Archbishop Oscar Romero

March 24 is the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Romero, who should be a patron saint (a, not the) of ReligionLeftLaw.

This Book Review from the current issue of The Tablet may be of interest.  An excerpt:

Through copious quotations from the archbishop’s sermons and letters, it becomes clear that, as Wright says: “These three themes – the dignity of the human person, the salvation of people in history and the transcendent dimension of liberation – form the heart of Romero’s spirituality, and they may be found in almost every homily that he preached as archbishop of San Salvador.”

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 Salvadorean 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 realise that they are wasting their time. A bishop will die, but the Church of God, which is the people, will go on.”

Comments

[Patrick S. O'Donnell]

“The glory of God”, he would say, “is the living, poor person.”

This reminds me of Gandhi's identification with the poor and weak, with Daridranarayan, or "God as manifest in the meek and the wretched."

And it calls to mind "Christ of the Breadlines," Fritz Eichenberg's wonderful woodcut for the Catholic Worker: http://www.justpeace.org/christ_of_the_breadline.jpg