Saint Oscar Romero and sermon Excerpts from March 23, 1980
(Movie: Romero)
24 March - Saint Oscar Romero, Cardinal
Early life
Oscar Romero was born into a large family on August 15, 1917, in El Salvador. Although they had more money than many of their neighbors, Oscar’s family had neither electricity nor running water in their small home, and the children slept on the floor. Oscar’s parents could not afford to send him to school after the age of 12, so he went to work as an apprentice carpenter. He quickly showed great skill, but Oscar was already determined to become a priest. He entered the seminary at the age of 14 and was ordained a priest when he was 25 in 1942. Recognising the power of radio to reach the people, he convinced five radio stations to broadcast his Sunday sermons to peasant farmers who believed they were unwelcome in the churches.
In 1970, he became Auxiliary Bishop in San Salvador. In 1974, he became Bishop of Santiago de Maria. At this time, Oscar Romero was described as a conservative, not wanting to break from tradition. He supported the hierarchy who encouraged conformity. He was uncomfortable with social action that challenged political leaders.
Growing awareness
During his two years as Bishop of Santiago de Maria, Romero was horrified to find that children were dying because their parents could not pay for simple medicines. He began using the resources of the diocese and his own personal resources to help the poor, but he knew that simple charity was not enough. He wrote in his diary that people who are poor should not just receive handouts from the Church or the government, but participate in changing their lives for the future.
In 1977, Romero became Archbishop of San Salvador, the capital city. The situation in El Salvador was becoming worse and he couldn’t remain silent any longer. The military were killing the Salvadorian people - especially those demanding justice - such as teachers, nuns and priests, and including Romero’s good friend, Fr. Rutilio Grande. Thousands of people began to go missing. Romero demanded that the President of El Salvador thoroughly investigate the killings, but he failed to act.
Voice of the voiceless
In his actions and words, Oscar demanded a peace that could only be found by ensuring people had access to basic needs and their rights upheld. He raised awareness globally about the people in his country who had been killed or "disappeared." When he visited the Vatican in 1979, Oscar Romero presented the Pope with seven detailed reports of murder, torture, and kidnapping throughout El Salvador.
In 1979, the number of people being killed rose to more than 3000 per month. Oscar Romero had nothing left to offer his people except faith and hope. He continued to use the radio broadcast of his Sunday sermons to tell people what was happening throughout the country, to talk about the role of the Church and to offer his listeners hope that they would not suffer and die in vain.
Martyrdom
On March 23, 1980, after reporting the previous week’s deaths and disappearances, Oscar Romero began to speak directly to soldiers and policemen: “I beg you, I implore you, I order you... in the name of God, stop the repression!” The following evening, while saying Mass in the chapel of Divine Providence Hospital, Archbishop Oscar Romero was shot by an assassin. Only moments before his death, Romero spoke these prophetic words: “Those who surrender to the service of the poor through love of Christ will live like the grain of wheat that dies… The harvest comes because of the grain that dies.”
Saint Oscar Romero and sermon Excerpts from March 23, 1980
(Movie: Romero)
24 March - Saint Oscar Romero, Cardinal
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1980 Homilies – The Archbishop Romero Trust
ARCHBISHOP OSCAR ROMERO: THE LAST SERMON (MARCH 1980) Let no one be offended because we use the divine words read at our mass to shed light on the social, political and economic situation of our people. Not to do so would be un-Christian. Christ desires to unite himself with humanity, so that the light he brings from God might become life for nations and individuals. I know many are shocked by this preaching and want to accuse us of forsaking the gospel for politics. But I reject this accusation. I am trying to bring to life the message of the Second Vatican Council and the meetings at Medellin and Puebla. The documents from these meetings should not just be studied theoretically. They should be brought to life and translated into the real struggle to preach the gospel as it should be for our people. Each week I go about the country listening to the cries of the people, their pain from so much crime, and the ignominy of so much violence. Each week I ask the Lord to give me the right words to console, to denounce, to call for repentance. And even though I may be a voice crying in the desert, I know that the church is making the effort to fulfill its mission... . Every country lives its own “exodus”; today El Salvador is living its own exodus. Today we are passing to our liberation through a desert strewn with bodies and where anguish and pain are devastating us. Many suffer the temptation of those who walked with Moses and wanted to turn back and did not work together. It is the same old story. God, however, wants to save the people by making a new history... . History will not fail; God sustains it. That is why I say that insofar as historical projects attempt to reflect the eternal plan of God, to that extent they reflect the kingdom of God. This attempt is the work of the church. Because of this, the church, the people of God in history, is not attached to any one social system, to any political organization, to any party. The church does not identify herself with any of those forces because she is the eternal pilgrim of history and is indicating at every historical moment what reflects the kingdom of God and what does not reflect the kingdom of God. She is the servant of the kingdom of God. The great task of Christians must be to absorb the spirit of God’s The Church and Human Liberation, March 24, 1980.
