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This weekend, a group of youth including our three daughters attended a Share Lent (Development and Peace/Caritas Internationalis) ThinkFast at which they played and prayed and haven't eaten since 9:30 yesterday morning. We've actually fasted as a family, and will break our fast in two hours or so at morning mass at our parish. We've experienced something about hunger even as we learned a lot about its causes, food production, and Development and Peace/Caritas Internationalis' partners in the developing world, and we raised some funds to for projects led by the people in their own countries rather than by well-meaning but often misinformed aid workers. The more I learn, the more I understand that it is better to help people work for themselves than it is for outsiders to come in and bring our idea of what aid looks like. The people in the developing world know what they need better than any outsider could!
Today, I'm posting the prayer with which we began and will end our ThinkFast.
Thank you for the smile of the child:
eyes bright, belly full, licking
the last caked crumbs from his spoon.
Thank you for the pride of the woman:
arms spread, palms stretched, heavy
with her first year's harvest.
Thank you for the joy of the man:
coming home to his family's future
with fair payment for his crops.
Thank you for the love
of the neighbour:
seeing another's need, sharing
from the little she owns.
Thank you for the hope that we share:
determination that all should enjoy
the richness of your harvest.
AMEN.
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