Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Luke 15:1-2

A Funeral

Some one very close to us passed away this week. It was Patricia. It came as a shock. I still haven’t processed it yet. Maybe I am not quite ready to do it. Thankfully, Mary was able to write a brief reflection about her and I will include it here.

At the funeral, I wore my clergy attire. Almost none of our youth has ever seen me in my priestly gear, except for Patricia’s daughter. I used it to visit her mother in the intensive care unit when she suffered a stroke last year. It is interesting that they did not make any comments about it. They just accepted it as something normal. The wake gathered some of Patricia’s immediate relatives. None of them have been present in her life since she was a teenager living in the streets. None of them visited her in the hospital when she had a stroke. None offered any help when she was partially paralysed. However, they were all present at the funeral. They were a little taken aback when I asked for the youth to gather around the casket. These young people were there for Patricia. I saw their tear stained faces looking at me waiting to hear what I had to say. Mary was among them. Each and everyone of them helped Patricia the best way they could. The last year Patricia was showered with so much love. No one can say that she departed this life not knowing that she was loved. I said several prayers improvised from the funeral rite of our Prayer Book. I did a short reflection about God’s judgment and grace taken from the gospel (Matt. 25:31-40). I emphasized that these were the words of Jesus and not a doctrine invented by my church or any other church. At this point, I will insert Mary’s reflection because it bears the essence of my simple message at the funeral.

Mary’s Reflection

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. Matt. 25:35

Patricia’s heart stopped beating three times on Sunday afternoon. Now she is with our Lord.

We met Patricia in the city square where we used to spend time with the kids. She and her children and their children lived in a tent which they had to move according to the whims of the police in the area. Over time our relationship with this three generational family grew and we were privileged to be part of their journey from their tent to a small rented room.

In this room, the size of my living room, Patricia received many of the homeless kids and shared whatever she had to eat and whatever space was left over in their two beds. When we came over, she would make a pot of coffee for us, too.

Last year Patricia suffered a stroke and was no longer able to make coffee for us or to cook for the others, but that never could stop her from opening her heart and home to whoever showed up at her door.

I was a stranger and you invited me in. Matt. 25:35

Patricia became our friend never allowing our differences of education, class, or nationality stand in the way. Whenever we visit Florida, the nice people in the churches say we are blessing to the people on the street but they would be surprised how Patricia’s gracious acceptance of us is a rare and special thing, even though we are foreigners and I (Mary) have strong accent and make numerous mistakes in my Portuguese. Sometimes folks in the church can not get past our foreignness to see the real people we are. This was never an issue with Patricia. She accepted us as her good friends.

Today, we remember Patrica and how she invited us in. So thank you, Patrica, and goodbye.

Well done, good and faithful servant!

After the Funeral

The funeral was held at the end of the world. For us and the homeless youth anywhere beyond the center of the city is no man’s land. After the burial was done, Patricia’s blood relatives got into their cars and drove off. The rest of us had to walk about thirty minutes to catch a train. Obviously, Mary and I could have caught an Uber and made it back home in 40 minutes. However, we decided to walk back with the youth. It ended up taking about three hours to get home.

Cida walked up next to me and asked where Patricia was at this moment. She told me that she hoped that Patricia had said the so-called “sinner’s prayer” so that her soul would have been saved. I knew exactly who told her this. Cida herself had just buried her infant daughter a few months ago. We were going to buy her a tub for her baby and ended up paying for a tombstone. Therefore, it wasn’t just plain curiosity on Cida’s part. She needed to know if God is merciful enough to receive Patricia into His arms. It made me sad and angry at the same time. Sad that our youth are being tormented by doctrine purely based on speculation. Angry because the people who spread these doctrines never lift a finger to help these youths in their moments of need. Tomorrow, Patricia’s daughter, Taina will be in danger of losing her room and becoming homeless again with her three children. Purveyors of these doctrines are never found at these moments.

I told Cida that no one knows what happens to the soul. This is beyond our limits of understanding. However, we can take comfort in Jesus. He is real and present. He taught us that God is a Loving Father. I shared with her that we need to discard this false image of God who is angry and needs to be appeased for our sins. At this moment, the parable of the prodigal son came to my mind. However, I think that the parable is really about the Loving Father more than anything else. The sons, the younger and the older, never appreciated nor understood the Father. They thought of the Father as someone preventing them from enjoying life. Even the young son’s decision to return was not based on the knowledge of the Father’s love. He formulated an argument to convince His Father to accept him. He never knew the Father who waited anxiously for him to return even though he spent his entire life with Him. His decision to return to the Father’s home was just as egoistic as his decision to leave. They were both based on self-preservation. Nevertheless, the Father accepted him back lovingly. The Father did not care what brought the Son back. He was overjoyed that he was back. This is the main focus of the parable; not the younger son and much less the older son. The parable asks us if we understand the Father’s unconditional love. God is not waiting for us to fail. He just wants us to understand that He loves us unconditionally. The so-called “sinner’s prayer” is not our savior. If anything, it reduces the wealth of the gospel message. God the Father is the loving God who sent His Son into this world so that we will know that we are loved and accepted unconditionally. Jesus is the manifestation of God’s powerful and creative Love to the world. The resurrection is proof of God’s creative Love. It takes a hopeless situation and transforms it into something new, joyous and eternal. Therefore anyone who receives this unconditional creative Love cannot but be transformed by it. This Love is too powerful to be ignored and too creative not to provoke change in our lives.

This is the Father who is going to receive Patricia. He has always been with her. He has guided her through the worst moments of her Life. According to the parable Jesus taught, God the Father is not going to wait for arguments to accept Patricia. He has accepted her already before she even knew it.

Taina called us after a few days. She needs some help with the rent. We promised that we would help with what we could. However, she really just used it as an excuse to say that she really missed her mother. She told us that her mother always wanted to spend time with us even when she was partially paralyzed. We shed tears together. We will move on because we are confident that our Loving Father will fill our hearts with the creative love to move forward.

Then he told this parable: A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?” He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.” Luke 13:6-9

A few interesting things happened this week; nothing remotely exciting, just normal stuff. The first was a message from a clergy friend. She asked if I could share about our day to day ministry. The other was my friend’s decision to participate in our ministry. This friend has been a regular guest at our home for years. Every time we sat down to have a meal together, we tend to talk about our interactions with the homeless young people. Our friends know the names of our youth because we talk so much about them. Finally, he asked us if he could be part of this ministry. He wants to join us at least once a week and last Monday was his first day. Two simple events but interesting enough to inspire serious reflection. I want to add a third element; the gospel parable about the kind and compassionate gardener.

My clergy friend’s request is simple and straightforward. However, she is not just asking for information. She is looking for a door to participate in our ministry. Therefore, it makes it a deeply spiritual request. I could easily describe our daily activities in a couple of lines. After all, we have done the same thing everyday for almost 12 years now. We meet the young people in the streets where they sleep. For the present moment, it is in a city square. We usually talk about an hour or so sometimes even longer. Then the same youth comes by every day asks us to start a game of Uno. It has been the same game for a few years now. We tried changing the game but they did not take too well to it. In general, changes are not well received. They live in the streets where things are constantly changing. Therefore, they want some things to remain the same. It is not just our homeless youth. It is our human nature.