kingdom and, with souls filled with the kingdom of God, to work on the projects of history. It’s fine to be organized in popular groups; it’s all right to form political parties; it’s all right to take part in the government. It’s fine as long as you are a Christian who carries the reflection of the kingdom of God and tries to establish it where you are working, and as long as you are not being used to further worldly ambitions. This is the great duty of the people of today. My dear Christians, I have always told you, and I will repeat, that the true liberators of our people must come from us Christians, from the people of God. Any historical plan that’s not based on what we spoke of in the first point—the dignity of the human being, the love of God, the kingdom of Christ among people—will be a fleeting project. Your project, however, will grow in stability the more it reflects the eternal design of God. It will be a solution for the common good of the people every time, if it meets the needs of the people. . . . Now I invite you to look at things through the eyes of the church, which is trying to be the kingdom of God on earth and so often must illuminate the realities of our national situation. We have lived through a tremendously tragic week. I could not give you the facts before, but a week ago last Saturday, on 15 March, one of the largest and most distressing military operations was carried out in the countryside. The villages affected were La Laguna, Plan de Ocotes and El Rosario. The operation brought tragedy: a lot of ranches were burned, there was looting, and—inevitably—people were killed. In La Laguna, the attackers killed a married couple, Ernesto Navas and Audelia Mejia de Navas, their little children, Martin and Hilda, 13 and seven years old, and 11 more peasants. Other deaths have been reported, but we do not know the names of the dead. In Plan de Ocotes, two children and four peasants were killed, including two women. In El Rosario, three more peasants were killed. That was last Saturday. Last Sunday, the following were assassinated in Arcatao by four members of ORDEN: peasants Marcelino Serrano, Vincente Ayala, 24 years old, and his son, Freddy. That same day, Fernando Hernandez Navarro, a peasant, was assassinated in Galera de Jutiapa, when he fled from the military. Last Monday, 17 March, was a tremendously violent day. Bombs ex- | ploded in the capital as well as in the interior of the country. The damage | was very substantial at the headquarters of the Ministry of Agriculture. The campus of the national university was under armed siege from dawn 4 until 7 P.M. Throughout the day, constant bursts of machine-gun fire were ~ heard in the university area. The archbishop’s office intervened to protect people who found themselves caught inside. On the Hacienda Colima, 18 persons died, at least 15 of whom were
... Salvadorean army was aimed at breaking the popular organizations | through the assassination of their leaders in both town and country. According to the spokesman of Amnesty International, at least 3,500 peasants have fled from their homes to the capital to escape persecution, “We have complete lists in London and Sweden of young children and women who have been assassinated for being organized,” Fuentes stated.... I would like to make a special appeal to the men of the army, and specifically to the ranks of the National Guard, the police and the military, Brothers, you come from our own people. You are killing your own brother peasants when any human order to kill must be subordinate to the law of God which says, “Thou shalt not kill.” No soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary to the law of God. No one has to obey an immoral law. It is high time you recovered your consciences and obeyed your consciences | Seat chante esis SS NAELA TESEAARDAS MEN NiS rather than a sinful order. The church, the defender of the rights of God, ` of the law of God, of human dignity, of the person, cannot remain silent before such an abomination. We want the government to face the fact that reforms are valueless if they are to be carried out at the cost of so much blood. In the name of God, in the name of this suffering people whose cries rise to heaven more loudly each day, I implore you, I beg you, I order you in the name of God: stop the repression. The church preaches your liberation just as we have studied it in the holy Bible today. It is a liberation that has, above all else, respect for the dignity of the person, hope for humanity’s common good, and the transcendence that
Lazarus Peter Kalamation.com
On Sunday, March 23rd, 1980, Archbishop Oscar Romero preached his own death sentence.
In a homily broadcast nationwide, Romero implored the military with the following words, “Thou shalt not kill! No soldier is obliged to obey an order against the law of God … in the name of this suffering people, whose laments rise to heaven each day more tumultuous, I beg you, I beseech you, I order you in the name of God, stop the repression.”
The next day while doing Mass at a Hospital chapel near his humble San Salvador home, a gunman took Oscar Romero’s life as he was preparing the altar after preaching his final homily.
That was March 24th, 1980.
Romero predicted his own death, saying, “If they kill me, I will arise in the Salvadoran people.”
This year on March 24th, we had the honor to be in El Salvador co-leading Maryknoll missionaries to celebrate the first official Feast Day of St. Oscar Romero, Bishop and Martyr.
Last October, Oscar Romero was officially recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church.
Our group was blessed to march with thousands of Catholic El Salvadoran faithful through the streets of San Salvador to an open-air, evening Mass to mark the occasion.
St. Oscar Romero was criticized by many during his lifetime -- the rich and the powerful, some in the Church in Latin America, in Rome, and, yes, here in the United States.
Now, he’s basking in the glow of heaven.
Today our eyes are open to the consequences of speaking out in righteousness. Our eyes are open to the realities of scorn and persecution. Our eyes are open to the truth about the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And through His Passion, the light of Christ now shines through the life, death and now sainthood of St. Oscar Romero.
This is the Good News we can all share with the world.
Posted by iServant Media at 7:50 AM
Homily – Palm Sunday – St. Oscar Romero
Day of Missionary Martyrs
—
Abatas of Mauritania
Agapitus of Synnada
Aldemar the Wise
Anna Ellmerer
Bernulf of Mondovi
Bertha de’Alberti of Cavriglia
Bertrada of Laon
Brian O’Carolan
Caimin of Lough Derg
Cairlon of Cashel
Catherine of Sweden
Diego José of Cádiz
Domangard of Maghera
Hildelith of Barking
John del Bastone
Latinus of Brescia
Luczja Heymann
Macartan of Clogher
Maria Serafina of the Sacred Heart
Oscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez
Seleucus of Syria
Severo of Catania
—
Martyrs of Africa – 9 saints
Martyrs of Caesarea – 6 saints
Martyred in North Africa
Romulus
Secundus
Martyred in Rome
Epicharis of Rome
Epigmenius of Rome
Mark of Rome
Pigmenius of Rome
Timothy of Rome
Martyred Ulma Family of Markowa
—
Jadwiga Töpfer
Marta Melusja Rybka