About eight days after Jesus said this, he 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. Luke 9:28-29

I received a phone message from Camila. She was a little discouraged. She had just lost her job where she had been working for the past four months or so. We have often helped her with rent for the past year but only when she wasn’t able meet her financial demands. Camila is fiercely independent. In a way, all our children and teens are independent. But there is something different about this young woman.

We met Camila in 2013 when she was about 14. We were new to the homeless youth then. Many hardly spoke to us. She was not an exception. We only had very brief superficial interactions. Before we could get to know her, she was caught for stealing and detained for about two years in the juvenile prison. Usually the ones who don’t receive any visits from family end up spending longer time incarcerated. The State considers these youth to be high risk because they have no parental influence in their lives. Camila is an orphan. The streets became her only home after her mother died. Until then her mother was her whole world. Her step father, on the other hand, is a piece of work. He is an abusive and manipulative man. She had to leave and take refuge in the streets. The other children became her family and she never forgot their acceptance of her. Her involvement in crime was more to be part of a social group than anything else. As soon as she was released, she went to register to go to school. We met her by chance when she finally had finished. She was so overjoyed with her achievement that she ran up to us and told us about her success. Maybe some reading this might find it hard to comprehend why such a thing is a feat. It is because people outside of Brazil don’t understand the bureaucratic nightmare of registering to go to school. In Camila’s case, she was doing it without any parental help. They made it difficult but she persevered and won. She told us that it was her faith which helped her. This is one of the few times she mentioned anything about her faith. Now, she is one of the handful of homeless youth who has completed her high school education.

Our relationship with Camila developed over the years mainly through chance meetings at various stages of her life. At every meeting, she shared a little bit about her life and her faith always shone through however not in the conventional manner. It was subtle and always real. Needless to say, she faced some difficult challenges. She became pregnant. Her then boyfriend comes from a family of ten who were abandoned in the streets as little children. They wanted to build a life together away from the streets. Unfortunately, unlike Camila, he couldn’t handle all the obstacles before him and went back to crime. Eventually he became a full member of one of the most dangerous gangs in Brazil. It was the cue for Camila to leave him and add being a single mother to her many challenges. We have to say that she is a very conscientious mother. Her son became a stronger motivation for her to move forward. She has met with many disappointments and one moment she was even physically assaulted. It was quite a scary moment. She was so badly hurt that we couldn’t recognize her. Thankfully, there is something strong and wonderful in this young woman who is frequently assailed by tragic circumstances. For some reason, she also says that we helped her through a lot even though we did not do much. However, I think I am beginning to understand why she says this. It is not really us. We just represent something significant to her.

Alan quietly sneaked behind Mary and grabbed her. She gave out a little shriek which made him laugh with glee. Alan has not changed since the day we met him. He was ten then and now he is twenty. He has always been a mischievous imp. Unfortunately, he got involved with crime in his late teens and spend a year in prison. He is out now and determined to stay out. There was a brief period when Alan stayed in a Catholic orphanage. He was about fifteen then. We were really surprised when we heard that he had left the streets. Among the homeless children, Alan demonstrated a jovial and carefree persona who was well situated in the streets. When he was still at the orphanage, we ran into him by chance. It is interesting how many things occur this way. He was full of joy and shared how he felt happy and complete. He shared with us that one day he was sitting alone on the steps of the Cathedral and started thinking about his life. He missed his mother who passed away when he was young. He felt a strong sense of shame and conviction that the life he was leading in the streets would have saddened her. He sat there and cried. He pleaded for God to help him and a group of Franciscan missionaries came by and offered to take him to the orphanage.

The family in charge of the orphanage wanted to adopt Alan even though he was considered an older teen. He loved and respected the family deeply. Unfortunately, he decided to abandon the place and come back to the streets. No one from the outside will understand his decision. We have an inkling; the fear of rejection. However, his fear did not remove everything from his soul. We can see from our brief encounter with him this week that something is very much alive in Alan. The Spirit which touched his soul on the steps to the Cathedral is still actively working in him. Alan gave us each a big hug full of warmth and love. He told us that he truly appreciates a photo of him which Mary gave him as present a few months ago. I think it is his way of thanking us even though we haven’t done much for him. It is not what we have done which matters really to any of these children. It is who we represent to them. This is something that God has graciously given to us. In a way, the children represent the same thing to us.

All the three gospels share the story of the Transfiguration. Obviously all the authors thought that it was a pivotal moment in the narratives about Jesus. Even so, it is not something we can interpret easily. It is not something to explain but an invitation to an encounter with the True Living Christ. It is a crucial event which needs to occur in everyone’s lives. Without it, Jesus will remain a prophet, a moral teacher and a great leader. All these are good but Jesus will never be our Savior or to use a more precise term, our Healer, with this encounter. The thing is that this event of the Transfiguration is not in the domain of any of our abilities. We cannot control where and how it occurs. There is no liturgy nor preaching style which can create the moment. It happens purely on God’s initiative and He works according to the faith of the person. When it happens, New Life is planted in us. Sometimes we need time and space to figure out how to express this New Life growing within our souls. I have seen this New Life in many of our children and teens. Many times they have difficulty in expressing the growth occurring in them. Many times the problem is that we are living in a religious society where sacred words and encounters are spoken in such a frivolous manner that someone who has experienced a real and powerful encounter is reticent to speak about it.

Once a homeless teenager told me that he “accepted” Jesus at least fifteen times. He wasn’t being flippant about it. He was just stating a fact. Every time a church comes to the streets and preaches, most of the children and teens respond positively to the altar call. In their minds, they consider it an abomination to say “No” to Jesus. They say “yes” to Him every time without really considering what they were doing. People from the churches never return after the event and our children feel like they have accepted Jesus without really knowing what to do with this. Inadvertently, any conversation about an encounter with Jesus becomes banal and superficial. However, the Transfiguration is not a common place event. It is something powerful and life transforming. It gives meaning to the lives we lead. It gives the joy to celebrate the Life we live. Camila and Alan have New Life in their lives but they don’t know how to process this growing knowledge and meaning of God’s Love. We can testify to them that we can see this powerful New Life growing in them. They know that we can see it. They can see this New Life growing in our lives too. Perhaps this is why Camila insists that we helped her a lot. We have done nothing but thankfully God has given us the grace to recognize the New Life in her and many others like her. Maybe this is our mission as Christians in this world. We have to allow this New Life in our souls to shine so that those who have encountered the Transfigured Christ will know that it is something real and eternal.