So the younger son set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.  Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him.(Luke 15: 20-28)

I am the older brother in the parable.

Like most people, I like to imagine myself to be the prodigal son who was received openly and lovingly by the Father. Alas, it is too beautiful an image to forgo. There was a time when I was that son. However, I cannot be the perpetual prodigal son. I came home to be with the Father. Now, I have been living in His household for a while. I enjoy all the benefits of being His child. I also serve in His household. I have more in common with the older brother in this parable now.

It would have been great if Jesus ended this parable with the estranged young man returning home; a perfect happy ending. Instead, Jesus brought the older brother into the story. An happily ever after story becomes a sort of tragedy. The older brother wasn’t happy with the Father’s standard. It seemed to him that his father had none. Before we judge the older brother, we need to ask ourselves how we would feel if God received someone whom we know to be an ungrateful egoistical person as if he was a saint returning home. I am not sure that I would be very enthusiastic with such a reception. The older brother was upset that His Father welcomed with open arms his self-centered younger brother without any conditions. It almost sounds like the Father was into “cheap” grace. The older brother might have done things differently. Unfortunately for him, he was not the owner of the household. He just happened to be privileged to live in His Father’s household; just like anyone of us.

Since the beginning of this year, the number of homeless teens and children has increased. I would say that the numbers have doubled. Unfortunately, many of the newcomers are not necessarily agreeable or charming. Some of them are intimidating and aggressive. They have grown accustomed to the tough life in the streets and adopted a persona that helps them survive in the streets. I understand why they do it. Nevertheless, it makes it hard for us to have any affection for them. To be honest, I don’t really want to spend time with them. I would rather have quality time with the ones we have known for years. They are pleasant and nice; qualities which are lacking in these newcomers. We wait on the steps of the cathedral for the children and I secretly hope that none of these new aggressive ones come to us.

Eric approached us and asked to play a game. He looks like a ten year old but he is at least fifteen and has a face of an angel. A few weeks ago, he tried to set a boy on fire with paint thinner. Then, on another day, he threw paint thinner at random people who walking pass the Cathedral. This chemical is dangerous and can cause serious damage to the skin and eyes. Eric is quite unpredictable and dangerous. He does not show any remorse for his actions. We suspect that he has mental illness. However, we can never be sure because we are not mental health professionals. Today he wanted to spend time with us. Obviously, he is not our first choice. We were waiting one of God’s children to come to us and Eric was the first to approach us. During our time together, I saw some of the other “more pleasant” teens walking by. I was tempted to call them over and then I realized that today God brought Eric to us. Therefore, he deserved our full and undivided attention. We sat and played with him. He stayed with us for a long time, almost our whole time in the streets. This is the first time he has done this. He was calm and peaceful. I know a little bit about his background. I met his mother some years ago. Back then, he used to come the streets occasionally. Recently, the streets have become his permanent home. His mother suffers from severe mental illness. She has two sons and they suffered neglect and abuse in their homes. Both are in the streets. For a short time today, he spent quality time with us. Perhaps God wanted him to know that there are people who would still give him the time and attention that he needed. I was waiting for the teens that I liked but the Father sent Eric to us instead. Maybe, Eric will not remember this time together. With his mental state, it is very possible that he will forget everything. This is not really important in a way. We were given an opportunity to see Eric the way God sees him.

The next day was not any different. Our usual group of teens and children were nowhere to be found. Instead a teenager named Maxwell came up to us. We have known this young man for many years. He always looked grumpy and unfriendly. He never spoke to us all these years but today he wanted to do an activity with us. He asked if we had something to do together. We played a game. He wore his usual grumpy face for a while until Mary said something that made him smile. He stayed with us throughout our time together. He has been in the streets most of his life. He is one of the young people whose whole family are connected with the street life. I know that a documentary crew made a movie about him once. Now we sense that he is tired of being homeless and is looking for something different. As we playing with him the other teens approached us and Maxwell warned them that they need to behave in our presence because we deserve their respect. He was trying to say something to us indirectly.