Our games usually last for a couple of hours. We play with just three or four youths. The others tend to gather around us and talk among themselves. Yesterday, they were talking about strange people they have met. They like sitting close to us. It gives them the feeling that we are a little family. In many ways, we are one. Someone looking from the outside might see all this as a waste of time. It would seem like a fruitless manner to spend our time, in our case, our lives. They are right but we would do it over and over again if possible.

Our friend joined us for the first time on Monday. The young people received him and even the dogs. I forgot to mention them. We do have some dogs thrown into the mix. They can be very protective but they welcomed our friend. He played several rounds of Uno with us. The conversations flowed naturally but something was different. The youth were cordial but a connection was lacking. The topic of conversation was the same but there was a lack of trust. In our interactions with the youth, many times they like to fib. They don’t do it in an intentionally way. It is their way of filling the gap in their stories in order communicate something. Sometimes they do it because they don’t want to look ignorant. They know that we know when they are lying. However, they know that we understand too. With a new person present there, they don’t feel so confident. This is just one small aspect of the disconnection. There is something more profound and I am unsure if words could express it. This disconnect made me miss the youth even though they were right front of us. They weren’t able to be themselves. One new person changed the dynamics of the group. It is our hope that as our friend comes more frequently and consistently, the youth would open up to him. For the time being, if I am honest, I am glad that he comes only once a week. Maybe I am being a little selfish. It has come to be that we need the connection with our youth as much as they need it from us. Therefore, when there is a disconnection, something essential is missing from our lives.

Our homeless youth have many people going through their lives on a daily basis. There are groups who serve them food. These people deliver the food to them and leave. There are health workers from the public clinic. They do their rounds among the homeless and attend to whatever medical needs they have and then they leave. All these people come to address a specific problem of homelessness. Once the need is addressed, the connection between them and the homeless youth evaporates too. All these people provide important services to our youth. However, no one just “wastes” time with these young people. It is through these so-called “useless activities” that the young people know that we just like being with them.

A ministry that follows in the footsteps of the Incarnate God cannot be problem focused ministry. Jesus did not come into this world to solve a problem. He came to show us how to live our lives to the fullest.

There are some religious groups which reduce the gospel to a problem solving gospel. They preach that Jesus came to save us from our sins. Sometimes the message is extended to say the things Jesus can do for us. Jesus becomes a functional being. Then the focus is always on this aspect and nothing more. However, Jesus spent a bulk of His time on earth just living Life like your everyday person. In other words, He sanctified our everyday lives. His words and ministry are powerful and enduring, not because He used beautiful words and did amazing miracles. It is because He was connected with people. He participated in the life doing things like sitting around talking with his mother and brothers. Maybe he spent time with friends doing absolutely nothing “productive”. Maybe He spent a lot of time playing with children and this is why the children were drawn to Him. These are mere speculations but the fact is that for thirty years Jesus just lived a normal life. These times were essential for Jesus to create a deep and profound connection with the people. This is not a mere sentimental attachment. It is deeply spiritual. It creates a unity between our Lord and the people. It helped Him become One with the people and it helped the people become one with Him.

The parable from the gospel is interesting. I used to interpret it as if God the Father was asking the tree to be removed and God the Son was interceding for a second chance. However, this would be inconsistent with the essential message of the gospel according to Jesus. He came to reveal the Father and not Himself. I see it now as two conflicting ideas we have of God. We have an image of God which is still common and active in the imaginations of many as a God who is demanding and detached from the world. The Gardener is the true image of God according to the gospels. He sees things from a different perspective. He looks at the tree from a perspective of someone who participates in the life of the tree. Even though the tree has failed to produce fruits, it is still His fig tree. He cultivated it and has taken care of it from the time it was seedling. He understands what it needs to flourish. The owner thinks it is not worth the time and energy because he is detached from the life of the tree. The gardener participates in its growth and the tree becomes spiritually part of Him.

Our friend who has just joined us will understand all this one day. For now, he is still a little detached from the youth. He needs to waste some time with them doing the same and repetitious things. It is not going to happen overnight. It might take a few years. Participation always takes time. It took our Lord 30 years. Don’t expect things to be easier for us. There is no quick and easy way. We have to be willing to pay the price to gain a space in someone’s heart. This is what participation is all about. If we are not willing to waste time with the other, then we won’t appreciate being one with them. Our Lord, however, thought it was worth it.

At that very hour some Pharisees came, and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.”
Luke 13:31-33

“Tragedy is an imitation of life.” I am pretty sure Aristotle said these words. At least, some have alluded that these are his words. I am not entirely sure. At any rate, they sum up his views on the subject of poetry or theater. He goes on to say that tragedy invokes in us two important sentiments; empathy and fear.

The gospel reading above is not poetry, nor a play, but it unfolds as such to us as modern readers. We tend to read it as spectators of a drama. However, it brings about the same effects that Aristotle talked about. We are brought into the life of Jesus and at the same time made to confront our own mortality. In other words, our fear of death.

The Pharisees claimed that Herod was trying to kill Jesus. It is really doubtful that they were concerned about the welfare of our Lord. In all likelihood, they hoped that the fear of death would paralyze His active ministry. This does not mean that Herod wasn’t indeed a menacing threat. Jesus did not exclude this possibility. He made it clear that as far as probable death was concerned, it made no difference to His ministry. Jesus continued to do what He has been doing, perhaps to the chagrin of the Pharisees. Our Lord even went a step further. He predicted His own imminent death in the hands of the very people who were supposedly trying to protect him from the corrupt king. Jesus accepted that death was inevitable and he boldly walked towards it. Jesus confronted the fear of death by accepting death.

No one has power over the wind to restrain the wind, or power over the day of death. Ecclesiastes 8:8

St Augustine, in his book, City of God, wrote that death is the one thing we know for certain from the day we came into this world. He wrote this when the city in which he was living was being sieged. He died shortly thereafter. In modern times, talk about our mortality is very often avoided. This attitude hasn’t done any favors for us except to make us more superficial. If we avoid reflecting on one aspect of our life, then it is only natural for us to avoid profundity and intimacy in other aspects, too. We end up living our lives from one superficial experience to another without ever enjoying the full depth of any of it. In the past, the Christian faith embraced the spirituality of “Memento Mori” *. I wrote about this in my previous Lenten reflections and I won’t repeat myself here. However, the season of Lent is a time we reflect on the humanity of Jesus and His mortality plays a significant role.

A famous Brazilian singer, Gilberto Gil, in his advanced age, composed a song about his own imminent death. The chorus repeats an universal human sentiment. It says, “I am not afraid of death but I am afraid of dying.” He explains one is after the fact but the latter is a present reality. Jesus had to deal with this sentiment throughout His life or at least when He became fully aware of His vocation.

There is an unspoken belief among Christians that Jesus was some kind of superhuman who had perfect knowledge of everything from the day He was born. This is perhaps left over from our polytheistic past where gods disguise themselves as humans to experiment human life. Jesus did not come into this world to experiment with human existence. He was a complete human being. Therefore, He lived the complete process of human development. He grew into the knowledge of who He was and had to confront the fear of losing His personal identity in the face of death. The doubts and insecurities we feel towards death, Jesus sensed them too. He knew that each day that passed brought Him closer to His own brutal death. The Pharisees hoped that this thought or realization would paralyze Him. They made the mistake of thinking that Jesus was just like them. We know that His spirituality transcended that of the Pharisees.

