praying for Peru

my friend Alex translated the Lord's prayer for me tonight... I learned it in Spanish in high school, but had forgotten the last half of it... I'm praying it in Spanish tonight, praying towards Peru.... (forgive the missing accents!)

Padre neustro que estas en los cielos
santificado sea tu nombre
Venga a nosotros tu reino
Hagase tu voluntad
En la tierra, asi como en el cielo
Danos hoy nuestro pan do cada dia
Perdona neustras ofensas como tambien
perdonamos a los que no ofenden
no nos dejes caer en tentacion, mas libranos del mal,
porque tuyo es el poder, el reino y la gloria
por los siglos de los siglos.
Amen.

The Weakest in the Center - Henri Nouwen

I love this bit from Henri Nouwen. The idea of the importance of the weakest among us, the ones who hold us together and add dignity, childlikeness, beauty.

The Weakest in the Center

The most honored parts of the body are not the head or the hands, which lead and control. The most important parts are the least presentable parts. That's the mystery of the Church. As a people called out of oppression to freedom, we must recognize that it is the weakest among us - the elderly, the small children, the handicapped, the mentally ill, the hungry and sick - who form the real center. Paul says, "It is the parts of the body which we consider least dignified, that we surround with the greatest dignity" (1 Corinthians 12:23).

The Church as the people of God can truly embody of the living Christ among us only when the poor remain its most treasured part. Care for the poor, therefore, is much more than Christian charity. It is the essence of being the body of Christ.