When she introduced herself for the first time, both of us had the same image of a teenage witch from the comics of our childhood. Besides, it is not a common name here in Brazil. She is the first one in the streets. Consequently, we never forgot her name even though she disappeared soon after our first meeting which was a few years ago. Then just like magic, she reappeared again last year. It was during the worst period of the Pandemic when food was scarce and the death toll was high. She ran up to me with her childlike smile and before she could say anything, I blurted out her name, “Sabrina!” She was amazed that I remembered. It sealed our connection with her. Of course I never told her the only reason why I recalled her name. She doesn’t need to know this. Nevertheless, useless knowledge paid off this time.

She is one of the many girls who have started drawing close to us. This is something new. Usually we have more boys in our circle of friendship. Now, we have a growing number of girls who interact with us. Initially they were apprehensive. It is harder for them to believe that someone might want to show kindness to them without any ulterior motives. Regrettably, they have ample reasons for thinking this way. Now, they are letting their guard down and are slowly approaching us.

Maybe it is because we have been here for a long time. In fact, among all the social workers and church people who worked with the homeless youth, we are the only ones who remained. We are also much older now than when we started and hopefully a little wiser. Some of these girls were preteens then and now they are in their early twenties. The same girls who used to snub us and sometimes were even hostile towards us are now counted among our favorites. They just needed time. We knew this but frankly speaking, I never expected that it would take so long. It did and we are glad that we persevered. It is worth it.

Getting back to Sabrina, she does not always sleep in the streets. She usually spends few months sleeping in the streets and then she disappears. She developed a pattern. On the first few days, she is usually full of energy and happy. Most likely she is relieved to have escaped her living conditions. Something she recently revealed to us however, only in pieces. It is rare for someone to tell you their whole life story in one sitting. Most of our children share their stories in small doses. For some reason, she was rejected by her family and was forced to lived an older man. She was quick to follow with the fact that he was gay. She did not want us to conjure up unnecessary images. Unfortunately, her stay with him created other problems which brought her back to the streets.

As I was saying, she is always happy the first few days in the streets and then she gradually slips into a melancholic mood and then she isolates herself before leaving the streets. This is the cycle I observed so far. I mentioned it to her and she was surprised. She said, “Uncle Stephen knows me very well.” In one of her low emotional states, I saw her taking out a piece of paper and starting to draw. She looked peaceful and happy when she did it. We decided to surprise her with a gift of a coloring book which we did but we forgot the coloring pencils. The the next day, she purposely went to one of the centers where the teens can take showers and found some color pencils. She colored a page for us to see. Eventually, we bought her case of color pencils and a sharpener. She was so happy and hugged us tightly. From then onwards, we were always greeted with hugs. She finished her book real fast and then unfortunately someone stole it. Usually it is due to jealousy more than anything else. It really upset her but we bought another set of books and new case of color pencils. When she received them this time with big smile on her face and said, “Meus eternos amores!” It is hard to translate or perhaps it sounds much more meaningful and beautiful in her native language. She means to say we are her eternal beloveds. It was a great gift to receive from a girl who has much to give but has always been rejected.

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’ Luke 23: 39-43

Next year, Brazil will have a new president. Dignitaries from all over the world will be present. There will be much pomp and pageantry involved. It is customary in this world to usher its King in this manner. Regardless of who the president is, he will be restricted in his interactions. He is not free to be with whomever he wishes to spend time. He will always be surrounded by a select and elite group of people. It does not matter what his convictions may be. He is not going to be with the sick, the abandoned, the widows and orphans. If he wants to be successful, he needs to carefully choose his companions.

I actually had the opportunity to meet an ex-presidential candidate by chance. She did not run in this recent election but in the one before. She was not one of those fringe candidates whom we find in every elective process. She had some prominence among the people. The problem was that she was a kind and humble person. In our chance meeting, she made the initial move to approach me and introduce herself. By mere coincidence, on another occasion, she was in the same apartment building where we live to do an interview with a reporter. The maintenance staff of our building told us that she took time to spend with them. She is not running for office in our state so she has no need to campaign here. They found her to be a very simple and ordinary person. We knew that she will never be elected in this world. This is not the kind of king that this world desires.

The world desires a ruler who will make promises beyond their capacity to keep. One who will tell lies to get what they want and create an illusory world for people to believe. Unfortunately, quite a number of people are willing to accept all this without question. It is not stupidity nor ignorance. It is just human nature. I am not making a subtle criticism towards any president much less against the one who won the elections. Personally I felt a sense of relief when he won. However, it does not imply that everything is going to great for the next four years. I have lived long enough not to succumb to wishful thinking. Our hope as Christians is not founded on worldly rulers nor their political maneuvers. These act according to the principles of the ruler of this world, one based on deceit and lies. Our Lord responded to these endeavors in silence. A gesture that says more than any eloquent speech proffered by the most best intentioned politician in this world. However, He did speak regarding His Kingship and it was to the thief who was crucified next to Him.