The Pharisees lived their lives dominated by fear of death. All their decisions were influenced by this fear.

A very dear friend is celebrating her birthday this Sunday. She lives away from her home city. She has been living in this city about three years. She wanted to celebrate the day with her new family of friends here. She lives in a tiny apartment and we offered to plan a special celebration at our place since our place has the space. She was overjoyed and invited a dear friend. Unfortunately, this friend is terrified of the neighborhood where we live. She imagines that people here get robbed and murdered left and right although where we live is safe, if not safer than where she works and lives. There are people in the streets at all hours of the day. Many times I have seen elderly women walking their dogs at midnight here. Unfortunately, fear is much stronger than reality. She turned downed the invitation, refusing to participate in a celebration of life because of the fear of death. Of course, this does effect the friendship. Our friend is too kind to say anything about it.

Our fear of death is a real thing. It is part of our evolutionary development. We would not exist today as a species if it wasn’t for this defense mechanism. The fear of death was strong in Jesus, too. He overcame it so that we too can overcome it. Nevertheless, we don’t overcome the fear of death just by being fearless. Fearlessness borders many times with stupidity. Jesus never taunted death, nor lived recklessly. He overcame the fear of death by engaging in the ministry of healing and casting out demons. He was involved in the sufferings and pains of his fellow human beings. He also participated in their joys and celebrations. We must not forget that part of Jesus’ ministry involved eating and drinking, too. The Pharisees accused him of being a glutton and drunkard. At least, Jesus said that they did. This is also part of healing and casting out demons. Therefore, it is important for us to consider what it means for us to participate in healing and casting out of demons. It will help us to face death with boldness.

Today we have doctors and hospitals. As for demons, we have priests to exorcise them if we believe in literal demons and spirits and we have psychologists for medications for those who believe otherwise. Therefore, what is left for us as regular people? We have to figure out for ourselves what it means to heal and cast out demons in our everyday lives. In Jesus’ time, sickness and demon possession were elements which robbed people of their humanity. These ailments kept people isolated from the rest of society. We, humans, are social beings. When we are cut off from the world, we feel lost and our sense of identity is threatened. Consequently, we lose the zest for living. Presently, we live in a world where we see a slow and gradual process of dehumanization. People are losing their jobs and with this they lose their connection with the world. Better said, they lose their place in this world. Parents are losing contact with their children and feel a loss of their identity especially mothers. The value of friendship is no longer considered important nor essential. We are surrounded by people but no one is truly a friend. We are slowly slipping into slow and premature death. There is a need for the healing touch of love in this world. There is a need to cast out the demonic lies which reduces a human being into a mere machine which only exists to serve a function. The ministry of healing and casting out demons is as relevant today as it was in the time of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is able and willing to use anyone who is open to participate in the life of our Lord. He led the way and now He beckons us to follow Him.

As for the fear of death, the Bible teaches us;

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 1 John 4:18

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

The season of Lent is upon us once again. I started writing this reflection on Sunday. It was also the day of the Oscar award ceremony. Usually this does not interest me. However, this year’s Oscar was a little different. A Brazilian movie was nominated for best foreign picture as well as best picture of the year. The whole city was waiting in anticipation. There was a good chance for it to win and it did for best foreign movie. Almost everyone we know has watched the movie. We watched it a couple days ago. We were impressed. We have joined the crowd hoping that it would win. For those who are curious, I am talking about the movie, “I am still here”. In my opinion, it is well-written and directed. The cast were impeccable in the execution of their respective roles. It is based on actual events. In fact, the very final scene of the movie was shot close to where we live. The real life protagonist lived close to our neighborhood and very close to where we meet with our homeless youth. The story is about a former politician who was kidnapped by the military dictatorship. Eventually he was classified as someone who disappeared even though the regime’s secret police had tortured and murdered him and then disposed of his body. This is, by no means, a spoiler but a mere backdrop to the story. The real story is about how the mother and her five children survived the ordeal. It is really a story about a family. The director spent a great part of the movie focusing on the day to day life of the family. For those of us who like to get straight to the point, these trivialities could be a little frustrating. I wasn’t interested in knowing the idiosyncrasies of the family. The movie showed scenes where one of the daughters liked to wear her father’s old shirts. There were long segments of the children playing on the beach and narrating to their father their adventures. There was so much time spent on trivialities. However, these trivialities brought them closer to us. They became more human and real. Finally, when the tragedy struck, we felt the impact together with the characters. There were no explicit scenes of violence. It wasn’t necessary. We could the sense the violence of the situation by seeing how it disrupted the lives of the family. I realized that participating in the trivialities of their daily lives helped us to empathize with their sense of hopelessness and despair. The story is not a complete tragedy. It is about our human struggle. It is about hope.

Perhaps you are wondering what’s all this have to do with Lent. Maybe you are wondering how I am going to make this connection. Well, I am not going to attempt to do it. There is no need for it. The season of Lent highlights the voluntary participation of our Lord in the trivialities of our human existence. We can forget this. We can skip to the main thrust of the gospel narratives; the Passion of our Lord. However, in doing so, we might end up dehumanizing Jesus. We make Him into some object which serves a purpose. He becomes a mere tool to ensure our salvation. Jesus is not a tool!! He is God Incarnate. The gospel is not about the Cross. It is about God Incarnate. Jesus’ ministry did not begin at His baptism. It began the day He was born. God lived as a human being without any special privileges for thirty years and then He spoke of the Kingdom of God based on His experiences as a human being subjected to the trivialities of Life.

I recently heard a Jewish rabbi talk about the term, “Allah”. He was asked what he thought about the Muslim’s concept of God. He claimed the word, “Allah”, is a corruption of an Hebrew word for God. In other words, he stated that the Muslims and the Jewish people worship the same God. However, he emphasized that Christians do not worship the same God as these two religions. We worship a man named Jesus. This wasn’t a criticism but a careful assessment. We part ways with other monotheistic faith because of our faith in the God Incarnate. To imagine God becoming Human is a concept so strange and unbelievable to them. On the other hand, the polytheistic religions have mythologies portraying gods taking on the disguises of humanity. It is not so foreign to their doctrines to imagine the God Incarnate. Obviously, we are not talking about the same thing.

Jesus was not disguised as a human. He was a complete human being. He was subjected to the daily routines of our lives. He lived most of his life doing what we considered the monotonous routines of life which never get done nor completed or, as Albert Camus termed in his book, the Myth of Sisyphus, the absurd repetitious monotony of Life. At least, this is what I understand it to state. Besides this, Jesus spent most of His life as an unknown; a nobody, just like the vast majority of us. Most of us are a mere number in the eyes of the world’s authorities and Jesus was one of us. For Muslims and the Jewish people, it is scandalous to call such a person God Incarnate. Not just the people of these faiths but even the peers of Jesus. They could not believe that Jesus could be the Messiah because He was their mere carpenter.

“Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?” Matthew 13:55

A Muslim friend once asked me this question. ”Why would God waste precious time subjecting Himself to these mundane things?” It is a good question. It is an existential one, if I am allowed to get technical here. Of course, we can take refuge in doctrinal answers like, “Because He came to die for our sins.” In the history of humanity, many great people sacrificed their lives for the sake of friends, family and strangers. We honor them but we don’t worship them. There is something more profound about Jesus than His sacrifice. At the same time, I could not give my Muslim friend a satisfactory answer. Yet, the answer does not elude me. It is present in my soul. His earthly Life transformed the way I see my daily life.

