St Oscar Romero

On Sunday 14th Oct 2018, Pope Francis declared Oscar Romero a saint of the Catholic Church. St Oscar Romero was the Archbishop of San Salvador in El Salvador (Central America) from 1977 until 1980. He becomes a vocal critic of the oppression of the people by the government, army and others in positions of power. On 24th March 1980 he is shot and dies will he is celebrating Mass. Below are some of his words in which we can hear both his love of God and of the poor.

These can be downloaded at: St Oscar Romero handout

You can also access Caritas Australia’s biographical details of St Oscar Romero at: http://www.caritas.org.au/docs/primary-school-resources/oscar-romero-biography.docx

The wisdom of St Oscar Romero

 Source: https://ignatiansolidarity.net/blog/2014/08/13/man-gods-microphone-12-quotes-celebrate-life-voice-oscar-romero/

1. Each one of you has to be God’s microphone. Each one of you has to be a messenger, a prophet. The church will always exist as long as there is someone who has been baptised…Where is your baptism? You are baptised in your professions, in the fields of workers, in the market. Wherever there is someone who has been baptised, that is where the church is. There is a prophet there. Let us not hide the talent that God gave us on the day of our baptism and let us truly live the beauty and responsibility of being a prophetic people.

2. Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty.

3. Beautiful is the moment in which we understand that we are no more than an instrument of God; we live only as long as God wants us to live; we can only do as much as God makes us able to do; we are only as intelligent as God would have us be.

4. I don’t want to be an “anti”, against anybody. I simply want to be the builder of a great affirmation: the affirmation of God, who loves us and who wants to save us.

5. By contrast, whoever out of love for God gives oneself to the service of others will live, like the grain of wheat that dies, but only apparently…Only in undoing itself does it produce the harvest.

6. 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 onto Christ’s life, his cross and resurrection. That is a person’s measure.

7. 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. [attributed to Archbishop Romero]

8. The transcendence that the church preaches is not alienation; it is not going to heaven to think about eternal life and forget about the problems on earth. It’s a transcendence from the human heart. It is entering into the reality of a child, of the poor, of those wearing rags, of the sick, of a hovel, of a shack. It is going to share with them. And from the very heart of misery, of this situation, to transcend it, to elevate it, to promote it, and to say to them, “You aren’t trash. You aren’t marginalised.” It is to say exactly the opposite, “You are valuable.”

9. There are not two categories of people. There are not some who were born to have everything and leave others with nothing and a majority that has nothing and can’t enjoy the happiness that God has created for all. God wants a Christian society, one in which we share the good things that God has given for all of us.

10. Here there is a challenge from Christ to the goodness of humankind. It is not enough to be good. It is not enough to not do evil. My Christianity is something more positive; it is not a negative. There are many who say, “But I don’t kill, I don’t steal, I don’t do anything bad to anyone.” That’s not enough. You are still lacking a great deal. It is not enough to be good.

11. There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried.