Cross-posted on the Ministry
with the Poor Blog.
May
this immolated body and this blood
sacrificed
for all nourish us so that we
may
offer our body and our blood
as
Christ did, and thus bring
justice
and peace
to
our people. Let us join together,
then,
in the faith and hope of this intimate moment of prayer…
(Last
words of Oscar Romero, March 24, 1980
Oscar
Romero: Reflections on His Life and Writings,
by
Dennis, Golden, and Wright, pg. 98)
These
were the last words spoken by Archbishop Óscar Romero on March 24,
1980. He died while celebrating Palm Sunday Mass at a small hospital
chapel in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. He was gunned
down as he held up the chalice to consecrate the communion wine.
Over
the thirty-plus years that have followed, Romero has become a
legendary figure: a champion of the poor, a voice for peace, justice,
and nonviolence, a martyr for his faith, and a transformative
presence in the Catholic Church and in El Salvador In fact,
Salvadorans are pressing Pope Francis to beatify
Romero, the first step toward sainthood in the Catholic Church.
Romero
was born on August 15, 1917 in Ciudad Barrios in the Salvadoran
department of San Miguel. He entered the minor seminary at the age of
thirteen, and then began his journey towards ordained ministry. Over
time he worked his way through the Catholic hierarchy in El Salvador
serving in a variety of roles. He was regarded as conventional and
reserved, within the customary bounds of church tradition and
practice, at a time when the Catholic Church in El Salvador was
divided over a brutal civil war that pitted rich and powerful
established interests, including the government and the Catholic
hierarchy, against poor people, rebels and their religious allies
fighting for economic justice.
Romero
could neither understand nor condone how his clergy friend could have
aligned himself with the guerrilla groups in his pursuit of justice
for the poor. But then, on March 12, 1977, just a few weeks after
Romero was appointed Bishop, Fr. Rutilio was assassinated. To
Romero’s dismay, there was no effort to bring the perpetrators to
justice.
Rutilio’s
death had a profound impact on Romero’s vocation, faith and
worldview. It was a turning point in Romero’s journey of faith and
ministry. Sometime later, he said, “When
I looked at Rutilio lying there dead I thought, 'If they have killed
him for doing what he did, then I too have to walk the same path.’”
Throughout
the next three years of his life and ministry, Romero became
increasingly engaged in the struggles of the poor, living and working
among them and allowing for their stories and struggles to become one
with his own. He lived a simple life, in a small house near the
campus of the hospital in whose chapel he was assassinated. That he
celebrated his final Mass in a hospital chapel rather than a
cathedral speaks volumes of his living in communion with the most
vulnerable in Salvadoran society.
In
2010, I was privileged to travel to El Salvador with a group from
DePaul University. While on the trip, we visited a number of sites
that were significant during El Salvador’s civil war, including a
number of sites related to Romero’s life and martyrdom. While I was
in the chapel where he was assassinated, I was struck by the powerful
imagery and symbolism of his final act – consecrating the communion
wine. The blood of Christ, shed for all suddenly became profoundly
incarnate before my very eyes.
Good
Friday is upon us, and as my Lenten journey comes to a close and I
turn toward Easter Sunday, I cannot help but reflect on Romero’s
walk with the poor, a personal conversion that led to him to the
cross.
What
moves me most about Romero is that his witness to the injustices,
oppression, marginalization, and violence inflicted upon the poor of
El Salvador opened his eyes and heart. In this process of
conversion, he allowed himself to be transformed by the Holy Spirit
working in and through the poor. In his walk with the poor he found
the courage to stand with them—to the point of death-- and, like
Jesus, boldly speak and embody the biblical message of liberation of
the poor and oppressed. (Isaiah
61:1-2, Luke 4:18, Luke 6:20)
Two
weeks before he died Romero said: “I have been frequently
threatened with death. I should say to you that, as a Christian, I do
not believe in death without resurrection: if I die, I will be
resurrected in the Salvadoran people.”
As
we journey with Christ to the cross, are we willing to stand with and
be transformed by the poor? As Romero demonstrated in his life and
ministry, it is in walking with the poor that we become emboldened
and empowered to take up the cross and follow Jesus in working to
bring about peace and justice, nourished by Christ’s sacrifice.
For
more information about Archbishop Oscar Romero see the 1989
biographical film Romero,
the book Oscar
Romero: Reflections on His Life and Writings
(Dennis,
Golden, and Wright, 2000),
and many other books and resources.
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