The humanity of Jesus breaks down the barrier between God and humanity. The Father doesn’t seem like a distant figure oblivious to the tediousness of our human struggles. He came to participate in them so that we could learn to participate in His Life. God could have chosen to be born into any household. He could have been born or raised in household like Moses where servants abound to do the mundane things of Life. He chose instead to be a commoner. A life which is common and assessable to a vast majority of the world especially to the poorest of the poor. Jesus used examples of daily life to teach the profound things of God. He showed us that we can learn of God’s hidden mysteries through our everyday trivial interactions with Life.

In the present time, we heard people term the time spent on doing the trivial things as “unproductive” or “dead hours”. Everything is reduced to function. However, participating in these trivial things is essential in relationship building. Most of our ministry is spent on trivialities. Often times, I wonder in my head, “could we be doing something more productive?”. To be honest, I used to think those thoughts but not anymore.

Recently, the homeless youth informed us that a young man, Igor, was looking for us. He asked for us by name. In the streets, there is never a lack of people named “Igor”. There must be about ten with the same name about the same age. My mind was running through all the Igors we knew and none fitted the description. Finally we ran into him. He just recently got out of prison. He is handsome young man covered with tattoos. His tattoos could not hide his childlikeness. He was genuinely happy to see us. We responded appropriately but both of us were sure that we had never met before in our lives. Finally we asked him how he knew us. He told us that he has seen us playing games with the children and sometimes just coloring pictures with them. Once we bought him a meal. It must have been during the Pandemic when food was scarce. We bought food whenever the youth asked for it. In regular times, it wasn’t necessary because there is ample supply of food. We must bought something for him without thinking much about it. It was just routine stuff for us. However, for Igor, this simple and trivial act meant a great deal for him. It was a special moment. I wished I had paid more attention to it. Thankfully Igor did. He needs some documentation done. He is determined to stay away from crime and wants to register into a government program to help him with jobs. The documents are going to be a long and tedious bureaucratic process. We are going to spend longs hours in life-reducing offices. We told him that we will help him. It seems like an excellent opportunity to grow into the likeness of Christ. This is what we are doing for Lent: paying careful attention to the trivialities of Life.

Have a Blessed Lent!

This final line of the Lord’s Prayer is not found in the gospels but it is in our liturgy. I am not sure if all Christian traditions recite this ending to the Lord’s prayer but I can speak for Anglicans. For us, it is an inseparable part of the Lord’s prayer. It gives us a sense of completion. Therefore, it seems appropriate to end my reflection on this wonderful prayer with this final line.

“For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory for ever and ever.”

“The Kingdom”, “the power” and “the glory”; these are powerful words as well as dangerous. They have the tendency to inspire great works among the saints and at the same time they can be apt instruments by those led by demonic inspirations. Wars and persecutions have been justified using these terms. Therefore, we cannot be frivolous in our interpretation of these words. This should be done in the context of the Lord’s Prayer and never isolated from it.

“The Kingdom”

Perhaps the most important thing to remember that this is not our Kingdom nor our idea of the Kingdom. Therefore, it is only appropriate that we surrender our earthly notions about how God should manifest Himself in this world. Our thoughts on all things eternal are broken and distorted because we live in a broken world. The result will be disastrous if we fail to recognize this. We would end up creating an idolatrous image of our Heavenly King which would be demonic in nature and contrary to the image of the Heavenly Father Jesus revealed in the gospels.

The Kingdom belongs to God and Him alone. Only He can establish it in its true and holy form. He invites us to participate in it. He invites us to recognize that His kingship is present in this broken world. God is doing something new. If we unyieldingly hold on to our worldly ideas, then we will never see it.

The Prayer teaches us that the Heavenly King chooses to manifest Himself as our Father. Here again we need to be careful. We should not fall into the trap of reducing this image of Him as our earthly fathers. These are mere shadows of our Heavenly Father. Our earthly fathers are limited. Their fatherhood is defined normally by a biological and social connection. God’s fatherhood expresses His quintessential relationship with His created beings. There is a nothing created by Him devoid of His love. In other words, everything is created lovingly to reflect His Love. Furthermore, His fatherly love sustains their existence. They are never merely a thing but a continuous expression of His Love. In this manner, He is personally involved in creation. They are dear and precious to Him.

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father.” Matthew 10:29

However, not all things created have the capacity to comprehend His fatherly goodness. We who are gifted with the capacity to comprehend the nature of this relationship are tasked with the responsibility of being witnesses in words and actions of His Heavenly Fatherhood. Therefore, when we pray that His Kingdom is to be established, we are opening our hearts and souls to be used as God’s instruments to bear witness of His Fatherly goodness present in this world.

“The Power”

In this world, power is defined through violence. This world operates on the principle that in order to have peace we must be prepared for war. It is necessary for us to recognize that much of this thought influences us to the core. This is why the words of prophet Isaiah, “Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips”, need to be a constant source of reminder and reflection. We need to recognize these ideas of power are incompatible with the gospel which Jesus preached. He refused to succumb to the worldly idea of power and violence even though He was given the opportunity to do so on several occasions in the gospels. Instead, He manifested the Kingdom’s notion of power on the Cross. He overcame the worldly notions of false power and violence by refusing to participate or be seduced by the world’s mindset. The power of the Kingdom of God is manifested in means and ways which this world cannot recognize. Once again, if we hold to this world’s idea of power, then we will see and not perceive, hear and not understand the presence of the Kingdom in this world.

“The Glory”

Finally, we come the glory. God’s glory is His Holiness. It is not the kind of Holiness which separates and isolates people. It is the Holiness which draws people to its warmth. It is the fire in the Burning Bush burning without destroying. It saves and purifies. Jesus revealed a nature of Holiness which is often times forgotten. It is Love in its purest form. God’s Holiness is the essence of God’s love. The distortion of this Holiness is the spirituality of the Pharisee. Something Jesus warned us to overcome because it is the easy road which is wide and broad. Its end is destruction.

These three powerful words give us the foundation to engage the world found outside the doors of our religious place of worship. When we hold onto these words and interpret them in the context of the Lord’s Prayer, then we become His church.

A clergy friend of mine wisely told me once that there is only One church. It was during a time when I was feeling frustrated with my local parish and considered abandoning everything. His words touched my soul. There is only one church. It is the one which takes the Lord’s Prayer to heart and lives it. When we allow this prayer to speak to our soul, our identify will be the presence of the church in the world. We will be drawn to these people because the Spirit of Jesus dwells in them. Sometimes they might not be even religious people. In my first reflection, I mentioned an agnostic person who organized a Christmas meal in the streets. He led the homeless children and youth to pray the only prayer which he thought was true. He was seized by the truth of this prayer even though he had doubts about many things. Doubts do not disqualify us from the church as long as we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us to live our lives in accordance with this Prayer. There is only One church in this world and it is the One who prays this Prayer in order to shape its life according to its powerful and life-giving words.

“Lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil”

Felipe is a young man in his late twenties. He has been homeless since he was eight. He asked me once if God allowed the children and youth to be homeless in order to test their faith. This is a topic of discussion among our youth when we are not around. They often wonder why they are homeless. They don’t lament about it. They don’t want to blame anyone for their situation. They just need to know for themselves. They want to know if all this is part of God’s plan.

