Author: fr.stephendass@gmail.com

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The perfect age to be a missionary

They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing,
To declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.- Psalm 92:14-15

She was just visiting. It was her first time in Brazil and she did not speak any Portuguese. I don’t know what her home town looks like but I am sure that it is not anything like São Paulo. This city is unique. Sights that were common to us might have have seen strange to her. At our usual meeting place, there were a bunch of dubious looking men trading stolen goods. There were homeless adults literally sprawled all over the place; some were drunk and some were talking to themselves and others were just passed out. There were businessmen dressed in Armani suits walking around and skateboarders taking advantage of the smooth surface of the square to practice their stunts. Our children and teens were in the midst all these. Despite this odd scene, she appeared to be calm.. She did stand out among the team. She was in her mid-fifties and she had this grandmotherly aura about her. This was really the reason that brought her to this country. Her daughter is a missionary and having her first child. The baby was due in a week’s time. She was with us because her daughter and her husband are involved in this ministry.

It was interesting to see the reaction of the children to our visitor. They noticed her but they did not ask any questions about her. Usually they are very curious whenever we have a foreign visitor. They knew she was new and yet they treated her as if she was a regular. Mary brought some materials for manicure and some of the teenage girls wanted their nails done. Our visitor sat next to Mary and started doing the girls’ nails. Then the boys started gathering around. One of them who is usually little aggressive and disruptive asked if she would cut his nails. After she was done, he wanted the full manicure treatment. The others boys started requesting it as well. There were happy to just sit close to her. The lady interacted with them without any words and the girls and boys responded well to her presence. They did not say much but it was apparent that they just liked being near an older person. They liked the presence of a grandmother. Words were not necessary.

We have brought many volunteers to the streets but this was the first time that we saw a volunteer being accepted without any questions. The children and teens found comfort in her presence. She, on her part, decided that she was going to be who she is, a loving grandmother who travelled thousands of miles to be with her daughter. This is something most people would do for their children and grandchildren. It was nothing out of the ordinary. The only extraordinary thing was that she was sitting on the dirty floor of a city square being a grandmother to homeless orphans.

She did not come here to be a missionary to the homeless children or adults. This is not her vocation. However, there are people who are grandfathers and grandmothers who might feel the call in their hearts to serve the homeless. Some people have shared that they wished that they were younger so that they could join us in this work. Maybe the fact is that you are the perfect age to serve as a missionary and may not realize it. Certain ministries need grandfathers and grandmothers and some require sons and daughters. God has not put an age restriction on vocations. In our ministry specifically, the children and teens are looking for people who would love them unconditionally. They want people who would be consistently present in their lives. They want people to show them that their lives are special. You don’t have to be a young person to be these things to the children and teens.

Our grandmotherly visitor was a calm and flexible person. She did not allow the language barrier to hinder from doing what is important. She was not distracted by the chaotic environment around her. She was focused on one thing. She was going to be herself in the streets. On this day, the children and teens had a grandmother.

The perfect age for a missionary is the age when he or she is comfortable and secure enough to allow God’s love to flow through them. The Holy Spirit is not limited by our age. We should not limit ourselves because we are older. If we open ourselves to God, He will use us regardless of our age and limitations to become His vessel of Grace to these little ones.

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In the Middle of the Night….

São Paulo after midnight is dangerous. The center where we live is notorious for criminal activities. Usually, we avoid going out late at night if we can help it. However, last Tuesday, we were walking home at three a.m. in the morning. We did not plan for it. It just happened. We had just spent six hours in the emergency room and when we were done, we could not find any taxi in sight. We had no choice but to walk home.

Everything started on Monday evening. It was supposed to be a quiet evening with some friends. I was the cook for the night. One of friends arrived early and Mary was talking to him in the living room. Then our intercom rang and Igor was at the door. This was unexpected but I thought maybe he was in the neighborhood and wanted to drop by. As he was coming up the stairs, I was thinking of ways to convince him to stay for dinner. He is little shy and needs a little persuasion to interact with new people. I went out of our apartment and waited to greet him as he came up the stairs. As soon as he saw me, I could see that something was wrong. He did not look well. He said that he had a fight with his girlfriend, Ana Paula and they decided to call it quits. On top of this, he had been feeling ill all day and he wanted to go to the hospital. He asked if I would accompany him. At this point, Mary and our friend came to our doorway and heard the whole conversation.

There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to with him but I also had some guests coming over and they were expecting dinner. I was not quite done cooking. Our friend, Paulo, volunteered to go with Mary and Igor to the hospital so that I could finish cooking and wait for the other guests to arrive. As Paulo and Mary got their stuff together to leave, Igor and I were alone in the room for a few minutes. It was at this moment that Igor started crying. He was upset that his relationship with Ana Paula had ended. He said that he decided to leave the Project because he cannot live with her anymore. It was the first time that I have seen Igor so vulnerable and lost. He expressed that he felt as if he was losing everything and he did not want to go back to the streets. I told him that we will figure something out together but for now, we need to get him to the hospital. We were concerned as there is a dengue epidemic here. He had some of the symptoms. Before he left with Mary and Paulo, he gave me a big hug and thanked me for listening. I hardly did anything except to listen to him for a few minutes.

After they left for the hospital, I prayed that God would give us wisdom to deal with this crisis. I told myself that I needed to handle one thing at a time. My friends were due to arrive soon and I prepared something quick so that they would at least have something to eat. They arrived promptly and I explained what happened. It opened an opportunity for us to talk about our work with them. They talked about Igor and his life in the streets. They became interested in getting to know him and asked how they could help. It has been some time since I had the idea of introducing this group of friends to Igor. They were slightly older than him. Most of them come from lower middle class backgrounds. They have had their fair share of struggles and life is still hard for them. They are still trying to figure out how to live their lives to fulness. They don’t have the answer but they are hopeful in finding them. They will bring some positive light into Igor’s life and I believe that they will be blessed as we are by knowing him.

Paulo came home alone about eleven o’clock. He informed me that Igor had to get some blood test for dengue fever and the results would only be out in three hours. This meant he had to wait in the emergency room until then. Mary was with him and I was to join them. I packed some food for them and got there about midnight after a forty minutes walk. Igor looked better. He was given some medication and it was taking effect. All three of us sat there and waited. There were a quite a number of people waiting just like us. Some felt well enough to strike up a conversation and Igor started talking to an elderly woman who had fallen in a bus. She received treatment for injury and was waiting until sunrise to go home. She lived alone and did not want to go home alone in the night. It was interesting to see how Igor interacted with her. He gave her his full attention and engaged her for a good part of our wait. She asked Igor who we were to him and he said that we were his relatives.

Three hours came and went and there was no sign of any results. Finally, at about 3 a.m., Igor asked if he could to come back tomorrow to get the test result. Usually, this is not allowed under Brazilian Law. They cannot release any patient suspected of serious illness to leave the medical premises without permission from the doctor. Igor had a word with the medical staff and then he came out of the room smiling. He got the permission.

The three of us walked the dangerous streets of São Paulo at 3 a.m. There was hardly anyone around. We did not feel afraid and we were talking about Igor’s future. We encouraged him to return to the Project. We told him that it was not too late if he went back right away. It was less than twenty four hours. We found out later that the Project gave people a three day grace period. Igor went back to our place for coffee and some snacks and then we paid his taxi to return to the project. It was 4.30 am.

Thankfully, Igor did not lose his space. He has still a place to stay. As for his relationship with Ana Paula, we are not sure about its future. As a rule, we respect the privacy of our young people. We do not ask anything about their relationships unless they volunteer the information. Ana Paula and Igor have been together for five years. This is a long time for teenagers/young adults living in the streets.

Igor came back the next day to our house. He picked up the test results and they were negative. He was feeling a lot better. He thanked us for going with him to the hospital. Despite the stress, we were glad that Igor came to us. In a way we signed up for this kind of stress. When we opened our hearts to these young people, we agreed to be there for them when they needed us. I am glad that Igor knows that we can be trusted to help him in his most vulnerable moments.

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We Are Their Fathers and Mothers

Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?-Malachi 2:10

We encountered a sad and disturbing incident. Unfortunately, there is a sentiment that is growing among many in the city.

We just got to the public square where the children were and noticed a commotion. A ten year old boy, Wesley, was in the middle of it. We saw some adults looking at his neck. We enquired what was going on and Wesley showed us his bruised neck. The bruises were actually impression of a hand. Wesley was obviously upset and told us that a policeman grabbed and squeezed him by the neck. A passer-by who had witnessed the whole incident confirmed this and added that someone had their phone stolen and the police were certain that the children had it. They lined up all the children and one of them grabbed Wesley and tried to intimidate him into giving up the culprit. The passerby then told me something that astonished me. He said that the children deserved it. He went on to say that the children have been getting out of hand and someone needed to put them in their place. By this he meant that it was perfectly fine for a grown man armed to the teeth to choke a defenseless ten year old child. This happened during the afternoon in one of the most busiest sections in the center.

I do not doubt for a moment that one of the children had stolen the phone. Even if they did not do it this time, it is not something beyond them. They did not deny anything when we spoke to them. However, their bad behavior does not change the fact that they are still children. If these children were our own flesh and blood, we would not tolerate a complete stranger physically abusing our child, let alone choking him until his neck is bruised. No decent parent would condone such behavior regardless of what their young child had done. However, these children do not have parents. They are orphans. No one looks out for them. No one misses them when they are gone. No one cares if they are gone. Apparently, no one vouches for them when they are physically abused in public. These children are non -existent in all practical sense. They sense this in their souls. They try to assert their existence through bad behavior just like an attention-craving child would do in any given context. This does not excuse their bad behavior. It needs to be addressed but not with hatred and violence.

Unfortunately, a seed of hatred was planted in Wesley’s heart on this day. However, all is not lost. It does not necessarily mean that bitterness and anger are going to take root in his soul. Evil actions are not as powerful as we imagine. These children have experienced much hatred and rejection in their lives and they still are open to be loved. They still believe that there is someone who would love them. They still want to be loved. In other words, they still want to believe that their existence is worth something to someone in this world. Most of them are able to overcome the hatred that they experienced in this life if they can discover that they are important to at least one person in this life.

The Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. Churches around the world celebrate this special day as the beginning of the church. The message of Pentecost Sunday has something significant and powerful to say to these children and teens. The coming of the Holy Spirit changed the nature of relationships. Before this blessed day, the apostles imagined the preaching of the gospel within their cultural, geographical and social limitations. With the miracle of the tongues, the apostles discovered that the Holy Spirit has something beyond their limited imagination. It is no longer of a religious message of a certain people or language. It is a message of adoption. All peoples were now part of the great family of God. All the orphans and widows from all over the world now have a Father who cares and loves them and a family that includes them as their own brothers and sisters.

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God-Romans – 8:16

The Spirit of God is poured upon all peoples to testify to their spirit that they are adopted. No one is an orphan anymore because God is their Father. No land is too distant for us to seek and care for our brothers and sisters who are still unaware that they are part of this new family. Our children and teens in the streets sense the longing for a Father in their spirit. They understand that fatherhood is not restricted to flesh and blood. They know all these aspects of the Truth and yet they need to see and experience the reality of this adoption in a clear and tangible manner.

They need to see fathers and mothers who are sent by the Holy Spirit to testify to this adoption. This should be, perhaps, the only and true motivation of missionary work. It is a motivation that can only be inspired by the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We can only receive the orphans of this world as our own family members when we have experienced the power of adoption in our own lives. For those who have not experienced this reality would consider it absurd to go out into the world and care for the children of outsiders. They would claim that we need to take of our own first. The Holy Spirit is a generous Spirit. There is enough love for those far away as well as those who are near.

The next day, all the other children that had witnessed the event wanted to do an activity with us. We were surprised that none of them were using or sniffing paint thinner or any other drug. They just sat and colored together with us and asked questions about ourselves. They just wanted to be with us. I have to say that we enjoyed just being with them. This is the first step towards a real spiritual adoption. However, the police were lurking around behind us. The children were a little afraid and they did share this sentiment with us. However, they also felt safe with us despite the presence of potential violence. As for the violence, it is not going to go away. It will loom around the children and teens always. We are always in the midst of it. However, it cannot undo what the Holy Spirit is doing in our hearts.

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Loving the Unlikable

For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.-Matt. 5:20

The spirituality of the Pharisees wasn’t any different from the values of the world except that it was cloaked in religiosity. They shared the same standards. They only cared for people who were like them. They only invited their friends to their banquets. They did seemingly charitable works but always ensured that everyone knew about it. They cared for their community but it was always tainted with ulterior motives or blatant self-promotion. Jesus said that they had already received their rewards. The Pharisees believed that they were the custodians of the Law but Jesus said that their spirituality did not reflect the essence of the Law. Of course, the Pharisees might have brushed this off as a question of opinion. They were right in a sense. They had no obligation to listen to Jesus’ opinions whereas for Christians, only the opinion of Jesus counts in this matter.

There is another parable found in the same gospel which I believe is closely related to this. It sheds light on the kind of spirituality that Jesus is looking for in people. The parable is a familiar one; it is about the sheep and the goats. It talks about the end of time where the King will come to judge the world and He will separate the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep to His right hand.

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’- Matt. 25:34-36

Those who heard these words were surprised that they had been serving him and the King tells them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

The hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the prisoner; these are the people the Pharisees would overlook in their personal and public lives. They are ones through whom God has chosen to manifest Himself in this world. We should not romanticize these groups. Superficially speaking, there is nothing appealing or beautiful about these little ones of the gospel. Sometimes people tend to paint a picture of them as being sad and lonely people who are always open to our warmth embrace. The truth is that usually they are not easy people to serve. Most of the time, they might not even be likable. The hungry and thirsty can be so consumed by their basic necessity that they may seem angry and impatient and perhaps ungrateful. The stranger might not trust you and treat you with suspicion and disdain. The naked in the Bible are usually the mentally ill. They may not even acknowledge your presence. As for prisoners, they can be dangerous and manipulative people. Usually, no one really wants to care for them. Many would prefer to see them suffer in their cells. They are not easy people. Nevertheless, Jesus tells us He is present in them in a mysterious way. This is not some romantic idea. It is merely stating that nothing has changed in Jesus’ ministry. In His earthly ministry, He was present among these little ones and it makes sense that His Spirit continues to dwell among them in the present. His presence in them does not make the prisoners innocent and less dangerous or the hungry and thirsty less angry, the naked less mad or the strangers less suspicious. It only means that when we ignore them like the Pharisees of these world, then our lives become poorer and our spirituality becomes barren. The source and strength of spirituality comes from our daily encounter with the Living Christ. He is present where He is needed the most. We must find Him there.

 

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An Odd Family in Streets

We had a good day.

The children and teens were exceptionally open. We had meaningful conversations with some and the others were just happy to spend time with adults. There has been a drastic drop in the number of social work agencies in the streets and consequently, the children have fewer interactions with adults. Even though the children and teens would never admit it, they do crave for adult attention. Today, they were open about their desire for adult company and we openly enjoyed their company. This is why it was a good day.

