The title for this inspirational piece comes from the pen of recently sainted, San Salvadoran Archbishop, Oscar Romero. On October 14, 2018 Romero was made a saint of the Church. Pope Francis proclaimed the Central American churchman and theologian to be holy. I am not sure what that all means to my Catholic friends. Quakers don’t have saints in the same way the Roman Catholic Church proclaims and publicizes them. I admit I am glad the Church does celebrate the sanctity of certain women and men.
Just because Quakers don’t proclaim certain folks to be saints does not mean I am against them! As I just said, I am glad we have them. It means I can borrow a saint and make him or her my saint, too. I certainly have done this with figures from the past---people like Sts. Augustine, Francis, Theresa and others. As I understand it, a saint does not have to jump through all the hoops, which the Catholic Church prescribes. For me a saint does not have to be sinless. I figure all saints are also human beings and, therefore, they probably sinned here and there. Sin is a given.
Becoming a saint is harder. One has to accept the grace God always gives. And one has to be intentional to become God’s instrument in a world in need of grace. A saint somehow makes a deal with God to become God’s hand at redeeming and restoring the world to a promising, life-enhancing place to live and work. Saints are usually people trying to undo the wreckage that humans have wrought on each other. That was the calling of Oscar Romero.
Romero was doing this saintly work long before he was called to the capital city to be archbishop. That is a calling we all share. We agree to be God’s instrument and stay committed whatever many come. I think it was that simple for Romero. Perhaps he knew he lived in tricky times more than most of us do. But he was committed and did his duty of obedience. He may have had concerns. There were reasons for him to be worried. Literally, he died on the job. As he was celebrating Mass, he was shot to death on March 24, 1980. His witness caused his death.
Interestingly his end was not “the end.” His legacy lived on. And now that legacy is solidified---canonized, if you will---by Pope Francis declaring him to be a saint. With this in mind, I thought it would be good to hear some of the words from this guy---this saint---and let his words inspire us and our work. I don’t think I will be killed for incarnating God’s presence in my life. But I need to do it without fear.
In a wonderful book, The Church is All of You, Romero shares these thoughts. About a year before his assassination, he addressed his sisters and brothers: “It is wrong to be sad.” That is easy to say. The words are easy to type. But real life sometimes tries to make us sad. Don’t be, says Romero. Why not, we wonder? Romero tells us, “It is wrong to be sad.” It is easy to think he is out of touch with reality or just plain crazy. All people get sad.
I doubt that Romero wants us not to get sad when our best friend or, maybe, spouse dies. But don’t see sadness as the only response. It is temporary. We say this and live this in faith. This is the level to which Romero wants to take us. He begins this faith explanation by claiming, “Christians cannot be pessimists.” Pessimists are those who have no hope or whose hope soiled by the evil or the times and the maladies of our own personal messes. Pessimism is sadness lived out over time. We expect nothing good. We can’t believe except in tragedy.
But Christianity and the other major religious tradition are actually comedies. We hear good news. Life is not just giggles, but it is finally joy and not sadness. This is Romero’s point. He tells us, “Christians must always nourish in their hearts the fullness of joy.” I love it when he challenges us. “Try it, brothers and sisters; I have tried it many times and in the darkest moments, when the slander and persecution were at their worst, to unite myself intimately with Christ, my friend, and to feel a comfort that all the joys of the earth do not give---the joy of feeling oneself close to God, even when humans do not understand one.” Here is faith speaking, my friends.
We nourish our hearts. We nourish them with the fullness of joy. It makes me wonder with what do I nourish my heart? What kind of “heart food” am I taking in? Do I ingest only soul junk food? How about you? I remember the old axiom: what we take in, we become. Am I a “soul snacker.” only grazing in the sad superficialities of our culture?
