On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39

The Feast of Pentecost is upon us again. However, there was another feast day preceding it which has lost its prominence in the modern church. Well, some churches observe it like my very first home church in Singapore but only because of its namesake. Curiously, the only country I have lived in where the feast day of Ascension was celebrated as a public religious holiday was Indonesia, a country with the largest Muslim population in the world. Muslims believe that Jesus ascended to the heavens, too. I am ignorant of the theological significance of this event for the Islamic faith but I do not suppose that it is for the same reason as for the early Christians. Jesus, in Islam, is considered a highly esteemed prophet. For Christians, the Ascension of our Lord has everything to do with the establishing of His Kingdom.

I was born and raised in Singapore, a multicultural and multireligous country. My family belonged to the Roman Catholic community which was the smallest minority at that time, less than 2 percent of the population. The predominant culture in our society was Chinese with a strong Confucian influence. In school, we were taught about the ancient history of China; the building of the Great Wall and all the empires which rose and fell within these walls. Most of these remained as a vague memory except for the concept of an Emperor which the ancient Chinese held. Maybe because it is relevant to my reading and interpreting of the Bible. They called him (it was mostly a “him”), “the Son of Heaven”. It was a lofty title. The ancient Chinese were ambitious people. They believed that their king was not just a king limited to their geographic location but his kingdom expanded wherever the heavens presided over the earth. Consequently, his actions and philosophy of life were applicable for all peoples. However, only those who were enlightened could appreciate and worship the “son of heaven”. Those who were blind to this fact were considered subhumans. We find this same attitude present in the ancient Babylonians, Greeks and Romans. Every empire craved universal dominance. They knew that true power and eternal influence rested on the one who could possess the heavens or at least claim ownership of them. It is the same old story of the Tower of Babel. Each time the results are the same, more division and strife among peoples. Unfortunately, it continues to our present time.

Jesus did not conquer heaven nor lay any special claims to it. It welcomed and enthroned Him. In other words, according to our faith, it is the rightful place for Him. He is not a King of one particular nation or people. He is not the property of any sect or religion. He is the crowned King of Kings in the Heavens. His kingdom is universal wherever the heavens preside over the earth. However, not everyone is able to see nor recognize His reign. There were still barriers and obstacles due to centuries of the hatred and strife which has dominated the hearts and minds of humanity. They cannot comprehend a Kingdom which does not work in these foundations of discord. It is so foreign to our human mindset and we need someone who understands the mind of God to reconcile us to this Truth.

It is common practice in many churches to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost by reading the gospel reading in many different languages. Depending on the number of speakers of different languages in the congregation, this could be either a beautiful or a tedious event. Nevertheless, we can agree that the general idea is lovely. It reveals how our faith can unite people of many different cultures under one roof to worship the King of Kings. However, the greatest division among people today is not based on language but on social and religious differences.

In many ways our social status influences our cultural formation as well as our worldview. Even our interpretation of the Bible or any religious text are deeply influenced by it. Sometimes we add the word “Christian” to these values to sanction them and even make them sound as if they are aligned with the values of God’s Kingdom. Jesus Himself warned us that many will say, “Lord, Lord” but they are not part of His flock. Therefore, before we can think about being instruments of the Reconciliation we have to allow the Holy Spirit to operate in our lives and remove our own prejudices and preferences which are not on par with the Kingdom of Heaven.

When the disciples started speaking in different languages on the day of Pentecost, they realized that the Hebrew language did not have precedence nor dominance of all things Holy. It must have been a very difficult thing for them to accept that God’s divine presence is manifested in all languages and cultures. This demanded a radical change in their attitudes and it was a necessary one in order for them to become truly messengers of abundant life to the world. In the same way, for today’s world, we need to acknowledge that the abundant life which the gospel promises is not restricted to our idea of a successful or holy life. We have to acknowledge that we have a very limited way of looking at things. The Kingdom of Heaven is larger and wealthier than our finite mind can comprehend. Therefore, we need someone who understands the wealth and breadth of this Kingdom to guide and orientate us. No one can fulfill this task except for the Holy Spirit. The problem is that Holy Spirit does not act on demand. We have to wait for the Spirit. Jesus said,

The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. John 3:8

All we can do is to wait and have confidence that the Spirit of Jesus will come and act at the most pertinent time. Part of the waiting involves the willingness to leave our prejudices behind and allow the Spirit to show us God’s love present in ways which we never had imagined before.

