The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. Luke 17:5-6

I am not sure if my life would be better if I could uproot trees or move mountains literally. However, it would improve a lot if I could overcome some of the obstacles I find within my soul. My life experiences contribute to who I am but there are some things that obstruct my path of discovering more great and wonderful things about God and eventually about myself. They are intricately connected. These stumbling blocks need to be removed. Sometimes they are a huge mountain that stands in my way and I need to have the courage to move it and cast into the sea to be destroyed. These personal obstructions are more often than not pernicious and detrimental to our souls. They are our Goliath: our monsters that hide under the bed. They are the things that paralyze us from becoming more Christlike in our spiritual walk.

For no rhyme or reason, a homeless adult that was sitting in front of us turned around and said, “Praça da Sé never changes!”. This is the actual name of the place where we minister to the children. It is funny that I have never mentioned it all these years. I always say that we meet at the steps of the cathedral or the “old center”. However, the official name in English means “the Cathedral’s Square”. The man was right. When I came to this place in 1993, there were a phenomenal number of homeless children walking around wrapped in old blankets and on top of this, there were hundreds of homeless adults scattered around. Today, the scene has not changed. The children even use the same type of blankets to wrap themselves. The country has gone through diverse economic and social changes over the past twenty something years and yet nothing has changed. This place remains the same. We have been here for more than six years and things remain the same at best, or in same cases they have become even worse. The plea of the apostles resounds with us, “Please increase our faith!” Sometimes it is hard to feel hope in an apparently hopeless situation.

On our way home, we heard someone calling out after us. We turned around and it was Camila. We met her six years ago when we came back to Brazil. She was only fifteen at that time. I don’t recall having much interaction with her then. She was involved with a group of teens that dealt with drugs. Even so, she would come to us and talk to us from time to time. Our conversations were always very brief. Then she disappeared for a while. We ran into her after few months later to find out that she had been imprisoned in the juvenile detention center. Over the years, our relationship become one of casual encounters. She was always happy to see us. She attributed many things to us that we honestly cannot take credit for. Camila progressed from a lost teenager to a determined young woman who fights for the best for her life. She has grown into a beautiful woman full of life and joy. She came up to us and gave us a big hug. She wanted to walk with us. Our conversation was simple. There were victories and challenges involved. There was nothing extraordinary about these. However, Camila is an orphan and spent most of her life in the streets. She is still technically homeless. She squats in an abandoned house with her boyfriend. She is presently 8 months pregnant. They sell bottled mineral water in the streets to survive. She told us that she has everything she needs for the baby now. She told us that she is going to move on and slowly overcome the mountains in her life. Camila told us in several occasions that we always have been a source of encouragement to her. This is strange for us because we hardly did anything for her. Regardless of this, Camila found something in us that helped her. We literally did nothing for her. However, for Camila, we did a lot. Maybe we are looking for something big that we did for her life. On the other hand, God used our little mustard seed conversations with her to give Camila the strength she needed. Motherhood is going to be challenge for her. Nevertheless, this young woman is going to garner all the faith she has to face the mountains before her.

Faith is something personal and yet it is contagious. It spreads to those around us. It helps them see things that perhaps they never consider before. Camila does not expect faith to change the circumstances of her life. She is too smart to believe this. On the other hand, she needs faith to help live in harmony with what God is doing in her life. She has taught us an important lesson. Praça da Sé might always remain the same. There might always be countless homeless children and adults here. Our faith is not going to change these things. It is not about changing things. It is about helping us become more Christlike. Jesus was and is the most perfect servant of God. He showed us through his life that our faith is sufficient to teach us to be a good and faithful servant, nothing more and nothing less. We are not meant to be political messiahs nor superheroes. We don’t have enough faith for such things. We have faith to be simple servants. Even though we get dismayed with the injustice and violence that surrounds us, we need to use our faith to see that beyond these things. We need to see that there is a hopeful Presence in the midst of hopelessness. This Presence gives us the hope to move on even when things fall apart. We don’t need to be spiritual giants to see this Hope. All we need is a mustard seed faith; something that all of us have within us.