In the New Testament, there is a distinction between trials and temptations. Sometimes trials can be seen as something coming from God but not temptation. God never tempts people. However, if we were to think that God made our children and youth homeless just to test their faith, it would make Him look rather cruel and callous. We need to be careful. We don’t want to inadvertently turn God into a demon.

The Bible doesn’t help much but makes things a little complicated. The story of Abraham and Isaac and of course, Job, give us the idea of a God toying with the lives of His children. This is a complex issue. I am not going to delve too deeply into it here. It is something theologians and philosophers have dabbled with for centuries. I am not going to make a fool of myself and try to come up with a simplistic answer. However, as priest, I have to find a way to interpret this in a manner consistent with the image of God revealed to us in the gospels. Especially to Felipe and the other homeless youth.

Jesus revealed to us a Heavenly Father who waits for those who rejected him to return home. He receives them back unconditionally. He is a Father who drops everything to seek the one who is lost. He is willing to give us His Son to reveal His divine Love to the world. Most importantly, at the Cross, we have an image of our God who would rather suffer injustice and die a brutal death than to justly destroy humanity for its wickedness. Therefore, it seems incoherent to say this God would make children and youth suffer just for the sake of testing them. Besides, God does not need to create situations and circumstances to make people suffer. This world does a great job making life miserable.

Jesus left His Life as carpenter in a small village and confronted the broken world. He suffered the consequences and become the beacon of Hope and Salvation for all humanity. God did not make Jesus suffer because He was testing Him. The world made him suffer but it could not stop Jesus from becoming the source of Living Water. Therefore, when the Bible says God is testing us, let us consider this possibility. It does not mean God is tormenting us to drive home a point. It means to say that suffering and pain cannot stop us from discovering the abundant Life Jesus promised. However, if we live our lives constantly in fear of the harsh realities of Life, then we will lose out on discovering the eternal Love which is able to overcome all things.

Perhaps this is not a perfect argument. Maybe it is a little weak if confronted with philosophical arguments. It satisfied our youth who felt deeply the injustices of living in a fragmented world.

Now, let us confront temptations.

The epistles of James tell us that God never tempts anyone. Temptation is an enticement to do and become evil.

Let us put aside the caricature of evil which is often portrayed in this world and seek more biblical understanding of evil. In the Bible, evil refers to anything which dehumanizes the person. It seeks to destroy the very thing God created us to be; images of God.

In our ministry, we are confronted with evil regularly. We see many people treat the homeless as if they are invisible. I have to say that indifference and apathy are the worst form of evil. They are an attempt to deprive the person of an existence. We also see our own homeless youth engaging in acts which dehumanize the other. They dehumanize their victims without any consideration for their pain and suffering. It is vanity to imagine that we are not affected by evil. It is contagious. It attempts to seduce us to accept its logic and reasoning. It constantly tempts us to give up hope and accept things as they are. Sometimes we are tempted to submit to evil’s lies and normalize terms like “necessary evil” or “fighting evil with evil”. It is constantly trying to seduce us into believing that the “other” doesn’t deserve to be treated as an image of God.

Last year I was punched in the face. It is not a metaphor, it really happened. Mary and I stopped a group of police who were brutally beating up a homeless man in public. His crime was that he sat in an area reserved for tourists. He refused to leave and they got violent. However, it wasn’t the police who hit me. It was passerby who took delight in the brutal act of violence. He was upset that we stopped the scene and punched me. At the moment, evil took dominance of my heart. Thanks be to God, Mary yelled out, “If you love me you will not do anything.” This brought me back to my senses but my heart was filled anger and hatred. Then we met with our homeless youth. My lip was swollen and bleeding. I related what happened. Then one of the the young people said, “Just let it go, (Uncle) Stephen, we are not like them. We don’t act in violence.” At that precise moment, I felt my soul being delivered from evil. I was also proud of the young man. He became an instrument of God and delivered my soul from evil.

The Lord’s Prayer is a communal prayer. When we pray to be saved from the lures of temptation and deliverance of evil, we are putting ourselves in a position to become God’s instruments to help each other from straying into the path of evil. The community who prays the Lord prayer should not be lamenting how evil has triumphed in this world. The Lord’s Prayer gives the confidence to confront evil and together we can overcome it. It is not based on our strength and wisdom. We can overcome it because we have a Lord who showed us exactly how to overcome this world with Love. The Cross triumphed over all the lies and deceit of this world. God has not abandoned this world. However, we have to stop looking for deliverance from evil in the wrong places. For me, it came from a place least expected. Now, I wear the punch on the face as a medal. God has revealed to me where to look for His comfort and love when temptations assail me.

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.”

This part of the Lord’s prayer touches on the subject of sin. It is interesting that our Lord addresses the question of sin only towards the end of the prayer. Furthermore, He emphasizes forgiveness and not punishment nor condemnation. In the streets where we do our ministry, there are many street preachers. They meet at the same spot every day, in the same vicinity as where we meet with the children. These preachers like to highlight specific sins, especially those they perceive in others. It is often a message of fear and condemnation. It promotes isolation rather than reconciliation. Jesus never addresses sin without forgiveness and hope. Besides, whenever Jesus talked about sin with his disciples, He always taught them to address their sins first and never the sins of others.

“Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” Matthew 7:3

The Lord’s Prayer follows this teaching. Jesus teaches us to pray that God will forgive the “log” in our eyes so that we can forgive the “speck” in the eyes of our neighbor. Before we can do anything in the name of the gospel, it is essential that we are aware of our own sinful nature. The purpose is not to restrict us nor make us feel guilty or small and insignificant. To the contrary, the purpose is to liberate us so that we can do great things for the Kingdom of God. Sin limits us. It restricts our mind. It impoverishes our soul. The Lord’s Prayer, on the other hand, is about liberation.

The Old Testament tells us a story which illustrates the concept of sin expressed in the Lord’s Prayer. It is taken from the calling of the prophet Isaiah. Incidentally it is also part of our Anglican liturgy. The prophet sees a vision of God worshipped in His majesty and holiness and the angels and archangels proclaiming;

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’ (Isa. 6:3)

Isaiah was confronted by the holiness of God and he realized that he was a sinful man. It wasn’t just his personal sins. This would have been an easy problem to solve. However, he became aware of his inevitable state of sin. He confessed,

“Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’”

The Lord’s Prayer takes us through the same journey the prophet, Isaiah, took. First, it reveals to us the true nature of God. He is our heavenly Father. He manifested Himself in this world as our Father.Then it reveals to us His glory. God’s kingdom is being established and His will is irresistible. It is not a kingdom like the kingdom of violence and dominance of this world. It is a Kingdom of a Loving Father. It reminds us that God is our Providence. He will give us everything we need to proclaim His Fatherhood and His active presence in this world. Now, we come to the obstacle. The only thing which could hinder us from fulfilling our divine vocation is our sin. The sin here is quite specific. It is not our misgivings and faults. It transcends these concepts. It is actually our mindset. We often forget that we live in a broken world and we are broken people. Therefore, our thoughts and ideas are fragmented too. In other words, like Isaiah, we need to be constantly purified by the Holy Spirit.