Instead, we need to nourish our hearts with the fullness of joy. We do this because, as Romero claims, “It is the deepest joy the heart can have.” If we know joy, we don’t have to become pessimists. This does not mean things won’t happen which are can make us temporarily sad or get us down. But we also recall at these times, we are part of a comedy. I don’t know that the ending will be happy, but it will be joy. And I start participating in this joy by nourishing my soul.
Just because Quakers don’t proclaim certain folks to be saints does not mean I am against them! As I just said, I am glad we have them. It means I can borrow a saint and make him or her my saint, too. I certainly have done this with figures from the past---people like Sts. Augustine, Francis, Theresa and others. As I understand it, a saint does not have to jump through all the hoops, which the Catholic Church prescribes. For me a saint does not have to be sinless. I figure all saints are also human beings and, therefore, they probably sinned here and there. Sin is a given.
Becoming a saint is harder. One has to accept the grace God always gives. And one has to be intentional to become God’s instrument in a world in need of grace. A saint somehow makes a deal with God to become God’s hand at redeeming and restoring the world to a promising, life-enhancing place to live and work. Saints are usually people trying to undo the wreckage that humans have wrought on each other. That was the calling of Oscar Romero.
Romero was doing this saintly work long before he was called to the capital city to be archbishop. That is a calling we all share. We agree to be God’s instrument and stay committed whatever many come. I think it was that simple for Romero. Perhaps he knew he lived in tricky times more than most of us do. But he was committed and did his duty of obedience. He may have had concerns. There were reasons for him to be worried. Literally, he died on the job. As he was celebrating Mass, he was shot to death on March 24, 1980. His witness caused his death.
Interestingly his end was not “the end.” His legacy lived on. And now that legacy is solidified---canonized, if you will---by Pope Francis declaring him to be a saint. With this in mind, I thought it would be good to hear some of the words from this guy---this saint---and let his words inspire us and our work. I don’t think I will be killed for incarnating God’s presence in my life. But I need to do it without fear.
In a wonderful book, The Church is All of You, Romero shares these thoughts. About a year before his assassination, he addressed his sisters and brothers: “It is wrong to be sad.” That is easy to say. The words are easy to type. But real life sometimes tries to make us sad. Don’t be, says Romero. Why not, we wonder? Romero tells us, “It is wrong to be sad.” It is easy to think he is out of touch with reality or just plain crazy. All people get sad.
I doubt that Romero wants us not to get sad when our best friend or, maybe, spouse dies. But don’t see sadness as the only response. It is temporary. We say this and live this in faith. This is the level to which Romero wants to take us. He begins this faith explanation by claiming, “Christians cannot be pessimists.” Pessimists are those who have no hope or whose hope soiled by the evil or the times and the maladies of our own personal messes. Pessimism is sadness lived out over time. We expect nothing good. We can’t believe except in tragedy.
But Christianity and the other major religious tradition are actually comedies. We hear good news. Life is not just giggles, but it is finally joy and not sadness. This is Romero’s point. He tells us, “Christians must always nourish in their hearts the fullness of joy.” I love it when he challenges us. “Try it, brothers and sisters; I have tried it many times and in the darkest moments, when the slander and persecution were at their worst, to unite myself intimately with Christ, my friend, and to feel a comfort that all the joys of the earth do not give---the joy of feeling oneself close to God, even when humans do not understand one.” Here is faith speaking, my friends.
We nourish our hearts. We nourish them with the fullness of joy. It makes me wonder with what do I nourish my heart? What kind of “heart food” am I taking in? Do I ingest only soul junk food? How about you? I remember the old axiom: what we take in, we become. Am I a “soul snacker.” only grazing in the sad superficialities of our culture?
Instead, we need to nourish our hearts with the fullness of joy. We do this because, as Romero claims, “It is the deepest joy the heart can have.” If we know joy, we don’t have to become pessimists. This does not mean things won’t happen which are can make us temporarily sad or get us down. But we also recall at these times, we are part of a comedy. I don’t know that the ending will be happy, but it will be joy. And I start participating in this joy by nourishing my soul.
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