The Little Friar

I'm reminded today of Henri Nouwen's Selfless Way of Christ .  The little book contrasts the cultural push for "upward mobility" with Christ's example of "downward mobility".  Nouwen's description of the lure of upward mobility and how we work to support its mythology in our culture: We are taught to conceive of development in terms of an ongoing increase in human potential.  Growing up means becoming healthier, stronger, more intelligent, more mature, and more productive.  Consequently we hide those who do not affirm this myth of progress, such as the elderly, prisoners, and those with mental disabilities.  In our society, we consider the upward move the obvious one while treating the poor cases who cannot keep up as sad misfits, people who have deviated from the normal line of progress. In contrast to this upward progress, Nouwen points to the downward mobility of Christ: The story of our salvation stands radically over and against the philoso...