As we were on our way home, we ran into Alex. He is 15 years old, but no one would believe it. He is small for his age. He was carrying a huge backpack perhaps too big for his size which made him look a little awkward. He was walking briskly away from the area as it was full of police. We suspected that the heavy backpack contained some paint thinner which he was selling. Alex has always been a loner. It is hard to get him into a conversation. Most of the time, he doesn’t engage in any activity with us. He is an extreme introvert. Today, however, he was different. When he noticed us, he came to us and asked to do an activity with us. We were a little taken aback. Alex never makes such requests. Even though we were ready to call it a day, we decided that it was worth extending our time just to spend some time with Alex.

Recently we have been trying to do more art with the children in the streets. Most of them have responded very positively to this. They are partial to water colors. We were expecting things to turn messy but to our pleasant surprise, they do a good job with their painting. Alex wanted to paint a horse today. He asked if we could draw him a picture of a horse. The only artist in the group is Mary and she drew a lovely horse. Alex happily chose the colors and started working on it. We also noticed that Alex had a horse keychain. We asked him if he ever seen a horse before. He said that he rode one when he was living on a small ranch in the outskirts of the city. He told us that it belonged to his family. This was a little strange because we know Alex’s family. They were not a family that could ever own or even rent a small ranch. They were extremely poor.

Alex alternates between the streets and his grandmother’s house. She lives in one of the worst neighborhoods in center. It is an area riddled with drugs and violence. Unfortunately this is the only place where she can afford to rent a tiny studio apartment which she shares with her four grandchildren. To call this place an apartment is an exaggeration. It is an old historic building that is literally falling apart and the so-called apartments are really just rooms with bathrooms. Most of the renters are drug addicts and dealers. Crime and violence are an everyday occurrences and the children have grown accustomed to them. The grandmother makes very little money doing odd jobs to support herself and the children. Mary has met her and she found the grandmother to be a kind person with a sense of humor. However, she is limited in what she can do for the children. She has no one to help her and most of her grandchildren are under fifteen. The youngest is a girl and she is 9 years old. Alex has another younger brother who is thirteen who also alternates between the streets and his home.

We enquired once again about the ranch. Alex smiled and told us that he was lying. It did not belong to his family. However, he really rode horses at the ranch but it belonged to a children’s shelter. In São Paulo, children’s shelters also function as orphanages. Alex and his brother were sent there soon after their mother’s death. He was about ten when it happened. We did not really understand the details of his story but it appears as if his mother suffered a sudden cardiac attack and died before the paramedics arrived. Unfortunately, he remembers vividly that the ambulance took forever to arrive even though they lived three blocks away the hospital. His grandmother could not take care of all the children and consequently he and his brother were sent to the shelter. We asked about his father. He told us that he remembered very little of his father. All he remembered was that his father was a crack addict. His father eventually died but Alex never had a relationship with him.

In the course of our conversation, Alex spoke and acted like a young ten year old. It was the age when he lost his mother. He had a little bit of a cold and I gave him a piece of tissue and he blew his nose in it and tried to give it back to me. I told him that this was a gift that he should keep for himself and he started laughing. At that moment, we all forgot that Alex was selling paint thinner and he was sleeping in the streets. We forgot that he was usually closed to conversations and a recluse. He forgot that he was alone and an orphan. We sat around and talked like an odd-looking family on the floor of a square in the center. We felt a strong love for him and we believed that he sensed it as well. It was the first time that Alex had a long conversation with us. He started asking questions about animals and different stuff; not unlike the questions a young child would ask his parents. Perhaps Alex never had the chance to ask such questions before. Perhaps the adults in his life did not have the time or energy to answer such questions. God wants to answer his questions and I am grateful that He used us as His mouthpiece to do this.

We went home happy that we stayed longer today. We pray for many more moments like this with Alex.

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Questions about Righteous Living

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, decided to put her away privately. (Matthew 1:19)

Igor has been looking a little discouraged lately. He has been looking for a job for three months now and so far nothing has come up. He tries to put on a strong exterior but we can see that he is a little disappointed. The local economy is not doing well and most places are not hiring. Looking for a job is hard itself, but for Igor there is an additional burden and obstacle. He confessed that he always feels self-conscious of his past and thinks that everyone around him is scrutinizing him. Whenever someone does not respond positively to him, he feels as if that they are judging him based on his past. This comes from years of being taught to believe that he would amount to nothing but a thief. Now, he finds it hard to navigate out of this mindset.

Bit by bit Igor is sharing his life experiences with us. Recently he talked about his long stay in the juvenile detention center. He said that physical abuse was routine even for some minor infractions. All the boys were accustomed to it and he does not even feel any rancor towards the guards. He believed that they did what they did to maintain order in the center. However, the guards that he found hard to forgive were the ones who abused him verbally. They constantly told him that he was nothing but a criminal and there was no hope for him. He said that no matter how much he tried he just cannot seem to erase the memories of these words. Hurtful words remain embedded in his soul whereas physical injuries heal and eventually disappear.

