At his funeral, over 250,000 people came to pay tribute. Salvadoran death squads set off bombs and fired shots into the crowd at Cathedral Square, killing at least 31. Still, more and more people came every day to pay homage to the deceased prelate.
I'm absolutely in awe of this man. He is in the process for being canonized as a Saint in the Catholic church, and is already a Saint in the Anglican Communion. In his early life, he was conservative and rather blindly obedient. He was placed in El Salvador by church hierarchy so he wouldn't "make trouble." But witnessing firsthand the suffering of the people brought about his transformation into a prophetic voice of peace, as one who lives completely without fear.This is why I firmly believe that religion should be subversive. If you're not doing your part to ruin the unjust status quo and piss people off, make people uncomfortable - then you're not doing it right. If your pastor drives a luxury SUV with $400 rims, you're not doing it right. If religion is a crutch and makes your life easier, rather than harder, you're not doing it right.
The word repent in Greek (metanoeo) literally means "Stop! Stop what you're doing! Go back! Think differently!" Our leaders and politicians have tried to convince us that "the way to peace is through war."
It has become a way of life for this country to be at war. That, my friends, is sickening. We need to stop. We need to go back and think differently. In a world of mind-numbing violence and fear, it's hard, if not impossible to hear the calm, quiet, voices of peace. Those voices belong to women and men who live boldly, and without fear. They will not be silenced.
"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. "
4 comments:
You are absolutely right. We, as Christians, are always striving to live a Christ-like life. Did Jesus ever go to war or advocate for violence? No, of course not. We definitely have to find a way to show that to our "Christian" leaders. This reminds me of Ghandi, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
I'm totally with you, there, Eric.
thanks Eric. The UMW Canterbury Club has an icon of oeace saints being written on the east wall in our chapel. Oscar Romero was one of the saints chosen to be included by the students. May his intercessions bring us peace
This is an excellent post.
I remember when he was killed. I was 11 and my grandmother had just died after a long and horrible battle with cancer, so God and I weren't exactly close. I read more about him and heard what he said and it touched me deeply even at that age.
A few months ago we were watching (for some reason - I know not why...) a marathon of "My Sweet 16" on MTV and one episdoe had the daughter of a megachurch preacher on it. Her party was so over the top, I thought I'd throw up.
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