Lonely Streets and Humble Shacks: Christ Awaits Us in the Poor

It occurred to the editors of Ibo that there was one basic question, so fundamental to the Christian life, that it demanded to be explored for greater profit of both ourselves and our faithful readers. Quite simply, the question was this: What are the ways Christ promised to be with us? “That’s so obvious!” the reader might cry. Perhaps. But it is nonetheless an important question. Unless we know the primary ways of encountering the living God in the bracing reality of our lives, the faith risks becoming an abstraction at best, an ideology at worst. There are four privileged ways we know of in which Christ manifests himself to his people in the here-and-now. Four writers are exploring these in a series of four short articles. The first was here, the second was here. This is the third.

By Santiago Rodriguez, S.J.

Fritz Eichenberg- Christ of the Breadlines

The soccer field stared through the Orange and Avocado trees. We left the more densely populated barrio, and walked uphill on a narrow pathway. After a couple of minutes, we stopped in front of a very small shack on the side of the pathway. Oscar, my companion, called out, asking if someone was home. He got closer to investigate, when the small wooden door opened. Oscar went to the front of the door and spoke to someone I could not see. A few seconds later, three shy little girls came out to examine the strangers outside. In no time, the entire family was outside socializing with us – the parents and their five children.

Venezuela: A Prose Poem

By Eric Hanna, S.J.

I have drunk deeply from the cup of life!
Outside my windows, people sing.
At dinner, tiny Sister Wilma cackled like a wicked witch at the jests of young scholastics.

The white walls of the Casa Praetoria were sprayed with neat, red letters spelling "con los trabajados y Chavez!"

The woman who worked at Fe y Alegria explained that there were three hundred thousand students being educated for free or for voluntary donations.

The one who worked at JRS said that they have to bend over backwards with politeness to a mistrusting government in order to change the word 'refugee' to 'person' in the minds of policy makers.