Igor also shared that he had a younger brother. Soon after Igor left for the streets when he was seven, his younger brother followed suit. However, he did not last long. He was terrified of the streets. He did not like the sub-culture of the streets. He detested sniffing glue and was fearful of any criminal activities. He left the streets within the week and went to his aunt’s house and never set foot again in the streets. He went to school and got a job when he was sixteen. He worked in a small business that was relatively successful. His boss took a special liking to him and trusted him with large amount of money. Unfortunately, he and a group of friends decided to rob his boss. They tied him up and took off with a large sum of money in a car. The police eventually picked up on their trail and a long drawn out car chase ensued. Tragically, it ended with all of them being shot and killed by the police. None of them were armed and his boss was not hurt. According to Igor, the whole event was caught on national news. I asked Igor whether his brother was influenced by his friends to rob his boss and to my surprise, Igor believed that it was the other way round. I asked him why would his brother who was once afraid of any criminal activities decide to engage in robbery. His answer was simple and heartbreaking. Igor told me that when you grow in a certain neighborhood, you are told all your life that the only way out is through crime. When his brother saw how much money his boss had, he decided to take the easy way out of poverty. Unfortunately, he paid a high price for a small sum of cash.

As part of our weekly time with Igor, we are reading the gospel of Matthew together. When we came to the part where Joseph discovered Mary’s pregnancy. We spoke about Joseph being just and because of his sense of justice, he wanted to save his fiancé any possible harm or danger by trying to breaking up the engagement secretly. Another man would reacted differently. However, it was this sense of justice that helped him hear and receive the Word from the Angel about Mary’s true status. The conclusion we arrived at was that being a just person prepares one to see and understand what God is doing in one’s life. Then Igor asked a difficult question. He wanted to know what does it mean to be just person.

I was silenced by his question. Igor was serious about becoming a righteous person and he wanted to know if this is something that he could learn and what he must do to acquire this understanding. When he saw that I was struggling to answer his question, he decided to help me out and rephrase the question. He wanted to know what was righteous living. This did not alleviate the situation. However, I am grateful that he asked these difficult questions because they helped me to examine my own life as well. It seems like it is easier to say what is unrighteous living. Pointing out what is wrong is easier than showing how to do something the right way. After a few moments of silence and pondering, I told him that for me living a just life means living in harmony with who God has made me to be. I will be the first to admit that this does not really make it clearer. I decided to try again. Not because I wanted to show that I knew the answer; I wanted to answer the question for my own sake. I decided to be honest and said that for me living a just life has to do with my own pursuit of happiness. I believe that being a just person is intrinsically linked with one’s own personal happiness. It is also synonymous with discovering who God has created me to be.

I realized that to tell Igor that he needs to change his life is meaningless if we cannot say what this change is supposed to be. I cannot teach Igor something that I don’t understand myself. However, I did say that it has to do with discovering who God has made us to be. It is a personal journey where he needs to discover God’s voice speaking to him. Igor has heard many voices in his life. These voices brought him to the streets and to the brink of desperation. Even though we cannot teach Igor to be a just person, perhaps he can see through our lives that there exists another voice that speaks to our innermost being and points the way to true happiness. We hope that our lives will inspire Igor to seek this voice out for himself.

 

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A Time for Mercy

“Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy.” -Jonah 2:8

Recently, there has been a proposal to amend the constitution to reduce the adult age to sixteen in criminal cases.It has been approved for consideration and debate which is the final step before it becomes official. This means any sixteen year old that commits any crime ranging from petty theft to murder would be confined in the same facility as adult prisoners. The recent poll shows that about 87 percent of the population are in favor of this new proposed amendment. Those who are against it are mainly the House of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church and people like us who work with the children and teens from impoverished areas. The people argue that they are fed up with the fact that teenagers can commit heinous crimes and are sent to juvenile centers until they are eighteen and then set free. The truth is that the heinous crimes are rarely committed by teenagers but this Law would affect all the teenagers who make unwise choices in their lives. No one disagrees that the incarceration system needs reform but there is hardly any talk about reform in this discussion. This proposed amendment is about punishment; as if the fear of punishment would generate automatic rehabilitation. This simplistic view of the situation is not going to create a safer society but it may facilitate the creation of dangerous criminals.

In my blog posts, I rarely address any political issues. I don’t do this to avoid controversy. I only address them when they are relevant to the children and teens in our ministry. This amendment directly affects our work. Therefore, it is necessary to say something from the perspective of our vocation.

Brazilian prisons are notoriously overcrowded.* I have not visited any adult prisons recently but I have spoken to adults who have been incarcerated. They tell me that an average cell built to hold eight people is overcrowded with at least thirty inmates. Everyone is grouped together. Petty thieves and dangerous murderers sleep in the same cell. Sometimes they have to take turns to sleep because of the lack of space. Within the prison walls, gangs run the show. Those who are affiliated with the gangs are free from violence and rape. Consequently, everyone has to join a gang to survive or even if they don’t, their families have to pay the gangs to protect their loved ones. On the other hand, those who join the gangs are treated with respect and dignity. Their families receive financial help from the gangs on the outside and on visitation days, they are spared some of the humiliating process of being strip searched to visit their sons and daughters. Most men who are imprisoned have affiliated themselves with the gangs because it is the only way to survive. Now, imagine a sixteen year old boy in this situation.

Perhaps, some will argue that they shouldn’t have chosen the life of crime and they deserve what they get. However, the question any good person should ask is why a young man or girl would choose the life of crime?