At the Cross, the thief knew that there was no hope for him anymore. He saw Jesus in the same position as him, a situation of hopelessness and abandonment. Nevertheless, this did not stop him from recognizing that Jesus was indeed a King. It is the most bizarre place to come to this conclusion. Logically speaking, the other thief would be considered the smarter one. After all, what is the point of putting your hope in a King who cannot get Himself out of a hopeless circumstance. Some of us might be tempted to imagine that the thief was trying to secure his place in heaven. In reality, during that time, the concept of heaven and hell was not firmly rooted in the spirituality of the people especially among the Jewish people. We can see this from the debates between the Pharisees and Sadducees. Not everyone believed in the afterlife. The thief was not looking for a King who would serve His needs. He recognized something in Jesus which he believed was important in a King. He saw Jesus to be a compassionate and loving sovereign whose life reflected all the goodness and beauty which he appreciated even in the final moments of his life. The thief, perhaps, never had this in his life before. I am speculating here. I am basing this on the young thieves we know in the streets.

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’ John 18:33-34

In recent report, people were asked in the UK if it should remain a monarchy. There was overwhelming support for it but the reasons were appalling. Most of them said that the monarchy was good for tourism or made the UK feel special for having something different. Even a prominent politician argued that the monarchy was good for tourist attraction and media attention. In other words, monarchy is nothing more than a mere entertainment gadget and something to occupy our free time. Recently, I walked by the entrance of a church and saw signs claiming that Jesus was able to change ill fortune. It went on to list a series of things Jesus was going to do for those who believe in Him. It seems like it is saying that Jesus is worth believing because He serves a purpose.

The thief saw something much more than a mere utilitarian king on the Cross. He saw Jesus pure and simple. This was enough for him to know that Jesus is King. It was genuine recognition of Jesus’ love. He did not expect Jesus to do anything for him. He just asked Jesus to remember him. A promise Jesus kept because wherever the gospels are read in this world, we remember this good thief. He might have been a notorious murderer most of his life but we remember him for his confession of Jesus.

Therefore, this very question which Jesus asked Pilate is valid for us today. Do we believe that Jesus is King because we are told about Him and things He can accomplish for us or do we see Him as King like the good thief on the Cross? The Good Thief saw the sovereignty of Jesus for Himself. None of the taunting words and jeers blinded him from seeing Christ’s true nature. His hopeless situation did not stop him from recognizing Jesus as the King even in the darkest place. He saw something in Jesus which convinced Him that this is truly the King of Kings.

This is our challenge in a world slowly slipping into something unrecognizable. In all likelihood, we are part of the problem too. It is time for us to seek for ourselves a fresh new understanding of Christ the King. We cannot rely on hearsay to understand His sovereignty. We need to see Him in action at the places where people are constantly being crucified and humiliated. The King of Kings does not dwell among dignitaries of this world. His place and throne is on the Cross where He is constantly exalted and only those whose faith like that of the good thief can see why He is absolutely different and special.

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.’ Luke 21:5-6

Not too long ago, I used to start almost every reflection with the phrase, “sitting on the steps of the Cathedral”. I hardly mention it now. At times we even completely forget that we used to wait for our children there. We are still in close vicinity of the Cathedral. Despite its towering, it is easy to forget its existence. All these years, we have never seen a representative from the Cathedral reach out to the homeless. There are at least a thousand who sleep outside its doors. Actually, there was someone who did approach them once. It was not a priest but rather a transitional deacon who came out to chat with the homeless. He was not even a Brazilian but a Vietnamese. He hardly spoke the language. Nevertheless, he was well received by the homeless. The language did not hinder his love. Then he was gone. I am sure he is somewhere else doing exactly what he attempted to do on the steps of the Cathedral. Beside this young deacon, we hardly see any priest or religious orders associated with the Cathedral interacting with the homeless.

