Argentina

I am wrapping up my intensive Spanish course tomorrow with the oral exam. Friday was the written exam. Overall, this past month of daily Spanish class and study has been just what I needed. On some days I left class feeling encouraged and hopeful, while other days I left discouraged and frustrated. I will continue to press on and meet with a tutor three times a week.

Next weekend marks one year in Buenos Aires! I arrived March 14. I just made a reservation to get away for a couple days of personal retreat next weekend to a riverbank town outside the city called Tigre. Tigre lies on the river, Paraná Delta. I visited there three years ago when I visited the Forcattos during my around the world trip. It should be a tranquilo space to rest, reflect, and celebrate my first year here.

Every Friday our community is praying the Lenten liturgies created by Christine Sine in her Lenten Guide. I contribute every Friday to the Prayers & Creeds blog. This week I posted an excerpt from this week’s liturgy, “A Litany for the Brokenness of Hunger,” but thought I would also share it here.

God, you have set us free
Not free to do what we please
But free to love you with our whole heart gladly
Free to love our neighbors as we do ourselves.
God, we need to know your freedom
Free us from our selfishness
Free us from our indifference to the plight of the poor
Free us to love and serve you with all our being.
God, we want to live in your freedom
Free us to show compassion to all who are cast by the wayside
Free us to share generously so that others will not hunger or lack provision
Free us to live in love and mutual care.
God, you call us to freedom
Freedom to love you with our hearts and souls and minds
Freedom to love our neighbors as ourselves
God, may we enter the freedom of your kingdom today.

Pause to offer up your own prayers for those who face hunger around the world

Let God’s compassion bloom in us
Let God’s righteousness bear fruit
Let God’s generosity be harvested
May God’s life be born afresh in us
May God’s light shine in hidden places
May God’s love take root and grow
Amen

Excerpt from “A Litany for the Brokenness of Hunger”
Taken from A Journey Into Wholeness (Lenten Guide 2009) by Christine Sine