Most of these young criminals come from impoverished neighborhoods. The schools in these regions are precarious to say the least. A friend of ours taught in these schools. He told us that some of the school buildings are made out of tin literally. During the summer months, the heat is unbearable and the students and teachers have no choice but to endure it. Our friend was an enthusiastic graduate from college who wanted to give his best in a profession whose starting pay is about US$350 per month. Just to give you a point of reference, the rent for a small one bedroom house in the worse neighborhood in the outskirts of the city is more than half of that. You really have to a vocation to do this job. Unfortunately not everyone in this profession has a vocation. Our friend once heard a teacher say in the teacher’s room that her greatest wish was that these children grow up to be utter failures and frustrated in everything they do. This is hardly the kind of role model we would wish upon our worst enemy.

In these neighborhoods, there is rarely a library. There are insufficient social services for the large number of people living here. Both parents often have to work to support the family. The children and teens are in the streets most of the time because their homes are too tiny and hot to remain indoors all day. The streets are filled with unsavory opportunities. Drug dealers roam the streets freely without any problems from the police. They are not afraid of anyone especially the police. The children are exposed to corruption and hypocrisy to the extend that they have lost all respect for the civil authority. The drug dealers are people who have convinced themselves that the only way out of poverty is through crime. They can be the cousins and uncles of these children and teenagers. They might be people who genuinely care for them. Their involvement in crime does not deprive them of their human sensibilities. Unfortunately, these things also make it hard for these children and teens to think negatively of their criminal choices. To make matters worse, the drug dealers are always present and the children have a tendency to admire those who are most present in their lives.

None of these reasons should be confused as excuses for someone to embrace a life of crime. However, this is the hostile environment in which these children and teenagers are constantly exposed. Despite this, many who live in these situations never commit any crime. It does not change the fact that there are many impressionable ones who are seduced by the fleeting perks of criminal life. The real crime is that they live in an environment where crime is a viable option, whereas work and good education are no where to be found.

Many people believe that these young criminals are inherently bad and there is no hope for them. Many of these people go to church on Sundays and read the same Bible as those who oppose this Law. No one is saying that these young offenders are innocent. We believe that they need to be rehabilitated. However, sending a sixteen year old to a cell crowded with hardened criminals is inhumane punishment. I will admit that we are making a choice to look at this from the perspective of the children and teens we know. As I am writing this, I am looking at a picture of Igor and Ana Paula. They both were sent to juvenile detention center at the age of seventeen and Igor only left the detention center when he turned eighteen. He spent a major part of his teenage years incarcerated. Today, he wants something completely different for his life. All his life, people have told him that the life of crime was his destiny. He did not want to believe this, but he was always surrounded by criminals and he did not see any way out. When he was incarcerated, the guards constantly said that he would amount to nothing and he would die a criminal’s death. Today, he said that for the first time he is surrounded by people who hope the best for him. He can imagine a better future for himself. This is not just the case of Igor. All the teens and children that we wrote about in this blog desire someone to believe in them. They don’t want to give up hope but they need people from the outside to help them turn this into a reality. None of them are hardened criminals. None of them want to spend their lives in crime.

The essence of the gospel message is about mercy. One of the most disturbing parables is the one of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:21-35); the servant was forgiven undeservedly of his debt and yet he refused to show mercy to his co-servant. Consequently, he forsook his own mercy. The prophet Jonah tells us that those who worship false gods forsake their own mercy. It makes complete sense. In order to show mercy, we need to believe in a God that is able to do incredible things like transform the life of a person who has given up hope for himself or herself. We cannot believe this unless we have experienced it in our lives. If we take the mercy we received for granted as if it is something we rightly deserved, then we do not understand mercy at all. Consequently we do not know the God who is merciful.

Showing mercy does not mean that we pretend no offense has been committed. It means that we believe that all people are worth redeeming. It means showing in practical ways that we believe everyone has the potential of becoming a person who follows the footstep of the most perfect Human Being expressed in the person of Jesus. Mercy seeks to understand why people do wrong things and tries to correct them. The unmerciful servant was only interested in punishment. He wanted revenge and by doing so, he inadvertently chose his own demise.

87 percent of the population will find this post offensive. I don’t write this to offend anyone. I write this because the way to create a better and safer society is to become a more merciful one. I am not a fool to believe that we will live in a merciful society in this reality. However, we don’t have to be part of creating an unmerciful order. I pray that God’s mercy will prevail and the Law will not be amended. To do so is to sentence these teenagers to a life of crime and certain violent death.

Please pray with us that God’s mercy will prevail.

 

 

* The situation of the Brazilian Penitentiary system can easily be verified through a google search.

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My Brother’s Keeper

“Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”
He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”-Genesis 4:9

Ruan is a terror. This is the general consensus among those who work in the streets and perhaps even the children might agree. He is always involved in some altercation. It is not uncommon to see him in a physical fight with some teen. He does not seem to respect anyone, not even us. Once he grabbed our deck of Uno cards and ran away with it. As form of discipline, we decided to suspend activities with him for a short period. Unfortunately, it did not seem to bother him at all.