We recently received an invitation to a birthday party. Taina’s baby is turning one. It is her third child and she had just turned 21. She is also a first generation homeless youth. Her children are with her and they are second generation homeless. Taina tried living as a squatter in an abandoned building. However, all she knows is life in the streets and spends most of the day and night in the streets with the children. Recently, she was forced out of the abandoned building and spent months living in a tent with all the children. Eventually she found a room to rent with her mother. Her mother is Patricia who I wrote about not too long ago. All these things about Taina are disturbing to our middle class sentiments. However, the Holy Spirit did not bring us here to be middle class missionaries. We are here because of the Kingdom of Heaven and Taina is a sheep of Jesus’ flock. It took a lot of waiting on our part to finally see the person in Taina and not just all the problematic issues surrounding her. The Holy Spirit is helping us to discern with wisdom that Taina is giving us a beautiful gift by asking us to celebrate her child’s life. The only thing she wanted was for us to take pictures of the baby. She wants to have pictures of her child before he grows up ever so quickly. She told us that the party was just a small affair among family members. She has included us in the mix. The divide is overcome. We have known Taina for a long time. We did not have this kind of friendship with her before. She is a very shy girl and perhaps she was afraid that we might judge her for her being a mother at such a young age. Now, she feels free to talk with us. She knows that we see her as an individual with all of life’s complexities and she returns the favor. Now, we can move forward together to discover the Kingdom of Heaven present in our midst.

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. John 17:1-5

We met him when he was only nine years old. I can hardly believe that was ten years ago. He never was a happy child. This was not because he was homeless. Unfortunately, there are many children like him but they are usually happy. Vinicius belongs to a growing number of children who are first generation homeless. In other words, he was born homeless and has slept in the streets all his life. The only time he slept within four walls was in the juvenile detention center but I am jumping ahead of myself here. The fortunate thing about most of these children is that they are unaware of their dire situation. Most of the time, they live a happy and carefree life but not Vinicius. It could be due to early childhood depression. I am not qualified to make that call. I am just guessing. I do not think even he could tell us why. We tried to get him out of his shell but were never quite successful. The only thing we managed to do was convince him to play badminton. It wasn’t exactly the best option. It’s an individual sport even though played in pairs. It lacks the personal interaction which Vinicius needed. I don’t recall him exchanging a word with us throughout that time. I am not sure if he ever thanked us for anything. It wasn’t that he was rude. He just never learned any of these things. Besides, saying thanks in the streets sometimes can be a degrading and humiliating thing for the homeless. It reminds them of their demeaning situation.

His mother, from our perspective, displays signs of someone who has serious mental issues. Despite her setbacks, she does her best for her children. Working with the homeless made us realize that our ideas of how to raise a family are not universally applicable. The homeless have families and their reality is completely different from our middle class background. The things we think are proper and right may not work in their reality. Suffice it to say that Vinicius’ mother does her best like any mother does. The problem is that she has limited resources and she shouldn’t be judged for this. For us, this is a learning process; not to judge, that is. There are some things we only learn when we are directly involved in the lives of people.

She spends most of her time begging so that she could feed the family. They receive financial aid from the government which is only enough for a week’s groceries at the most dubious looking grocery stores. Besides Vinicius, she has four other younger girls. Vinicius is the oldest and he was a sister close to his age who is a “little person”. Someone in her condition is very rare among the homeless children. As we know, children can be very cruel and our homeless children are not any different. From a young age, Vinicius has been a support to his sister. We watched these two siblings grow up from a distance. Their mother tried to keep all her children together. She was successful with the youngest three. Vinicius and Ana Paula got lost among the rest of the homeless children. He started sniffing paint thinner and then eventually graduated to harder drugs. It didn’t take long for him to engage in crime. Throughout this time, he hardly interacted with us. It was as if he forgotten all the time we spent with him when he was a child.

Then one day he got caught for stealing and landed up in the juvenile detention center. His crime was petty theft and he was imprisoned for just a couple of months. During the worst period of the quarantine, I was in the streets with the teens and heard someone called out my name. I could hardly recognize him at first. He looked older and had put on some weight. He shook my hand and said that he was just released from the detention center. He did not say anything else. I don’t know why he decided to acknowledge my presence after all these years ignoring us. Maybe he realized that we were a permanent and stable presence in his life. Ever since that day, he would come to us and shake our hands but never would spend time with us. He still had a sad demeanor.

I am not really sure but I think the first time I saw him smile was when we played a game of Uno recently. It happened a few months ago. He and his sister approached me and asked if they could play a game together. They suggested Uno. As we were playing, they reminded me that we used to play together when they were young. I was surprised that they remembered. They lost almost every hand but didn’t mind it. They were having a good time and laughed each time I played the winning card. For the first time in years, I saw them behaving like happy children but they are young adults now. It took us almost ten years to see these young people smile. Something else happened that day. A barrier was overcome. They remembered who we are and what role we played in their lives. To be frank, we are not sure what it is exactly but Vinicius and his sister decided that it was a relevant one.

