January 20, 2019 - "Saint Oscar Romero"

On Sunday, October 14, 2018 Pope Francis canonized Blessed Paul VI, Blessed Oscar Romero, Blessed Vincent Romano, Blessed Francesco Spinelli, Blessed Nunzio Sulprizio, Blessed Nazaria Ignacia March Mesa, and Blessed Maria Katharina Kasper. Today I am writing about Saint Óscar Romero.  I am going to base my remarks about him on the short biography published in the English edition of Osservatore Romano on October 19, 2018.
 
The Canonization of Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero Galdámez is an extraordinary gift for the entire Catholic Church in this millennium.  It is for all Christians as well, as shown by the attention of the Anglican Church which, in 2002, placed a statue of Archbishop Romero next to those of Martin Luther King and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  It is also a gift to human society, as shown by the decision of the United Nations to declare March 24—the date of his assassination—the International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims.
 
Pope Francis wanted Blessed Paul VI and Blessed Óscar Romero to be united in a celebration of Canonization.  They are two great witnesses of the twentieth century:  two Saints of the Second Vatican Council.  One, because he brought it to conclusion.  The other, because he lived its spirit to the very end.
 
Archbishop Romero met Pope Paul VI just after being appointed Archbishop of San Salvador (the capital and most populous city of El Salvador).  The accusations against Archbishop Romero and his pastoral work, which had reached as far as Rome, were very cumbersome.  The Archbishop presented to Paul VI photographs of the Jesuit Father Rutilio Grande, who had been assassinated along with two farmers.  Paul VI blessed them and said to Archbishop Romero:  “Take courage, you are the Archbishop, you are in charge.  Lead your people.”
 
The world has changed a great deal since 1980 when, to silence his voice, Archbishop Romero was murdered at the altar.  Now monseñor—as the common folk called him—speaks in an even loftier and more powerful way.  This Canonization, under the Pontificate of the first Latin American Pope, imparts particular strength to Archbishop Romero’s witness:  for his country, El Salvador, that it might defeat the violence of the maras (A mara is a form of gang that originated in the United States and spread to El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala); for all of Latin America, that it may find a path of new development; for the entire world, that it may fill the chasm between the many poor and the few rich.
 
Pope Francis’ pastoral work firmly ties Romero’s work to today’s Church and her mission to the world.  In a report sent to Rome Archbishop Romero was charged with the following accusation:  “Romero chose the people and the people chose Romero.”  A charge that in truth was the most beautiful commendation for a shepherd.  Archbishop Romero had the “odor of sheep” and the sheep recognized it and followed him.  It is moving to see that today farmers still speak with him while kneeling at his tomb.

In a certain sense, today, Archbishop Romero leads the long line of new twentieth century martyrs (including Blessed Stanley Rother).  Indeed he understood the entire teaching of Vatican II from the perspective of a martyr.  Archbishop Romero would often state the Council asks today’s Christians to be martyrs.  He explained in his homily for one of his priests killed by the death squads: 
Not everyone, the Second Vatican Council affirms, will have the honor of giving their physical blood, of being killed for their faith.  But God asks of all who believe in him the spirit of martyrdom, that is, that we all must be willing to die for our faith, even if the Lord does not grant us this honor; yes, let us be willing, so that, when the time comes for our accounting, we can say:  “Lord, I was willing to give my life to you.  And I gave it.”  Because giving your life does not only mean being killed; giving your life, having the spirit of martyrdom is giving in duty, in silence, in prayer, in the honest fulfillment of duty; in that silence of everyday life; giving your life little by little.  As it is given by a mother, who fearlessly, with the simplicity of maternal martyrdom, gives birth, nurses, raises and looks after her child with affection.  This is giving your life…
 
Until next week,
Fr. John