This week was characterized by interactions with teens and children that I would consider unpleasant. They are people that I would avoid in a normal circumstances. It is easy to only see the negative aspect of these young people because they refuse to show their more vulnerable nature. However, the Father waits patiently for all his children to return to His household. It is open not only to those whom I like. This is not my house. The Father is very indiscriminate. He loves all those who come to Him without imposing conditions. This is our God that Jesus portrays in His gospel. If we live and serve in His household, then we have to learn to love the way He loves. If not, we are just lost souls living in the Father’s household like the older brother of the parable. He was worse off than his young brother who was lost in the world. He was lost because he did not understand His Father’s love whereas the older brother did not want to understand or participate in His Father’s joy.

To my surprise, I enjoyed all my interactions with these difficult teens and children. I saw that Eric was a lost and confused child. He might be unstable but he still desires to be loved. Maxwell is unhappy with life. He was born into this situation. Perhaps there was nothing in his life that brought him joy. All these young people have been nurtured in hatred and anger. Their lives look bleak and empty. The world judges them according to what they see on the outside. I am just like the rest of the world but I do serve a Father who sees the hearts of these teens and children. The Father knows the thoughts and struggles of these difficult children. When He rejoices the return of each wayward child, then we have to trust in the Father’s judgment and rejoice with Him. It is like taking a leap of faith.

In the parable, Jesus never tells us why the young man left His father’s house. The Father never asked why he came back. He was just happy that the younger son realized that His Father’s love is generous enough to receive him. I am the older son. I don’t have to become like the older son of the parable. However, it is important to recognize that the potential is there in me to be like him. It is also good to remind myself that I am just a mere servant in the household of an extravagantly generous God. I cannot change God and expect Him to be only kind and generous to the people that I like. I need to allow God to be God and celebrate His generosity. In doing so, I might also come to realize that it is very generous of God to allow me to participate in His joy of receiving a wayward child back into His home.

I am thankful that Jesus ended the parable with the story of the older brother.

At that very hour some Pharisees came, and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.”
Luke 13:31-33

We spent a week with our goddaughters. It is a miracle that they are now living here in Brazil now. It was something completely unexpected. The last time we saw them was in Singapore about ten years ago when they were just 3 and 2. Now they are living in the capital of Brazil and old enough to ask serious questions. They know that we are working with children and teens just like them. Since we are their godparents, they sense a close and yet indirect connection with the homeless children. They were curious about them. They are learning that life is not always fair. One of the many questions they asked about was our personal safety. They wanted to know if our lives were in danger. To be honest, I never thought about it. Well, at least, not recently.

They remembered the time when a mentally-ill woman tried to set me on fire. They asked about this. I did not have much to say about it. It seemed a lot time ago. Strangely, I wasn’t traumatized by the event. There was another occasion where a man attempted to kidnap a woman at the steps of the Cathedral where we sit and wait for the children. It ended with a shoot out and two men dead. One of them was a homeless man who happened to be there and made an attempt to rescue the woman. It occurred exactly at the time when we usually meet the children. However, on that particular day, we had to make an emergency trip to the States because Mary’s mother was seriously ill and she died consequently. The death of a loved one saved us from encountering death in the streets.

During the course of the week, we visited a historic church constructed in the 1700s in a tiny UNESCO Heritage town in a state above São Paulo. The entrance of the church bore the words, Memento Mori which literally means “remember death”. It is a forgotten tradition in modernity. It used to be common for the church to remind us of our personal mortality before we enter the sanctuary.

Today, we pretend that death can be overcome if we don’t talk or think about it. The tradition of “Memento Mori” is contrary to this idea. It tells us that death is inevitable and we encouraged to confront it face to face. The vestiges of this attitude is evident in our Ash Wednesday liturgy; “You are dust and unto dust you shall return.” It is a time of repentance which does not mean feeling sorry for our sin. It is changing our lives. The reality of our impending death helps us evaluate the quality of the life we are living. In many cases, repentance is a salvation from wasting our precious moments away.

One of life’s many paradoxes is that our awareness of our mortality helps us live our lives more completely. This Truth is not restricted to Christianity. Epicurean and Stoic philosophies which were prominent in Jesus’ time also came to the same conclusion.

The Pharisee warned Jesus of an imminent death. It is quite simple. The fear of death is universal. Consequently, it is the best way to control the behavior of someone. Governments use it. Religious authorities use it. Your common criminals use it. Businesses use it. People have constructed their lives around fear. We are convinced that if we live in gated communities, our lives will be secure from a certain death. I live in a neighborhood that is dangerous in the evenings. Therefore, our apartment building has a night guard. Everything is there to ensure us that we are safe from death. Jesus Himself, on several occasions, avoided certain places because it was dangerous for him. There is nothing wrong from keeping ourselves safe. However, we cannot stop living our life in order to be safe from death.