Ruan is only twelve years old. It is possible that he is just going through a phase right now. He might change in a few years time. Nevertheless, we cannot help but sometimes wish that he would just go away and let us do our work in peace. However, Ruan is really not a hindrance to our work. He just reminds us that we are inadequate and limited in our ability to help people. This makes us uncomfortable. In the same way, Cain was uncomfortable with the presence of Abel. Abel reminded Cain that he did not meet the standard. Our human tendency is to remove or distance ourselves from anything makes us feel inadequate. However, our inadequacy should not contaminate our sense of responsibility. It is the calling of the church to care for the forgotten and despised. Despite his difficulty personality, Ruan belongs to this neglected family of God.

When God asked Cain about Abel, He gave the answer that I find myself giving to God sometimes when I deal with difficult people in my life, “ Am I my brother’s keeper?” This is an important question to ask, although in the case of Cain, he was asking this question to avoid facing a serious crime. Perhaps we tend to ask this question to avoid caring for difficult people as well. Leaving all ulterior motives aside, it is a good question to ask God. Do we really have the responsibility to deal with all the difficult people in our lives, especially those who make us feel small and insignificant? It is a question asked several times in the Bible. Who is my neighbor? How many times must I forgive my brother? These are some of the variations of the same question. All of them asked in hopes of finding a loophole to despise unlikable people.

The answer is given in various shapes and form in the New Testament.

It is given in three famous parables; the parable of the sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son. The parables themselves are a progressive argument that Jesus makes. In the first one, there is not much controversy. The sheep is an innocent animal who got lost and it is the property of the shepherd. His search for it seems to be a rational thing. Nothing out of the ordinary. It is same case with the coin. An inanimate object that got lost and it is of value to the owner. The response is something anyone would do. However, the last parable is controversial. We are dealing with a rational being here. The son is a self-conceited young man demanding his inheritance to indulge in his own personal orgy of self-gratification. Finally, when things don’t work out, he comes running home to his father. If we are willing to be honest, we would agree that the older son was right. The younger son was an irresponsible opportunist and he did not deserve a welcome home party. Apparently this is not the version that Jesus wants us to understand. The story is not about the son but it is about the Father. It is not about the merits of the Son, but the joy of the Father in having His son home. The older son was thinking about himself and not about the Father. In this way, he is not much different from his brother. He failed to see that the younger son, despite being a selfish person, was important to the Father.

Ruan is important to God and so is every annoying and callous person that we know. However, in practice we cannot handle all the people in the world. We can handle the ones God sends to us. He brings certain people in our lives so that we can become their keepers. In the world, rejection is the answer to difficult people. The gospel teaches that God does not reject people, but people reject him. If we want to represent God then we should remove the vocabulary of rejection from our language. However, honesty is important here. God does not want us to pretend a difficult person is a saint when they are behaving like the devil. We cannot pretend that they are good and lovely people. We need to learn to see them the way God perceives them.

In one of our regular days in the streets, we were doing an activity with Ruan when a social worker walked by the square and noticed him. Later on, the social worker approached me and asked me how long Ruan has been in the streets. It was less than a year at that time. He said that he had known him and his family for some time. Ruan used to accompany his stepfather who is paraplegic to a project for physical disabled people. The social worker said that everyone was impressed by the way Ruan would help his step-father and care for him. However, about a year ago, his mother left him for another man. Ruan’s stepfather had to leave the household and this was about the time Ruan ran away to the streets. The child he described was very different from the one we have encountered in the streets. It helped me to notice different things about Ruan from then on. On the day when an insane person tried to hurt me, Ruan was the first person to run up to me and ask me if I was alright. I also noticed that he was trying to console another homeless person who had lost a loved one. I began to perceive that the caring sensitive child was still alive and present in him. Most importantly, I was able to get a glimpse of how God looks at Ruan. He is still a terror, but I realized that he is our brother and God has send us here to be his keeper. This does not mean we overlook his negative attitudes and actions. It would be unwise and unhelpful to do this. Instead we pray that God would help us see Ruan as a complete person, a person who struggles to overcome the odds to be loved in a difficult and lonely world. We are here because God loved us and consequently, this means we become the keepers of those whom God loves as well.

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A Personal Holy Week Reflection

I can’t really remember what I was looking for on the book shelf when I found this old copy of the gospel of Mark. Perhaps I was in the mood to read something. I opened the gospel and read the opening lines.

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1)

I was eleven years old.

Since it was Holy Week and I thought to myself that maybe I should just take a few minutes to read the gospel. I don’t think I had planned to read the whole gospel. Like any average eleven year old, my attention span was gravely limited and the gospel of Mark looked like a lot of reading material for someone my age.

For some reason, after the reading the first line, I was drawn almost immediately into the text. I remember it as if it was yesterday. My whole being was absorbed into my inner reading world. My voice in my head narrated the story and my soul just listened deeply and consumed every word that was spoken. It felt like time had stood still for the moment and my attentions span was suspended in a timeless space. As I read about the things Jesus did and said, He became more than a mere personality in a story. He became real being and yet not real as in a real personality in a biographical narrative. I felt His presence in the room. The other players in the stories became irrelevant at that moment. It did not matter what they did or said. Their doubts and faith did not register to me. Only the person of Jesus was alive.