Despite these discrepancies, I like the Cathedral. I would be horrified if someone told me that one day it would be destroyed. Once someone vandalized the walls and it disturbed us. On another occasion, we heard an overzealous evangelical Christian pray for the destruction of the Cathedral. One needs to understand the mutual animosity between the Roman Catholic and Neo-pentecostal Christians in this country where one considers the other a demonic force. I do not remember much of her prayer except this one particular thing. I guess the rest was irrelevant after such a devastating statement. This cannot to be compared to horror which the apostles would have sensed when Jesus told them about the Temple. For starters, there was only one Temple and it was the symbol of their identity and unique vocation in the world. Jesus claimed that it would be totally destroyed. Unlike our over enthusiastic evangelical acquaintance, He did not harbor any animosity towards the Temple. He merely stated the fact, not to shock nor frighten his disciples. No doubt He wanted to warn them not to be impressed with the wrong things. Symbols as powerful and wonderful as they, after all, are mere symbols but not to be confused with the real thing.

Perhaps some might read about the Cathedral and feel a tinge of sadness in their souls. Yes, it is tragic that something which represents the presence of the living God is not itself a channel of that love to those just outside its doors. At the same time, it should not surprise us. Nothing in this world lasts forever. Good intentions eventually wither away too. Nature reveals to us that everything eventually deteriorates and eventually they just die and decompose. Besides, symbols of God’s action in this world cannot contain the infinity of God’s love. Even though this does not seem to stop us from trying to restrict God’s actions and power within the framework of our created symbols. The Cathedral was built to reflect God’s majestic presence in this world. Instead, it has become a place for the princes and nobility of modern times to celebrate their special events. Jesus does not need an overpowering symbol to assert His presence. He is present in a quiet and unassuming manner.

In our case, He is just outside the entrance of the Cathedral.

The problem is that it is not always easy to identify His presence outside the designated religious symbols. Consequently when these are taken away from us, we tend to feel that it is the end of the world. We think God has abandoned us. Without a doubt, there is much darkness in the world and the absence of symbols of light might drive us to despair. For some reason, darkness always seem to dominate our imagination. Maybe it is because we are discipled to be sensitive to it. We are constantly bombarded with news of the darkness in the world. Sometimes we talk about it when all other superficial subjects have been exhausted. Every time two or three are gathered, they always talk about how the world is going to h…. It seems like we only reflect about God’s goodness in the confines of our “temple”. However, all temples eventually fall apart and we need to be prepare ourselves to recognize God’s presence beyond our religious symbols.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.” Matthew 6:22

We are going through a dark period in this country. It has been happening for some time now. There is surge of crime and violence. Just yesterday, we saw three separate acts of violence within ten minutes. This is disturbing in itself but what makes it worse is that the perpetrators are known to us. The victims are just regular hardworking people who hardly earn enough to survive. The cruelty and callousness of these actions brought much despair and a sense of hopelessness to our souls. Ironically, all this happened right by the side entrance of the cathedral with their security staff watching the incidents and yet doing nothing about it. This in itself is symbolic of the present state of things. This is the reality.

I have to admit that whenever I see any acts of violence, my heart is filled with disgust and rage. We have witnessed these unfortunate incidents many times and yet it still disturbs us to the core. I realize that my reactions are natural. However, if I allow them to strive in me, then I am merely perpetuating this culture of cruelty and violence which is also very natural to humanity. I would become salt that has lost its saltiness. I cannot abide by my natural instincts. I cannot feed my natural tendencies with thoughts of hatred and revenge. I need to rise beyond my human nature. The only clear example we have is in the person of Jesus.

Despite all the darkness around us, Jesus has called us to see the Light. It is a different way of looking at life. It does not avoid the difficult and cruel nature of life. He invites to look at it with a different perspective. He wants to use our eyes to seek His Love but not be impressed with the darkness.

Just before we witnessed these heinous crimes, we gave one of the older youth a gift for his birthday. It was really nothing much. It was two cans of his favorite soda and two chocolate truffles. Things that he really loved. He was one of those who decided that he was not going to engage in criminal act and not even beg. He lives entirely on donations and sometimes scavenges things for recycling. Therefore, he cannot afford to indulge in these simple pleasures. He was so happy and he said jokingly to the other kids, “These are my true friends.” The rest laughed. Even though it was said in jest, he meant it. Later on, after the incident, he was with us and brought us to another location so we would not be witnessing more scenes of violence.

Last night, my mind was occupied by the sad scene we witnessed but today I realized that we have many images of Light which we saw in the lives of these children and teens. They live in a world surrounded by darkness but the Light is present among them. The birthday boy was one of them. He is not, by any means, a saint. At the same, none of us are. All of us need to deal with our imperfections. However, the gospel draws our attention not these things but to the presence of the everlasting Light guiding and revealing to them how to live their lives in a better way through following the example of our Lord Jesus.

The world might fall apart. It is quite discouraging. However, Jesus invites to not to be impressed with the darkness around us. We are called to seek the Light in the midst of our darkness. Only then can we become the salt and light of this world.