It has been slightly more than two weeks since we returned from our trip to Florida visiting our home diocese and churches. It was a blessed time for us and we thoroughly enjoyed visiting with people who have constantly prayed and supported us throughout this 13 years of ministry among the homeless young people. We also made some new friends who further enriched our lives with their faith and love. We are so grateful to be part of a body which is able to transcend borders and cultures for the sake of the gospel, the only and most powerful thing able to unite us eternally.

Every visit to our diocese is a time for personal reflection. People want to hear and know how the gospel is manifested and lived in situations completely foreign to their very own. We are challenged to share the wonderful lessons which God has revealed to us through our homeless young people in a way that is relevant for people living in a completely different circumstance. I had to take special care not to transform these lessons into universal formulas to be applied in all circumstances. This is not the purpose of our ministry. We don’t want to reduce our encounters into special formulas or strategies. More often than not, these attempts subtract the human element involved. Our goal is to share how the gospel empowers individuals regardless of their circumstance and situations to discover the person whom God has created them to be. Each individual is a reflection of God’s image and when we are able to see the Light of Christ shine through these individuals, we, in the process, catch a glimpse of God’s beauty and grace. The best metaphor I can think of is stained glass windows. These are not just there to satisfy our esthetic desires. They serve to awaken faith and hope in those who contemplate their beauty. It is our desire to share this beauty with people so that together we can walk in confidence knowing that the gospel is the gospel in every situation and circumstance. In doing so, we can boldly proclaim together with St Paul;

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

I would say that the essence of this ministry is to go to the young people whom society and the world have judged as hopeless and irrelevant and proclaim these words of Paul without shame nor hesitation because they are the absolute Truth. If these words can be said without embarrassment among our abandoned children, then they can be proclaimed even in the most hopeless situations in which anyone reading these posts can find themselves. As the author of Hebrews has said, “Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.” The same Jesus who brings hope and peace and love to our homeless youth is able and willing to do the same to anyone who seeks Him regardless of their lot in Life.

In our ministry, it is important for us to be able to see in a genuine manner the things Jesus is doing in our midst. Many times it is easy to fill the gaps in our vision of God’s actions with cliches and ready made answers taken from experiences of other Christian leaders. We need to confront reality as it is and trust that our own eyes and ears can see and hear our Lord in our midst. However, we cannot see Jesus unless He opens our eyes and ears. In other words, we cannot do what we do if we weren’t able to discern the voice of Jesus beckoning us to this place of ministry. The voice of Jesus cannot be heard without faith. It is our faith which led us to this city of São Paulo. It is faith which opened the doors for us to remain here after all these years. We started with this ministry with very little resources and we are still here. Our resources are still limited but faith has sustained us. Faith is the foundation of our action here and it has led us to a deeper understanding of Hope and Love. Therefore, I decided that in our time in Florida in the last month to focus on these three theological virtues which St Paul articulated so wonderfully in 1 Corinthians 13. The reflections are written in sermon form and I will publish them in the followings days. I hope they will help you understand and inspire you to reflect on the place of your personal ministry in the Kingdom of God.