Ever since this blessed day, Vinicius talks with us. Sometimes he insists on playing a game. He has a girlfriend now. She is just like him, a first generation homeless teen. Recently they got into an argument and Vinicius hit her. We noticed a bruise on her face. She told us at first that she had a fall but we knew that she was lying. The other teens told her to tell us the truth. They said that we would understand. Vinicius admitted that it was him. We were a little disturbed. We waited for a few days before approaching the subject. I thought about Vinicius a lot that particular day. Both he and his girlfriend grew up in the streets where violence is the norm. Every thing is done and achieved through violence. The police are violent. Those involved in crime are violent. The kids establish their space among each other through violence. His mother used violence to discipline him. It was the only language he knew. Few days later, we saw them again and he wanted to play a game with us. He and his girlfriend were obviously reconciled as they were very affectionate with each other. After our game, we called Vinicius and his girlfriend aside and told him that he shouldn’t use violence against anyone especially with people whom he loved. We could see that both of them were listening intently. I explained that you drive people away from you when you use violence. He assured us that he understood and I believe him. He knew that what we were saying was true because he felt it in his soul, too. After this talk, our relationship got even better. Now, Vinicius and his girlfriend go out of their way to talk to us. They know that we like them and the truth is we are very proud of our relationship with them. It is as if we received a special gift from God.

I always found the above gospel text hard to interpret for our daily lives. The best I could do was to resort to doctrinal interpretation. However, our interaction with Vinicius and his sister and even his girlfriend whose name is Isabel shed valuable light on these verses. Jesus came to show us eternal life. These are moments where we sense God’s eternal love working and manifesting itself in our midst. Jesus is the incarnated expression of this Love. He is our guide to identify Gods love in this world. It is not an idea nor a concept. It is something concrete which can be grasped with our whole being. Our relationship with these young people has opened our eyes to see Jesus present in our midst. However, not in the usual way. Sometimes, I have said this too, people say that we see Jesus in the person. We have seen Vinicius at his best and worst. Therefore, it is hard to say that we see Jesus manifested in his life. However, we can safely say that when we are together, we sense the sacramental presence in a real and concrete manner in our midst. He becomes real beyond words and He brings hope to our hearts. His presence transforms us and makes us become more open to power of Eternal Love.

We seriously never thought that this sad and distant boy would become dear and precious to us. Now we enjoy seeing him. He smiles when he sees us. Joy has taken root and is growing in him. I have to say all this has convinced me beyond the shadow of doubt that the Holy Spirit will open our eyes to see the presence of Jesus even when everything around us appears hopeless. The glory of Christ can never be snuffed out in this world.

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’ -John 14:1-7

It was a visit long overdue. Patricia had invited us to her new home several months ago. Unfortunately, things have been a little hectic. We are being priced out of our apartment. Now, we are in the process of looking for a new place. It is a little complicated. We live in a region known as the old center or rather the “historic center”. It used to be called the “mouth of the trash”. There are many brothels and all other elements giving this place the undesirable seedy character. Once this area was where the wealthy coffee barons built their mansions. They are still here but in various degrees of deterioration. It could have been a beautiful historic center if it wasn’t abandoned for decades. Today, it is a place where the majority of the largest homeless population of the Americas is found. We would like to find an apartment which is affordable and safe. Many times it is one or the other. We chose to live here because we can walk to where the children are and it saves us a lot of time. As of now, our free time and energy is taken up looking for the ideal place within the context of our reality. Today, however, was a public holiday. It gave us the chance to do something outside our normal time with the children and youth in the streets. It was time to visit Patricia but first I have to introduce her.

Patricia was 13 when we first came to the streets. I don’t mean in 2013 but in 1994. Then there were about four to five hundred homeless children and teens living in the streets. Therefore, it was not possible for us to remember every child or teen we met then. In her case, I don’t believe we ever met her. Now, she is forty and a grandmother. Unfortunately, she never left the streets all these years. Her children are first generation homeless children who never knew what it is like to live and grow up in a house. They also have children of their own. The grandchildren are all under the age of five. We have seen Patricia around for a long time but we hardly spoke to her. To be honest, we were a little suspicious of her. We thought that she was exploiting her children. Our first contact with her was when she approached and asked us to pray for her grandchild, Perola, who was a premature baby and in intensive care. Our relationship slowly progressed from henceforth.

