“Today, we are celebrating the lives of the angels of the streets of Pasadena who are no longer with us, and that we, as a society, missed seeing for who they truly were: angels of love that God sent us to enrich our lives.”

Sermon by Antonio Gallardo at All Saints Church, Pasadena’s Homeless Memorial Service on Tuesday, December 11, 2018.

We have angels of love among us in the streets, and although they are growing in numbers every year, we are failing to recognize them.+

Yes, we have angels of love in our streets, like Elijah Arnold, who last year, tackled a thief with a gun in an IHOP in San Antonio, Texas. The man had fired two shots in the air, threatening to kill anyone who tried to stop him. Elijah clung onto the thief’s legs as he tried to crawl away until the police arrived. Through this heroic action Elijah saved the lives of everyone in the store.

We have angels of love among us in the streets, like Joey, who in a cold winter night spotted a young couple who had missed their train, and while they were standing on the platform waiting for the next train to arrive Joey offered them a warm spot underneath his blanket. The couple accepted Joey’s offer, and sharing that blanket was a moment that changed the lives of the three of them.

It was not until these acts of bravery and compassion that the people in San Antonio and the couple at the train station realized that they were in the presence of angels of the streets, angels who, unfortunately didn’t have a place that they can call home.

We have angels who live among us, and maybe we can’t recognize them because they are disguised. They don’t look like the stereotypical Euro-centric angels that we see in the movies, on tv, or magazines. They don’t look like what society has defined as “normal:” young, white, well put together, perfectly beautiful, no skin blemishes, perfectly aligned white teeth, wearing a white robe, and featuring a golden halo.

We have angels among us and our brains and hearts can’t recognize them when they stand at the traffic light asking for help, when they are sleeping on the streets as we walk by, or when we serve them food at the soup kitchens.

We have angels of love among us, that are growing in alarming numbers, and that we are also losing in big numbers, and still, we don’t seem to recognize them yet. Last year alone there were close to 700 angels on the streets of Pasadena (a figure twice as high as the angels of the street that we had five years ago).

How many of them did you get to know deeply?

These angels of the streets are our passport to heaven, and at the rate that we are losing them every year, many of us are just missing the opportunity to grab that passport. Many of us are missing the opportunity to be transformed by bringing them into our lives.

Today, we are celebrating the lives of the angels of the streets of Pasadena who are no longer with us, and that we, as a society, missed to see them for who they truly were: angels of love that God sent us to enrich our lives.

To be honest with you, initially it was hard to prepare a reflection for today, because when preparing for a memorial I usually either know the person good enough, or I meet with someone who knew that person – like a dear friend, a spouse, a son or daughter, or a sibling.

And Although it was initially challenging that I did not know any of the people that we are celebrating today, or even someone who knew them, in reading about the experiences of their life I learned great things about them that I did not know before.

I learned about their virtues, and I learned about the example of life that they left for us.

I learned that like you and I, they also had dreams. That they never stopped dreaming about having their own place to live, and they all tried very hard to accomplish that dream.

I also learned that they experienced the love of others, usually not their family members, but people in the community who recognized them as member of our human family, and that they experienced and embraced that love from the stranger, that love that maybe we are skeptical to accept.

The people whose lives we are celebrating today valued the simplest things in life, the warm sun in a cold day, a safe spot to sleep, the person who gave them a smile, and the hands that reached out to them in solidarity.

They were strong, they were resilient, and developed a capacity to move through fear in a way that many of us still need to learn how to do.

They were bluntly honest, they spoke what was in their mind, and they developed the capacity to smell BS from a distance that I wish I had.

Some of them were veterans of war, and they fought for us, for our honor, and to them we owe our safety and freedom.

They shared the little that they had, because they understood that whatever they got was not just for them to keep, but to share with others in need.

They were also very talented people, and they had different talents. Some of them spoke several languages, were well travelled, graduated from college, were musicians, recovered from major surgeries and addictions, they were writers, actors, social workers, and much more.

They valued human relationships, because they understood that, although they may not have had material possessions, they had each other, and when they had that, they knew that they had everything.

And above all, all of them, with no exceptions, were all loved by their creator beyond measure.

Today, we celebrate the lives of those angels of the streets that are no longer with us, and who because of our blindness or deafness we did not recognize. God have mercy on us for this big miss !!

Today, we celebrate that fact that ALL of them are enjoying the promise of their creator of being lifted up to a place where they are fully appreciated for who they are, and where they are free from pain, suffering, rejection, and any need.

Today, we celebrate that they are finally in the permanent home that they hoped for.

Today, we are in a heavenly place where, if you look around, we are surrounded by angels of love like the ones that we are celebrating. And I hope and pray that through the night, not only we recognize them, but that the creator in us connects with the creator in them, sparking a moment that transforms our lives.

Today, during diner we have an opportunity to learn from the angels of the streets among us about the true essence of the divine that is not the books that we have read, or in the “correct beliefs and ideologies” that we have learned.

Today, we have another opportunity to grab a passport to heaven. Please don’t miss it.
AMEN