Yesterday, I missed the feast day of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Mea maxima culpa!
Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (August 15, 1917 – March 24, 1980), commonly known as Monseñor Romero, was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in El Salvador. He later became prelate archbishop of San Salvador.
As an archbishop, he witnessed numerous violations of human rights and began a ministry speaking out on behalf of the poor and victims of the country's civil war. His brand of political activism was denounced by the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church and the government of El Salvador. In 1980, he was assassinated by gunshot while consecrating the Eucharist during mass. His death finally provoked international outcry for human rights reform in El Salvador.
What wise words in this prayer from Archbishop Romero:
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.
"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."
John 15:13
Archbishop Romero is under consideration for sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church, but the Episcopal Church has moved ahead and given him a feast day. Thanks be to God.
PRAYER
Almighty God, you called your servant Oscar Romero to be a voice for the voiceless poor, and to give his life as a seed of freedom and a sign of hope: Grant that, inspired by his sacrifice and the example of the martyrs of El Salvador, we may without fear or favor witness to your Word who abides, your Word who is Life, even Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be praise and glory now and for ever. Amen.
Picture and biographical quote from Wiki.
De nada, Robert.
ReplyDeleteIt is, to my mind, a travesty that this incredible man, priest, bishop has not won the honor he deserves from Rome.
ReplyDeleteOne more reason the two of us aren't Roman Catholics any more?
Make that three, John. My primary reason for departing was the child abuse cover-up. We had our scandal in the hinterlands several years before the big national scandal. The media in the rest of the country didn't pay us much mind. The bishop's response was, to put it mildly, unsatisfactory.
ReplyDeleteBut that was only the straw that broke the camel's back. The disenchantment was present long before.
what a man!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you on the sanctity of Romero. Incidentally his statue has been above the main entrance to Westminster Abbey for some years now.
ReplyDeleteAmen. Amen.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you.
I have written this on a couple of other Romero posts (i missed it too and unlike you did not try to catch up.
ReplyDeleteI did write about him here last summer.
Anway, what I wrote on other blogs and will say here is this... whenever I feel misty eyed about JPII and it does happen, infrequently, but it does happen.
I just think of Romero.
Mimi, thanks for joining in the celebration of this great saint. We will attend to what Rome neglects (in this and so many other areas). Hugs!
ReplyDeleteHe's a true man of God. I did not know about the statue of Romero at Westminster Abbey.
ReplyDeleteFran, I believe that I understand a little why Benny can make you feel misty-eyed about JPII. But then you think of Romero and the mist clears.
Paul, hugs back to you.
Jan, amen again and thanks.
ReplyDeleteThis man is one of my heros ... thanks for this post.
ReplyDeleteRomero is a lovely man, a hero, most surely.
ReplyDelete