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| St. Óscar Romera of El Salvador |
"An accommodating Church
that seeks prestige
without the pain of the cross
is not the authentic
Church of Jesus Christ."
+ Óscar Romero,
Martyr,
1917-1980 A.D.
As we see the season of Advent on the horizon, Emmaus City Church is seeking to soak in stories of people throughout the past millenia who have followed Jesus, using Our Church Speaks: An Illustrated Devotional of Saints from Every Era and Place as our resource. As these dear sisters and brothers throughout time and space sought to reflect the humility and holiness of Christ, so do we in the upcoming year: "Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness — without it no one will see the Lord." + Hebrews 12:14 Here are recent highlights: When we handed these books out to our congregation, this is part of the note we included inside each one: This might seem at first to be a peculiar Advent devotional. But saints often are peculiar people who stand out in a particular time and place. In fact, the times when saints shine the most are times of darkness. They give glimpses of Jesus’ Light, which darkness cannot overcome. Advent begins in the dark. And we, as part of Jesus’ Church, are called to live as Advent people who anticipate Jesus’ coming into our darkness today to overcome it. Ultimately, our hope rests in the God of Advent who drew near to us in Jesus’ first coming and will come again to take away the darkness forever and be our eternal Light. That hope is what saints have embodied as our sisters and brothers across time, ethnicities, Christian traditions, nationalities, and more. As we step into this next year, our prayer is that we will shine all the more with the holy light of Christ in us and through us. And we pray that we “being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love.” After all, “the Father has enabled us to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves.” This post features an excerpt from Our Church Speaks so that you might also walk some of this journey with us with reflection, prayer, and anticipation for how the Light of the world might shine in your life during this season.
Óscar Romero Peacemaking Rooted in Love Óscar Romero served Christ amid the clashing agendas of the Cold War. He was archbishop of El Salvador during a violent civil war between the military-led government and revolutionary guerrillas. Rival Cold War powers funded each side of the war and intensified its fury. Romero was once known for his cautious and conservative approach to ministry, but this changed with the outbreak of widespread violence. Thousands of impoverished people cried out against both the government and the guerrillas and were subsequently imprisoned or murdered. Seeing these evils, Romero was compelled to speak boldly for human rights and the poor. "Let's say to everyone," said Romero, "we must take the cause of the poor seriously, as if it were our own cause, or even more, for it is indeed the very cause of Jesus Christ." Romero's courageous defense of the poor earned him many powerful enemies on all sides of the conflict. His critiques of Marxism challenged many revolutionaries. "If one understands by 'Marxism' a materialistic, atheistic ideology that is taken to explain the whole of human existence and gives a false interpretation of religion," Romero said, "then it is completely untenable by a Christian." Allies of the government opposed Romero for his forceful preaching against the status quo. "A Church that doesn't provoke any crises, a Gospel that doesn't unsettle, a Word of God that doesn't get under anyone's skin, a Word of God that doesn't touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed — what Gospel is that? Government allies were also threatened by Romero's stand against injustice in the government and military. After a military slaughter of men, women, and children in March 1980, Romero preached a powerful sermon calling on soldiers to abandon their posts. "No soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary to the law of God. No one has to obey an immoral law. ... I implore, I beg you, I order you in the name of God: stop the repression." The next day, Romero was in a hospital chapel to celebrate Mass. As he stood at the altar, a government agent entered the room and shot Romero to death. Chaos and violence continued, even at Romero's funeral, where smoke bombs went off and gunfire broke out amid the ceremony of over 250,000 attendees. A delegate from Pope John Paul II eulogized Romero during the ceremony. Despite the chaos in El Salvador still evident at the funeral, the eulogist's message was one of hope, calling Romero a "beloved, peacemaking man of God ... (whose) blood will give fruit to brotherhood, love and peace." Scripture "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons and daughters of God." + Matthew 5:9 Meditation: Peacemaking Rooted in Love Thomas Hobbes, a seventeenth-century English philosopher, wrote, "Bellum omnium contra omnes," a Latin phrase meaning, "the war of all against all" or "the war of everyone against everyone." Hobbes describes this as the natural state of humanity — a state of continual fear. Fear is underneath all conflict. Fear of not being enough, fear of being left out, fear of being taken advantage of, fear of being the wrong kind of person, fear of being victimized, fear of losing your cherished way of life. Our news media outlets are fear factories. The way to get clicks and sell ad space is to prey on people's fear. There's a lot of money to be made in making people afraid. If you're willing to stoke people's fear, you can get candidates elected and sell people things they don't want or need. and since perfect love is the antidote to fear (1 John 4:8), all peacemaking must be rooted in love. In other words, true peacemaking in the Way of Jesus must not be rooted in fear of conflict. To be a peacemaker is actually not a very peace-ful vocation. but they do so motivated by the love of Christ. Therein lies the crucial difference between peacekeeping and peacemaking. Peacekeeping fears conflict and seeks to maintain the status quo, often at the expense of truth-telling and justice. Peacemaking does not fear conflict and therefore does not fear to tell the truth and seek justice. Peacekeeping is surface-level homeostasis. Peacemaking is more like surgery to remove a malignant tumor — invasive and often painful. The gospel paradox of peace is that the cross — a historic symbol of conflict, war, torture, and violence — is now, for us, a symbol of peace. To make peace in the Way of Jesus is, therefore, always for the good of the other at a cost to the self. Peacemaking requires sacrifice. It did for Jesus; it does for us too. Óscar Romero was a peacemaker in the Way of Jesus, and thus his life was filled with conflict and ended in violence. Peacemaking is now part of the vocation of all Christians. Peacemaking is living out the shalom of the new creation, starting now. Frederick Bauerschmidt, professor of Loyola University, has written, "If Thomas Hobbes is wrong and the book of Genesis is right, then human reconciliation with God, our return to the natural state of things, is inseparable from our reconciliation with each other. To end the war of humanity against God is to end the war of everyone against everyone." What conflict is disrupting your corner of the world? Where might you, motivated by love (and not fear), enter that conflict as a peacemaker in the Way of Jesus? Prayer Almighty and everlasting God, You created us in Your own image. Grant us, inspired by the witness of Your servant Óscar Romero, grace to contend fearlessly against evil and to make no peace with oppression; and to help us to use our freedom rightly in the establishment of justice in our communities and among the nations, to the glory of Your holy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. pgs. 59-61 Additional Advent Resources: Next Post: Many blessings of peace and presence, Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan |
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