Jesus talked about abundant life. Today, many have reduced abundant life to financial well-being. Neither Jesus nor his disciples were affluent but they lived a complete life. They lived a meaningful existence. Jesus was completely aware of who He is. He was a prophet and healer. He was aware of his imminent death which was intricately linked with his ultimate vocation. The fear of death was not going to hinder him from living His life to the fullness. Jesus discovered His significance in this life and it helped Him to overcome His fear of death. We must not forget that Jesus was 100 percent human like us and therefore, He was subjected to all our fears and weaknesses.

Our mortality is scary. Anyone who says that they are not afraid of death is not really telling the truth or are immature. I used to be one of them. I used to think that I could face death fearlessly. Now, I am older and perhaps a little wiser. The reality of death has dawned upon me. This is a good thing. It is helping me discover my life. Jesus never wasted His time on fear because death was imminent. Instead, He spent His time building upon the foundation of Life. He brought Life to those around him. He spoke the words of healing and forgiveness to those who downtrodden by death. His knowledge of His imminent death transformed Him into an agent of Life to those around Him.

In the streets, death manifests itself in different stages. There are people who spend their whole day in a drunken stupor so that they can avoid facing life. Our children and teens use intoxicants to escape their pain and suffering. There is the danger of violence. There is the presence of hatred which seems to be growing stronger each day. However, in this death-inducing environment, God has opened our eyes to see life. While the world tends to act and believe that death is more powerful than life, the gospel proves otherwise. Death cannot hinder the manifestation of Love revealed in the Gospel. However, in order for us to discover this Truth, we have to cast out our fear of death. We cannot allow our fear dominate our actions. At the same time, we cannot create a artificial premise that when we step out in faith and face the dangers of death, we will escape unscathed. Jesus said,
‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. (John 15:20)

Jesus did not escape death but his death brought life to millions. We are all going to die. Therefore, it is essential that we live our lives in a way that promotes life in this world.

Living an abundant life doesn’t mean living a life in the spotlight. It is just living a Life that is meaningful. The world may not notice what we do or how we live. Our names will not be written in history books. It doesn’t matter. All these things don’t matter when we reflect on our mortality. Our time is short and we have to live our lives in the place God has placed us. We need to move forward and trust that God will show us how to live our lives to the fullness.

Sergio is a young teenager with some mental challenges, who has been spending time with us lately. We are not sure if his challenges are organic or consequences of neglect. He used be one of the most aggressive teens in the streets. He used to get into fights daily and some of the teens were even afraid of him. However, he has changed recently. He has been spending more time with us. He has stopped his aggressive behavior and sometimes he sits and waits for us like yesterday. It was raining and he asked if we could do something together and he insisted that we go to a sheltered area. On the way there, he said quite randomly, “You are very special to me. You are like my parents and uncle and aunty.” He stayed and colored with us for an hour. We discovered what it means to have abundant life in the simple words of Sergio. Death looms around the corner but it cannot overcome Life that is found in Love.

Jesus took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure,[a] which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. (Luke 9:28-32)
The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him.
(Luke 9: 38-39)

Felipe was already waiting for us when we arrived. It was 7 am. About a year ago, we would have never thought that any of our youth could keep an appointment at this time of the day. Most of them would be sleeping at this time. Survival demands that they stay awake when it is dark and sleep when it is light. Felipe’s life has changed drastically over the past year. The change was gradual. I already wrote about it once but it is worth telling the story again. Some things need to be told several times in several different ways to be fully appreciated.

A year ago, Felipe was using paint thinner and, on occasions, cocaine. Something that he has done since the age of 10. He used to be very shy and insecure. Sometimes he isolated himself from everyone. He once told us that he did not understand why he did this. We suspected depression. Initially, we thought that he would be one of the young people that would spend their whole life in the streets. He always was a very considerate and caring young man but he never showed any desire to seek a different life. The homeless life was the only reality he knew.

