Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador

This is the article of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador who was brutally assassinated by right wing Military death squads of his country exactly thirty years ago,
on 24th March 1980..

Today world over Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador is regarded as A Prophet, a Saint and a true Shepherd of his flock. Ready to lay down his life (something which all Priests and Bishops need to emulate.. A new book by Scott Wright entitled "Oscar Romero and the Communion of Saints: a biography ".It is reviewed in THE TABLET (March, 13th 2010), which says, “Oscar Romero was steeped in the social teaching of the Church, as well as in the Scriptures and the lives of the poor. He prepared his homilies meticulously. As archbishop; he would meet weekly with advisers to explore what to say. He would often spend the time from 10 p.m. on Saturday evening until 4 a.m. on Sunday preparing what he would say, sleep for a couple of hours and then arrive at the cathedral at 8 a.m. to prepare to celebrate Mass. “The glory of God”, he would say, “is the living,poor person.”

He fully appreciated that his life was drawing to a close: the end came as he lifted the chalice at the offertory during an evening Mass in the hospital chapel where he lived. Just a few days before he was murdered, he offered these words of faith and affirmation:“My life has been threatened many times. I have to confess that as a Christian, I don’t believe in death without resurrection. If they kill me, I will rise again in the Salvadorian people.”

Romero died loving his enemies. “You can tell people, if they succeed in killing me that I forgive and bless those who do it. Hopefully they will realize that they are wasting their time. A bishop will die, but the Church of God, which is the people, will go on.” Although a short book, all sources and comment are meticulously catalogued and it is graced with many pictures, some quite brutal, which help to give shape and meaning to the biography itself. The story draws us into the politics of the country, but also into the politics of the Church in El Salvador, as well as the United States and the Vatican.

But above all, Wright’s book is a passionate, accessible, well-researched meditation on the life of Oscar Romero. This reflection on conversion, profound faith and courage is also an invitation to every reader to ponder the same questions that faced Monsenor." Yes there is truly much we need to learn from Archbishop Romero...Let his words challenge us all today.... 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 another way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us......

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 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 ‘master’ builder and the worker. We are the workers, not the master builder; the ministers, not the messiah. We are the prophets of a future that is not our own.

-Courtesy: Fr.Prakash S.J.(Gujarat)