I went into this ministry with the mindset that the homeless children and youth are a problem that needs to be solved. I forgot that God is the Heavenly Father. He never waits around for anyone to show His Love to the world. I lost track of this God. I was so busy trying to solve a problem which no one asked me to solve that I was not able to perceive God’s active presence in the streets. Consequently, I did not have anything significant to communicate to the homeless youth. I could not testify of God’s love because I did not see it. I did not see it because I was too busy trying to be God instead of participating in what God is doing.

I also lost my own personal humanity in the process. The very essence of being a complete human being is found in the enjoyment of the presence of another human being. I could not enjoy the presence of our children and youth if I only considered them as problems needing to be resolved. I needed to take the log out of my eyes so that I could clearly see who these young people are in the Father’s eyes.

We live in a broken world. Only our Heavenly Father who is perfect and holy can create something new and perfect in the midst of the ruins of this world. He is creating something new. He has been doing this from the very beginning of time and has never abandoned His project. Unfortunately, if we hold on to our broken views and ideas, we may not see it clearly. The Pharisees were not able to see something new and wonderful in the person of Jesus because they refused to let go of their broken thoughts about God and the world. They did not see the “log” in their eyes. The Lord’s Prayer teaches us to give up our sinful way of thinking so that we will be liberated to see the great and wonderful things God is doing in our midst.

The prayer also requires us to forgive those who have imposed their limited and broken mindset on us. If we recognize our limited mindset, then it would be only natural for us to understand why others insist on holding on unto it. We should look at them with compassion. We should be able to understand how easy it is to be locked into an old way of thinking. However, recognition of one’s sin can only come from a direct encounter with God. It is not something we can convince others. It is something that only God the Father is able to bring about in our souls. Remember the preachers in the streets. They have spent decades talking about sin. No one listens to them because there is no hope in their message. Hope comes from God and God alone.

Our homeless youth are no different from us. They formulate their ideas about themselves and God from this same broken world.

A person once said that fifty percent of what the homeless youth say is lies and the other fifty percent is untrue.

Bruno loves to talk about movies especially the classics. If you were to meet him, he will tell you upfront that his favorite actress is Bette Davis. It doesn’t matter if you are interested in movies. He will tell you everything about movies that you never wanted to know. After a few minutes, you might be convinced that he is genius who just got lost in the streets. There is no doubt about his intelligence. However, it is doubtful if he has ever watched a movie from the start to finish. He definitely has not seen any movies with Bette Davis. At first, we found his lies a little draining. Then we realized that Bruno wasn’t lying to be deceitful. He wanted us to think highly of him. His whole life is one of rejection. He believes that he would be accepted if he could prove his worth to us. He embraced this genius persona so that he could be recognized as a person. We have known Bruno for more than ten years. The sad reality is that he will never leave the streets. The day he was placed in an orphanage, he completely lost his sense of identity. He never understood why his mother rejected him. His lies are just a way of finding someone to accept him. Today he lies less. Sometimes he knows that we know he is lying. However, it doesn’t matter. We took the log out of our eyes and saw Bruno is just like us, living in this broken world and trying to find someone who would accept him unconditionally. I believe Bruno is discovering that he is accepted. We are discovering that God’s love knows no boundaries. All this because the Holy Spirit gave us the courage to remove the log out of our eyes and discover our Heavenly Father acting in a manner beyond what we can imagine with our broken fragmented mind.

It is easy to mistake familiarity with knowledge. Familiarity just means that we have heard or seen something many times. Knowledge comes when we are seized by the Truth that these words convey.

I realized in my preparation of these sermons that the Lord’s Prayer uses the personal pronouns, “our” and “us”; instead of “my” or “me”. Perhaps this detail is more relevant today than ever. We are living in a time where the world is being divided into “us” and “them” categories. It is important for us to start with the premise that there is no “them” in the Lord’s prayer. It just “our Father” because He is the Father of all things created. Then there is “us”, His created beings. Therefore, when we pray for our daily bread, we are not praying for my daily bread. We are praying for all of us to have daily bread. Then there is also the challenge to understand what this “daily bread” means in our lives. Many reduce it to its literal meaning. Sometimes this is problematic because bread alone doesn’t suffice.

Whenever we mention homeless children and youth, people always want to know whether we feed them. Food is always the first thing which comes to mind. It is understandable. This is the most visible need. We are made of flesh and blood. We can’t survive on mere lofty thoughts. Sometimes I tell people that our principal focus is on their spiritual needs. People often say, “yes, yes. That is all good but how do they get their food?” However, it is also important to remember that the gospel is not about filling our stomachs. Most importantly, people don’t exist merely for their stomachs. In the gospels, the devil wanted Jesus to use His miraculous powers to turn stone into bread. It was a logical suggestion if we think about it. Jesus was hungry and He had the power to do miracles. In a way, the devil wanted to reduce the gospel to a mere satisfaction of our bodily needs. Jesus responded,

“One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

The homeless in São Paulo never lack food. There are always religious and non-religious groups serving at least two meals a day. Many times the food donations come while we are with the young people. Whenever the donations arrive, the homeless line up to receive their meals which consists of rice and beans and a protein. Then each individual sits alone in some spot to eat it. There is no social interaction between the homeless and the people who provide the meals. They don’t even talk among themselves. Their meals are consumed in the same total isolation in which they live. Their stomachs are filled but there is no joy nor peace in the process. It doesn’t matter if they are served with the most delicious and choicest food in the world. They eat their food without any enjoyment. This is not the daily bread which Jesus taught us to pray for.

Eating has become an isolated event without any social nor spiritual significance. This is not true only for our homeless youth. It is a modern phenomenon.

In Jesus’ time, meals were a communal affair. They did not just meet a physical necessity but they were moments to enjoy the company of the ones whom we love. Think about this. Whenever we invite someone for a meal, it is usually because we want them to have a greater role in our lives. We recognize that their presence can enrich our lives.

“Give us today our daily bread”

This is not just about satisfying our stomach. It is about enjoyment of life. It is about having relationships. It is about knowing that you are loved.

Jesus never just gave bread away. He broke bread with the people around Him especially with those who were usually excluded from the table of many households. Jesus overcame the barriers of “us” and “them” by breaking bread with them. The bread He gave satisfied not only their physical hunger but it also nourished their souls. In the streets, the stomachs of the homeless youth are filled but their souls are still hungry. They did not make the streets their home because of their empty stomachs. They made the streets their home because they could not find the love they needed at home or anywhere else. In fact, most of them are in the streets because no one ever acknowledged their presence as a person.

Recently, Mary, my wife, wrote about our encounter with Igor on our blog. Our relationship with Igor began in the streets and then it continued at the table with the bread which God gave us.

He was one of the first youth we met in 2013. He had been living in the streets since the tender age of 9. His mother was tragically murdered. He ran away because he had no one to prepare and eat a meal with him at home. He spent a great part of his young life in and out of the detention center. He was violent and used drugs heavily. However, when we meet him for the first time, he showed us his gentle and kind side. He expressed an interest to learn English. In reality, he just wanted a connection with us. We took him out for coffee and had our first English lesson. Then it eventually became a meal. After a while we had him over to our apartment for lunch. During this time, he made a decision to leave drugs and crime behind. He asked us to accompany him to a pentecostal church. It was the kind of church which was familiar to him. He made a commitment to God and tried his best to change his life. He was successful at first. Unfortunately, he never found a place where he could break bread. He eventually went back to the streets; disappointed in himself and with life. The church he went to only gave him support for so-called spiritual things. We supported him as much as we could but he needed more. He disappeared for a while. This happens. Sometimes our children and youth disappear for a while. They usually move to a different area.

We ran into him on several occasions. Once, he was with young men who looked like they were deep into crime. They were just lost as him. He even offered to take us out for a meal. He wanted to break bread with us. It was quite saddening for us to see him in this situation. However, we believed he would find a way. We told him so and assured him that he could always count on us for support.

Just before Christmas, we ran into him. This time, his face was full of Light. He gave us the longest and tightest hug ever. He was working in a snack stand owned by his father-in-law. He is married and has two young girls. He invited us this time to have a meal with him. We promised that we would after this trip. He sent me a picture of himself having a meal with his wife and two lovely girls. He is finally enjoying His daily bread. This last Christmas, we broke bread with extra gratitude and joy. We felt privileged that we had a part in Igor’s life. Now, he, together with us, can enjoy the daily bread that the Lord bestows upon us. However, it does not mean that Igor might not fall again. Life is not a fairy tale story where every thing occurs in a linear manner. The important thing for Igor to know is that there is always bread at our table for him to enjoy with us no matter what happens to him.

To be frank, when we started this ministry, we had no idea how things would take shape and form. We prayed and told God that we were open and available to share the Bread He has given us. We had little to offer but our Lord is able and willing to take our little and do miracles with it. Our Lord never disappoints. However, miracles do not happen in a spectacular way. They happen in a quiet and simple manner. Now, our young people sit with us everyday and eat their meals together in our presence. They don’t eat alone now but as a family. It is a simple thing. Many don’t see this miracle unfold before them. However, some people do. I hope you do, too.

“Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

I will continue on our reflection on the Lord’s Payer.

I want to start with the phrase, “Thy Will”.

All of us believe, whether we admit it or not, our lives are not random. At least, it is our hope that we have a purpose in this life. We also believe that our lives are lived to the fullest when we discover this purpose. As religious people, we call this “the will of God”. Muslims will tell you that the meaning of Islam is “submission to God’s will”. In the colloquial language, Muslims often used the phrase, “inshallah” which means, “If God wills” after every plan or proposal because they believed that God’s will is superior and better than their own rational plans. The Will of God plays an essential role in the lives of peoples of all religions.

In the scientific community, the religious phrase is substituted for “Laws of Nature”. It is the desire in some scientific fields, especially among physicists, to discover the one rule which governs all creation. They have discovered many universal rules in the process and have done great things with them. It is a similar idea to the religious notion. We believe that if we know God’s will, we can organize our lives to live in harmony with it. We are convinced that our happiness is intrinsically linked with it.

Many times people have asked us what made Mary and I leave our home countries to go the streets of São Paulo, Brazil. In my case, I was a native of Singapore and Mary, of Maine. Incidentally, we met in São Paulo. She went there before I arrived. Therefore, neither one of us followed each other to Brazil. We both went there for the same reason.

It is not any different from the reason why most people go to church or other religious institutions. We wanted to discover God’s will for our lives. We felt in our souls that it was connected with this ministry. Therefore, the most personal answer we can give to anyone for doing this ministry is that it makes us feel happy and fulfilled.

Many times I have heard preachers say that God has individual plan worked out for each one of us. I used to believe this but not anymore. I am more than convinced that God has only one single plan for every one. God has One Perfect Will for every being and creature and there is room and space for everyone to be part of this. Jesus, from the very beginning of His ministry, has proclaimed God’s plan. God desires for us to be part of His Kingdom here on earth. This is God’s will.

The way we perceive and understand God’s Kingdom in our midst will shape how we discern God’s will for our lives.

The Kingdom of God is not something we can materialize with our own personal efforts and strength. It is not based on our wishful thinking nor accomplished by our creative measures. It is something beyond our understanding and comprehension. Sometimes it appears to be illogical and impractical to our ways. Think about this; Jesus came into this world as a son of a carpenter. This is not the way to establish a political Kingdom. According to our standards, He should have been born into a influential family. Before his birth, no carpenter has changed the world in human history. Yet, this carpenter’s son has influenced the world more than any skilled and intelligent political rulers of human history.

When we pray, “Thy Kingdom come”, we are actually saying that God will establish His Kingdom regardless of what happens in this world. He establishes it according to His values and principles revealed through His Son, Jesus. The sermon on the Mount in the gospel of Matthew explicitly teaches us these values and, in the midst of this profound teaching, we find the Lord’s Prayer. The Kingdom of God is something we can only see clearly when we pray to God to open our eyes and ears. Our wisdom and knowledge won’t suffice. We need to pray that our faith will be awakened to see the eternal presence of the Kingdom of God in our midst. Where the Kingdom is manifested, there is hope, peace and joy.

To be honest, before I started working in this ministry, I never imagined working with homeless children and youth. Like I mentioned before, I come from Singapore. All I knew about South America back then was it was a place of military dictatorship and carnivals. However, I was earnestly seeking God’s will for my life. I was open and available. Then I heard someone mention Brazil. My interest perked up for no rhyme or reason. Then I felt a desire in my heart to see what God was doing in this country. I ended up in São Paulo without any plans to work with homeless children. A missionary brought me to the streets to meet the homeless youth. I saw about two to three hundred children and teens sleeping in the streets. I should have been shocked and disturbed by this sight. I was surrounded by hopelessness and misery. The number is significantly less today. However, it is still unsettling to see families living in this condition for three generations. Children who have never had a home in their lives. Young boys and girls at age of ten or less living without any adult to guide and protect them. Even worse is how society looks at them. It treats them as problems which need to be solved. The government is more concerned about clean streets for the tourist and they see the homeless children and adults as a nuisance. All this should have depressed me but I was struck by something beautiful and hopeful. In an inexplicable manner, I was seized by the Kingdom of God. I saw it with own my eyes. You may ask what exactly did I see?

It was something unexplainable but not unidentifiable. The New Testament tells us that the essence of God’s nature is Love. In the streets, we met with children and teens who have been rejected from the day they were born. They were considered outcast by society and many hold them in disdain. Despite all this negativity directed towards them, these young people are still open to love. They are sensitive to love. I don’t want to romanticize them. There is violence and deceit present too. However, it is not different than the kind you find in any middle class neighborhood. It is just that in the streets everything is open for everyone to see. Nevertheless, whenever we engage with the kids, we sense this aura of Love around us. Recently, this presence of God’s love has even drawn the attention of passerbys. Sometimes so-called regular people come and sit and watch us. Sometimes someone will ask if they can play a game with us. They sense the will of God being manifested in their midst. In other words, they see when two or three are gathered in His Name, God’s Love is manifested.

When I first started out in this ministry, I was about 25. Many said that it was just youthful idealism. Perhaps a little messiah complex thrown into the mix. All these were true. However, when we seek to do His will, His Spirit will purify our souls. Eventually I went to seminary and took the ordination route. I served in several parishes. I enjoyed visiting members and praying and comforting people in my parishes. However, I never saw the Kingdom of God as clearly as I saw it when I ministered to the homeless youth. Therefore, Mary and I chose to return to this ministry in 2013. Now, the Bible made more sense to me whenever I am among the homeless youth. My faith makes sense to me. I discovered God’s will in the lives of these young people and there was a space for me to be part of it. I am not saying what we do is superior or better than others. I am saying that when we find our place in God’s will, things will fall into places. Life won’t get easier but there is happiness and fulfillment. Some people say that it is a special vocation. Maybe it is true. I don’t know. I think it is just prayer. God responded to my prayers to see His will being done. Whenever we pray the Lord’s prayer, we are asking God to open our eyes and hearts to experience His will being done. It is not about what we do but how we see God’s Kingdom manifested in our midst. When this happens, we will easily see our place in God’s eternal will.