A couple of days ago, he called me and asked if he could borrow a small amount of money from me. He only had rice in his tiny room in an abandoned building which was occupied by other squatters like himself. The place is infested with scorpions and his room is dark and noisy. He also has four children to feed from the ages of 3 months to twelve. Three belong to his wife and the youngest is his. However, he is a father to all of them. He will get his first paycheck in a week’s time. He used to beg in the streets to get money for food but now he decided that he needs to change and stop doing this. He repeated several times in the message that he will pay me back right away. For many, this situation would be considered a nightmare. For Felipe, it represented a positive change for him. He has a job. He has a family. He has a responsibility to find a way to feed his girlfriend’s children and his infant son. All this has given new meaning for his existence. It has brought harmony to his once chaotic life.

We brought the money to him and he apologized profusely. He thought that it was a shameful thing to ask for money from us. This was strange because he used to beg for money all the time. However, today he was a different man. In reality, his salary is not going to be enough for him to live on. He is going to need help for a while. We told him that we were glad that he called us. We wanted him to know that God has placed us here to give the support that he needs to find significance in his life. He smiled and said that we were going to make him cry. We did not lend him the money. It was our gift to him which he refused initially. He wanted it to be a loan. Mary explained that we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the kind and generous gifts we receive from people. Therefore, we are merely passing on what we received. He hugged us. Before he left, we made plans to meet him at 7 a.m. in two days time to go the military office. In Brazil, every young man has to register to serve in the army. However, only a few are chosen to serve and the rest have to participate in a special ceremony to swear allegiance to the flag. Only then, they will get the final document allowing them to work. Felipe was lacking this final piece of the bureaucratic puzzle. The company that he was working for cannot officially employ him until he gets this final document. He wanted us to accompany him this ceremony.

The ceremony lasted for a few minutes. We went for breakfast together. Felipe was glowing with hope. He was talking about how he was getting in touch with his father after ten years. His father was in prison for many years. It was the impetus that drove him and his brother to the streets. We never met his brother. He got lost in the judicial system. However, now his father is in a different place. Felipe got in touch with him. It seems like he is getting reconciled with his family. He showed some pictures of his mother and siblings. A older woman sat at the next table and eavesdropped on our conversation. When she heard Felipe talking about his infant child, she finally said that Felipe was too young to be father. He smiled and showed her the picture of his infant child. The old Felipe would have never done this. He would have recoiled from any human contact. We spent the whole morning with him and it was such a spiritually enriching time. It was our moment of the transfiguration where we saw God’s face in the life of Felipe. However, the story doesn’t end here. We have to come down from the mountain.

We saw another young man whom we haven’t seen for years. It was Igor. I wrote about him about five years ago. He was making some progress in his life then. He was beginning to hope for something better. However, we eventually lost contact with him. There was almost a year of complete silence. Today, he surprised us in the streets.

We playing games with the children and he came up to us and asked if he recognized him. It was a joy to see him. He gave the biggest and longest hug we ever received from anyone in the streets. He told us almost immediately that all is not well with him. He has always been honest with us. He told us that his life was complicated now and he was not in a good spiritual place. Obviously he was doing well financially. He was well-dressed and looked very healthy. He asked us if we had lunch. I believe that he wanted to take us out for lunch. However, it was already three o’clock. There was something similar and different about Igor. While we were talking, some of the children were sniffing paint thinner near us. Igor stood up and told them not to do such things near our presence and they needed to respect us. The children and teens put their bottles of paint thinner away and left the area. This was when it was obvious that Igor is connected with the gang. In another circumstance, we would be discouraged with this new development. However, something has changed within us. Maybe Felipe has something to do with this change. We have seen God’s face in Felipe’s life. It has brought reaffirmed hope in us. We are hopeful for Igor. He could have avoided us. Instead he chose to look us up. He wanted us to spend time with us. He made sure that we knew that the time and energy we spent on him was not wasted. He cherishes us. We cherish him too.

Two young men that we have known for a long time. Two young men who have become very important to us. They are both success stories. They know that they have someone who loves them. Felipe is trying to find his way in this world and Igor knows that he has taken the wrong path. They both have to discover how to walk in harmony with God’s presence in this world. They are beginning to discover the right tools. Igor is lost for the moment but he knows that he needs to find his way back. At the present moment things look uncertain and fragile but the same God whom we saw in Felipe’s life is also present in Igor’s life. Both young men need people to remind that God beckons them through love to walk in harmony with Him.

This is our transfiguration encounter this week.