to make this dream a reality.
THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
Lord, You ask me to choose between Your project and all others.
Enlighten me!
Allow me to be part of that project to redeem the world,
Through the baptism in Your Son’s death, and His transfer to this new world.
Thy will is
• that I exercise my freedom in fighting for and giving justice
• that as a people, we rule Haiti, submit it, govern it so that it be good for all its sons and daughters
• that I choose my camp
• that I build my tent with the poor of this land
• that I choose my sidewalk
…if I walk in the middle of the street, I shall get killed by passing cars
…if I walk on the wrong side of the street, I shall only find obstacles along my way
…But if I choose the right sidewalk, I shall, dear Lord, easily get to my destination.
Is Thy will, dear Lord
• that I use my knowledge, talents, my whole self, who I am thanks to Your grace dear Lord to benefit Your sons and daughters
• that I contribute to the transformation of this earth, rather than admiring it as it is, and accepting it as it looks?
• is Thy will, dear Lord, that we enjoy life to the fullest?
GIVE US THIS DAY, OUR DAILY BREAD
You’ve created me, Lord, at Your image and resemblance.
I am not begging You, not begging You dear Lord.
I am only requesting the fruit of my labor.
I cannot eat because of the misdeeds of others;
If my brain is weak, it is also because of the same.
God, why is it
• that others pay so little for what we so painstakingly produce?
• that our labor force is so underpaid?
• that our greedy managers profit so much from our work?
Dear Lord, we swear that no one, Haitian or foreigner, will be allowed to exploit us.
We will organize our labor unions, build our organizations, our cooperatives, our associations.
And we will fight until things change.
We have decided to no longer be the prey of vicious hunters.
This is why
• we want to replace those in power
• we want to transform society
• we want to be in control of our lives, our future.
Yes, dear Lord, we swear
• that we will fight until we share equitably from the wealth which we produce
• that we will take the predators away from their sanctuary to court, until they give back to us what has been stolen from us.
• They will have to give us back our jobs and reopen the factories.
You have given us dear Lord, hands and fingers to work with: we shall produce to care for ourselves.
And we will share with the unfortunate, the disinherited of our and other lands, so the bread’s taste can be sweeter
For such is our ultimate goal: live in justice, and share with others.
Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us
I have volunteered both my right and left cheek. On both occasions, they have slapped me.
What else do You want me to do, dear Lord?
I will now seek for justice
And once I find it
• Please dear Lord, remove by then, hatred in my heart
• Free my soul from the obsessive hate, so that I the victim, do not become a torturer.
To them, we the poor, the forgotten are called the worst. They say of us
• that we stink
• that from our genes comes the AIDS virus
• that we are a risk to the human race.
They dragged us in the mud, all with the wrong intention. They refused us
A glass of water, and they knew that we were thirsty. They were afraid that their porcelain would be contaminated. But ha, sometimes they needed labor, menial labor. And only then would we be allowed a glass of water.
We were not allowed to even step to their front door. They pushed us away everywhere we went.
They abused us, murdered us in the Bateys, in the prisons of Krome, at Cayo Lobos…
They’ve caused us to become Boat people, and then exposed our dead bodies on the beaches of Miami.
And now we are a people, uprooted and living in exile.
Our sisters’ body is nothing more than merchandise, offered in closed homes and at gentlemen’s club.
Their horses stepped on us; their police officers insulted us.
Help us dear Lord, so we never carry with us the seeds of hatred.
Help us instead dear Lord, to learn from them to be fair, as they are towards their own, as some of them are towards us, those who accompany us in solidarity, out of love, for the sake of humanity.
all we want dear Lord, is for them all to adhere to fairness to all people.
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION
Dear Lord, come to us and help us, so we don’t become what we are fighting against. Help us fight the temptation for
• power, money, intolerance, cupidity, egoism, desire
to be president or chief
• closing our eyes, our ears, our heart … so we can’t see, can’t hear, can’t acknowledge the rightful but difficult demands of the poor, the masses
• keeping silent and becoming the accomplice of the exploiters, the criminals, the torturers, the mischievous leaders of our people
• accusing those who are fighting in good faith for change, that they are communists.
Open our hearts and minds dear Lord, so we can discard the poor advices from wicked hearts, and embrace the wise ones coming from Your wise inspiration.
May the spirit of devotion to all grow into all of us, guide us so that our choices reflect those of Your own Son.
FREE US FROM EVIL
• In military green, in Tonton Makout blue, in soldiers khaki.
• Of the pain spitted out of Uzi, Ghalil, and Springfields, guns which we don’t produce, we can’t produce, but that are bought by our leaders from the taxes levied against the poor who farm our coffee, and work in sugar factories.
• Of the evil that comes out of global offices where they conceive how to give us the so-called aid that destabilizes our agriculture, weakens our economy, and renders us even more dependent upon others.
• of our rice
• of their foreign pigs, their kochon-grimèl
• of their food aid, their manje sinistre
• of their foreign second-hand clothes, their pèpè
• of their thirst for power.
• Of the evil that alienates us, and makes us deny who we are and where we come from, and transform us into torturers of our own brothers and sisters.
AMEN
I shall sing dear Lord a new song with
○ the smile of a child relieved from his hunger
○ the joyful Youth who lives in respect
○ the proud laborer at work
○ the mother happy with her life
○ the prisoner in euphoria back at his home
○ the confident emigrant thinking about back home
○ the gleeful lovers assured of their future
○ the beauty of the country, shaded with trees
○ the friendship of our foreign friends
○ the shared solidarity of our foreign friends
○ the admiration of all the marvels that You have provided us.
I shall sing a new song my Lord, and attest to Your name in thankfulness for centuries to come.
ALLELUIA!
ALLELUIA!
AMEN!
