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 the eighth Bishop and fourth Archbishop of San Salvador, succeeding the long-reigning Luis Chávez y González.As archbishop, he witnessed ongoing violations of human rights and started a group which spoke out to the poor and also victims of the country’s civil war. Chosen to be archbishop for his conservatism, once in office his conscience led him to embrace a non-violent form of liberation theology, a position that has led to comparisons with Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Later, in 1980, he was assassinated by gunshot shortly after his homily. His death provoked international outcry for human rights reform in El Salvador.
We must not seek the child Jesus
in the pretty figures of our Christmas cribs.
We must seek him among the undernourished children
who have gone to bed at night with nothing to eat,
among the poor newsboys
who will sleep covered with newspapers in doorways.
God’s reign is already present on our earth in mystery. When the Lord comes, it will be brought to perfection. That is the hope that inspires Christians.
We know that every effort to better society,
especially when injustice and sin are so ingrained,
is an effort that God blesses, that God wants,
that God demands of us.
The most sublime homily ever given
In the most sublime homily ever given, Christ closes the book and says, “These things have been fulfilled today.” That is what a homily is: saying that God’s word is not about times past, but a living and spiritual word that is being fulfilled here. Hence our effort to apply God’s eternal message to the people’s concrete circumstances.
Shining faces & brave hearts
When we leave Mass
we ought to go out
the way Moses descended Mt Sinai:
with his face shining,
with his heart brave and strong
to face the world’s difficulties.
Those who, in the Biblical phrase, would save their lives – that is, those who want to get along, who don’t want commitments, who don’t want to get into problems, who want to stay outside of a situation that demands the involvement of all of us – they will lose their lives. What a terrible thing, to have lived quite comfortably, with no suffering, not getting involved in problems, quite tranquil, quite settled, with good connections politically, economically, socially, lacking nothing, having everything. To what good? They will lose their lives.“But those, who for love of me, uproot themselves and accompany the people and go with the poor in their suffering and become incarnated and feel as their own the pain, the abuse – they will secure their lives, because my Father will reward them.”Brothers and sisters, God’s word calls us to this today. Let me tell you with all the conviction I can muster, it is worthwhile to be a Christian.
If we are worth anything,
it is not because we have more money
or more talent,
or more human qualities.
Insofar as we are worth anything,
it is because we are grafted on to Christ’s life,
his cross and resurrection.
That is a person’s measure.
Preaching by our own lives
A Christian community is evangelized
in order to evangelize.
A light is lit
in order to give light.
A candle is not lit to be put under a bushel,
said Christ.
It is lit and put up high
in order to give light. That is what a true community is like.
A community is a group of men and women
who have found the truth in Christ and in his gospel,
and who follow the truth
and join together to follow it more strongly.
It is not just an individual conversion,
but a community conversion.
It is a family that believes,
a group that accepts God.
In the group, each one finds that the brother or sister
is a source of strength
and that in moments of weakness they help one another
and, by loving one another and believing,
they give light and example.
The preacher no longer needs to preach,
for there are Christians who preach by their own lives.
I said once and I repeat today
that if, unhappily, some day they silence our radio
and don’t let us write our newspaper,
each of you who believe
must become a microphone,
a radio station,
a loudspeaker,
not to talk, but to call for faith.
I am not afraid that our faith may depend
only on the archbishop’s preaching;
I don’t think I’m that important.
I believe that this message,
which is only a humble echo of God’s word,
enters your hearts,
not because it is mine,
but because it comes from God.
Authority in the church is not command,
but service.
Among Christians,
those who do not become simple as children
cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
To my shame, as a pastor,
I beg forgiveness from you, my community,
that I have not been able to carry out,
as your servant
my role as bishop.
I am not a master,
I am not a boss,
I am not an authority that imposes itself.
I want to be God’s servant, and yours.
Defending God’s Image
For the church, the many abuses
of human life, liberty, and dignity
are a heartfelt suffering.
The church, entrusted with the Earth’s glory,
believes that in each person is the Creator’s image
and that everyone who tramples it offends God.
As holy defender of God’s rights and of his images,
the church must cry out.
It takes as spittle in its face,
as lashes on its back,
as the cross in its passion,
all that human beings suffer,
even though they be unbelievers.
They suffer as God’s images.
There is no dichotomy between man and God’s image.
Whoever tortures a human being,
whoever abuses a human being,
whoever outrages a human being,
abuses God’s image,
and the church takes as its own,
that cross, that martyrdom.
We have never preached violence,
except the violence of love,
which left Christ nailed to a cross,
the violence that we each must do to ourselves
to overcome our selfishness
and such cruel inequalities among us. The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword,
the violence of hatred.It is the violence of love,
of brotherhood,
the violence that wills to beat weapons
into sickles for work
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.
“May this Body immolated and this Blood sacrificed for Mankind
nourish us also, that we may give our body and our blood over to
suffering and pain, like Christ — not for Self, but to give harvests
of peace and justice to our People.”
(Uttered seconds before a gunshot pierced his heart as he prepared to consecrate the Eucharist.)