Therefore, I hope this simple reflection will contribute in your understanding of God’s will for your Life. There is a space and place for everyone in God’s eternal project. You don’t have to come Brazil where we are. Neither do you have to accomplish great things in order to fulfill His will. God’s will is simple. There are no hierarchy in God’s will. There is only One will and whenever we do it, we will sense the immensity of God’s love in our lives. It will bring hope and fulfillment to us. It will make the gospel more real and meaningful, not just to us, but to the world.

Let us pray together, “Thy Kingdom come and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” and avail ourselves to be part of the great and many wonderful things God is doing in our midst.

“Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name.”

The way we pray shapes the way we live.

This is why the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. As Jewish people, they learned how to pray since they were little lads. However, they saw something unique and special in the life of Jesus. They wanted to pray themselves into living the way Jesus lived. This is the function of prayer. It is a prelude to action. In today’s religious context, people use prayer in lieu of action. Many times people say, “I will pray for you” when in reality they are saying, “I am not going to do anything but I do feel bad about it.” In order to appreciate the profundity of the Lord’s prayer, we need to return to its original meaning. It is an invitation to a lifestyle.

Many years ago, when we started working in this ministry for the first time, we participated in a special Christmas Eve meal in the streets. In Brazil and most Latin American countries, the major Christmas meal is on the eve. The one who organized it was not a Christian but an agnostic. Nothing surprising about this. Christmas celebrations are not restricted to Christians. There were also some Franciscan friars thrown into the mix. They brought a makeshift table and paper plates and plastic cutlery. Our contribution to the meal was minimum really. They just wanted us to be present because the homeless children and youth had a strong bond with us. Usually, during Christmas, the population of the homeless thins out. Some go to the shelter to celebrate Christmas. Others try to go home to whatever vestiges of family they have left. Those who remained in the streets are the orphans in the fullest sense of the word. These have no one in the world besides their friends in the streets.

The meal was quite elaborate. Everything you would find in a regular middle class Brazilian Christmas meal, except that it was in the open air in the streets. As we gathered around the table, our agnostic host said that since it was Christmas, it would be only appropriate to say a prayer before we eat. Then he initiated with the words. “Our Father…” The rest followed his cue. We prayed in a same melodic manner, very much like how we do it in churches as a congregation. However, at that moment, in the midst of this very strange congregation, it sounded like a choir responding to the voices of the angels of the first Christmas. For me, it was a “born again” moment. I sensed in my soul that the gospel was being manifested in flesh and blood. No one present at the meal has ever forgotten it. It was one of the eternal gifts God had bestowed upon us.

“Our Father who art in Heaven”

Many religions believe that there is One Supreme God who creates all things. Then, each religion differs in the definition of the relationship of this Creator God with creation. In quite a lot of religions, God is a distant figure and the need for intermediaries is necessary. In others, He is an impersonal being completely oblivious to creation. In some, including certain branches of Christianity, He is an angry and disappointed God who needs to be appeased. Jesus came to set the record straight. He teaches us that God is our Father; not my Father nor the Father of the Christian church nor this nation. He is Our Father in Heaven. He does not belong to any group. His fatherhood extends to all things He created in this world. This is good news.

God is not a distant impersonal creator but a present Father. His Love is generously poured upon all peoples and creatures of all sorts and conditions. This is perhaps why the greatest prayer in the world is so simple that even a child can say it without any problems. It is simple but not simplistic. It reveals depths of profound wisdom which are only discovered if our hearts and minds are open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. These are prophetic words which challenge our sinful nature that often times wants to exalt tribalism above anything else. It goes against our tendency of thinking of God just as our own Personal Father and not the Father of all things existent. He is not just the Father of our friends and families or community. He is the Father of our enemies. He is the Father of the person who irritates us; our grumpy neighbor or the annoying customer in the store. He is the Father of the unstable homeless person. He is our Father without any restrictions.

Only the Spirit of God can truly drive this point into our hearts. Only after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit did the disciples understand that the gospel is for all peoples and not just the Jewish nations. Only the Holy Spirit can testify to our souls and gives us the boldness and conviction to call God, “Abba, Father”. This deep and profound knowledge comes with a profound responsibility. We are now our brother’s and sister’s keeper. Our fellow human beings are no longer abstract beings. They are our siblings and we are called to be responsible for them. Only the murderous Cain rejected this role. However, we are called to follow the example of the saintly Abel who gave the best offerings to our Father.

The prayer doesn’t stop at God being our Father but we are given a task. We have to ensure that we proclaim the Holiness of His Name. You will never find in the gospel a doctrine about holiness. You will never find Jesus teaching His disciples on the concept of holiness. You will only read about how Jesus lived His Life. You will read that Jesus says that if you have seen me, you have seen my Father. This is the very essence of Christian Holiness.

There is a kind of “holiness” in this world. It is not necessarily modern phenomenon but something profoundly human. It has been there since humanity responded to the spiritual promptings of God’s spirit. This “holiness” is one which is detached from Love. Jesus recognized it in the Pharisees and He warned us that our spirituality must surpass that of the Pharisee. I don’t want to waste precious time pointing out how this kind of “holiness” manifests itself today. It is not very interesting. Suffice it to say the holiness of the Pharisees separates people from God. The holiness of Jesus gave people the courage to return to their Father’s household. Jesus hallowed God’s Name by revealing the true essence of the Father to the people with whom He interacted.

Our homeless children and youth know that God is their Father. They would say this without hesitation. It is not a religious jargon which they have learned. They truly sense this in their souls. This is the only reason why they are still alive when the world around them seemed to desire their death. However, they need help to know and understand that they too, have responsibilities as God’s children. They have the task of proclaiming His Holiness. The Lord’s Prayer is for them too. It is for their lifestyle too. However, they need concrete examples to follow. They need to see people in their midst who are willing to hallow the Name of God with their lifestyles.

Whenever we pray this prayer, God, our Heavenly Father invites us to be the person who would go into the midst of the people and manifest God’s true holiness. Now, let us be clear. God, our Father, does not need anyone to proclaim His Holiness to the world. It has always been present. Remember the meal I mentioned. God used an agnostic to provide a meal for His children. This man acknowledged the Heavenly Father even though he did not know if he believed in Him. It sounds crazy but it is something our Heavenly Father does. He constantly manifests His Holiness to the world. However, we are given the choice. We can pray and make ourselves the instruments of His Holiness. It is also an invitation to understand in a deep and profound way the meaning of God’s Holiness. One of His disciples who lived out this prayer proclaimed God’s holiness in these simple terms;

“We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” I John 4:16

The simple meal in which we participated years ago opened our hearts and minds to become His instruments of Holiness. It has been a journey of understanding and discovering how His Holy name is manifested among the homeless children of São Paulo. Our task is simply allowing this Holiness to shine through our lives. In this way, we can boldly pray, “Hallowed be Thy Name.”