As I kept reading and my sense of His presences in the room became stronger. I won’t say that the gospel was clear to me. I did not understand the parables, I did not understand many things I was reading as I understand them now. However, I remember sensing in my spirit that there were deep and profound things being said. In my soul, there was a growing sense of awe and reverence whenever Jesus responds to the Pharisees. None of those who unjustly accused Jesus invoked any emotional feelings in me. There was no anger or hatred towards them. There was no disappointment when Judas betrayed Jesus or when Peter denied knowing Him. My eyes and hears were focused on the Son of God. Everything in mind was empty except for the person of Jesus.

When I read Jesus’ cry, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”, my whole being was captivated by those words. No Hollywood production could have penetrated by entire being the way I felt when I read those words alone in my room. When Jesus breathed His last breath, the veil of my heart was torn from top to bottom. It was the first time in my eleven years that I felt the helplessness and injustice of His death. I responded in a way only appropriate for an eleven year old, I buried my face in my pillow and cried. I was afraid that some family might walk into the room and see me crying. I locked the door so that I could be free to mourn the death of Jesus.

The gospel spoke to me in a real way that day. No one sat down and explained anything to me. It wasn’t necessary. The person of Jesus had become a real person to me. He had stepped out of the stories that I heard on Sundays and became a living person to me. At that moment, I did not know what to do but I knew I had to do something with my life. Jesus was too real for me to go on living my life as if He was still trapped in the pages of Bible. He is real and life could not be the same after this day for me. It took a few years to do something about it but the fire was ignited on that particular Holy Week.

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The Hope of the Cross

“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”- John 12:32

Last year, eight children and teens died in the streets. Most of them were buried in unmarked graves without any funeral or memorial services. In most cases, the families were notified weeks after their passing and in extreme cases, there was no one to notify. Whenever a homeless person dies in the streets whether they are adults or children, the Brazilian Law requires that the burial takes place one day after the death. If no one claims their bodies within 24 hours, they are buried in unmarked graves without anyone present. All the social service groups working in the streets decided that we needed to do something to remember the lives of these little ones. They were special to us and we wanted to show that we miss their presence in this world. We decided to organize an event in remembrance of these forgotten ones.

Of all the agencies, we have the smallest team. Consequently, we could not afford the time and manpower to participate in the organization of this event. The other agencies graciously included us in the event despite our minimal involvement. We are also the only religious group in the mix and our lack of participation meant that the religious element would also be missing in the event. This is not to say that there are no religious people working in these groups, but these agencies are expected to avoid any religious reference in their work approach. We were the only ones with this liberty.

The event was held on a Friday. The agencies put together a banner with the names of the children with personalized notes written by people and children who knew them. These notes were joined together to form the words: Peace in the Streets. There were eight crosses with the names of the children and teens who passed away and there were about twenty other crosses for those who died in yesteryears that were never remembered in any way. The plan was for us to walk together to all the places where the children died and place a memorial plaque with the name of the respective children.

It was a simple event. It began with a passionate speech from one of the leaders of the social agencies and he talked about injustice and the need to fight for the rights of the children. After him, someone else spoke along the same lines. The message was a political one but it did not seem appropriate for the moment. For starters, most of the children died of drug abuse and three were murdered. I am not sure that in a just society such deaths would not occur. Social injustice has a role to play in the situation of the homeless, but murder and drug abuse occurs in every society. I don’t think political reform could have stopped these deaths. The problem is beyond politics. It is deals with something deeper and more profound. It is sin. We live in a sinful world. However, sin is also a religious word and the secular agencies do not have the vocabulary to address this in their discourses. They think that sin means blaming the victims. This would be a narrow view of the concept. The broader view gives a more realistic view of life. Not everything can be solved by social and political reforms.

In the speeches that were made, the names and lives of the children and teens were hardly mentioned. It is strange that they would be even forgotten in an event to remember them. I don’t think this was deliberate, but I think that social agencies have very little to say when someone dies. However, those who knew and loved these children and teens were not there for a political event but they wanted to know about their loved ones now. They wanted a message of hope for them. Politics has nothing to say to those who have died.

The event ended with planting of all the Crosses in the area where the last boy died in December. For many, perhaps the Cross was just used to mark the graves. However, for us, it reminded us why we are here. It is the power of this symbol that has brought us to this place. The Cross reminded us that there is a gracious God who resurrected His Son to shine His light in this world even though the world did not deserve Him. The Cross is not about who we are or what we have done but it is about Him who is able and willing to overcome death and changed its meaning forever.

As we begin this Holy Week, I am reminded of the importance of the Cross in our work. It changes our message and approach in our ministry. We are not here to push for political reforms. Our world view makes us realize that politics is helpless in the face of deep human problems, just as Pontius Pilate was helpless to change the fate of Jesus. No one could change the helplessness or powerlessness of humanity at the feet of the Cross except for the One who hung on it. He is the One who is able to bring hope even in a seemingly hopeless situation. Seeing the field covered with Crosses reminded me that death does not have victory over Grace.

Crosses to remember those who have passed away.

Crosses to remember those who have passed away.

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