She is actually a very simple person. She does not lack intelligence but she has developed intellectual skills which may not be applicable anywhere else in society except in the homeless situation. We realized that our initial assessment of her was completely wrong. Patricia loves all her children and grandchildren dearly and gives them the best she has. Today, she is one of our closest friends among the homeless. Patricia is considered to be part of the children and youth because her children and grandchildren are part of the homeless youth. She never leaves her children alone. She is always with them and whenever one of the toddlers does something mischievous, we can hear her booming voice yelling out their names and they immediately stop what they were doing. It is quite amusing. Even though their situation is far from perfect no one can deny the strong bond of love between them. Ever since our relationship with her improved, her grandchildren accepted us as some of the people who are part of their complex family structure.

Patricia slept in a tent in the streets with all her children and grandchildren. It was amazing to see how many people they could squeeze into a tent. However, she wanted to rent a small place but she faced the some of the same issues as us. However, it was much worse for her. She could never rent a place like us even if she had the money. There are absurd requirements. In the best scenario, the renters are expected to give three months rent as a deposit and are also expected to pay the annual property tax on the rental. The best Patricia can do is rent a small room which she did. She found a small space about 100 square foot and she is paying double of what we pay per square foot. This is the cruel reality here. The poorest of the poor are too poor to be poor. Patricia receives help from the government. However, it barely pays for the grocery. She pays two thirds of her rent and we have the means to help with the rest. She still resorts to begging to survive the rest of the month. She has a lot of mouths to feed. None of this stopped her from inviting us to her house. She wanted us to have a cup of coffee in her home. She told her us that she was going to stay at home and clean up the place and send someone to meet us and take us to her place. Eric was our designated guide.

Eric is a delightful fellow. He just turned 18. We have known him since he was eight and he was a nightmare then. No one would have guessed that this terror of a child would become such a nice kid. He showed us the way to her place. It wasn’t far. On the way, Eric told us that he has been sleeping at Patricia’s too. Her place was a tiny room with walls that should have been painted decades ago. There was a part closed off with a flimsy curtain. I guess that it was the entrance to the bathroom. Patricia managed to squeeze in two beds, a stove and there was a sink filled with unwashed dishes. They wash the dishes as they are needed them because there is no place to store the clean ones. Every corner was used as storage for clothes or dry groceries. On one of the two beds, there were two teenagers sleeping. One was Vinicius. He is not related to Patricia but he is a first generation homeless youth. We have known him since he was nine. He recently turned 19. He was taking a nap. Next to him was Dreyson who is not related as well. Then on the other bed was Patricia’s daughter, Taina, and another non-relative named Isabel who is just 16 and another first generation homeless girl. There were the two toddlers rushing to us for attention and a seven year old. I asked Patricia where do they all sleep at night. Taina said that they have cushions and some of them sleep on the floor. Patricia said sometimes the other kids would come at night and find a tiny spot to squeeze in. Her tiny room which barely fits a double bed has more children and teens sleeping per square feet than any homeless shelter in this city.

The coffee was good. Eric made it. However, they only had two good cups. We had to take turns drinking it. In another time, all this would have overwhelmed us. However, something has changed. We were able to see from Patricia’s perspective. This was something great for her. It gave her great pleasure that she could invite us to her place. We visited with them for an hour or so. Patricia said that her dream was to live in a place with two rooms (not bedrooms, just two rooms) and a proper bathroom. This was quite amazing to hear. In a way, we are looking for the same thing but our concept of an ideal home is completely different. We come from two different worlds and we have learned how to survive with has been dished out to us. Patricias’ life has been hard but she has acquired some virtues in the process. Every space in her tiny room is open to receive guests. For her, happiness is not having ample space but is being able to be hospitable. I don’t want to romanticize her situation. The lack of privacy is draining on her too. She said that she goes to bed very late maybe about four in the morning. One can imagine that the only way one can sleep in such a tiny and crowded space is to be so exhausted that comfort is no longer an issue. I sat there thinking how Patricia would have imagined the room which Jesus said He was preparing for his disciples. It is definitely different from what we imagine.

We went home feeling a little happy. It is another strange sign. Some years ago, we would so focused on the housing situation that we would have failed to share Patricia’s joy in having a place of her own. Now, we are able to be truly happy for her without romanticizing her situation. It was a great visit. She walked us to the door as we left because it is a custom here if you want the guest to return. We plan to return in a couple of weeks. There is a lot we can learn from Patricia. Being homeless has helped her develop virtues that might be difficult for us to acquire. There were things which we have learned from life that will be valuable for her. We have something to give to each other. Together, we can help prepare each other to be members of the household of Jesus.