Oscar Romero-a Prayer

A Hero of the Church

There are some few who stand head and shoulder above the rest. One such is Oscar Romero. In those dreadful days when right wing extremists began a campaign of terror, the church in El Salvador stood with the struggles of the people. A campaign of terror was launched by the revolutionary junta. Romero criticized the government and the United States for aiding and abetting the repressive regime. A turning point for Archbishop Romero was at the time of mass executions and assassinations of local clergy. He begged for a return to sanity. The reward for his tireless work for justice was his own assassination on March 24,1980. It is easy for us to become discouraged when we look around at the sing to the right we see in this country. Do not be discouraged; The Way of God will prevail, justice and the love of God will always prevail. Here is a prayer a friend of mine sent out today (Donald Krickbaum) that Romero himself composed. I commend it to you too!

Fr. Paul

"It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise

that is God's work.

Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the kingdom always lies

beyond us.

No statement says all that can be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.

No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the church's mission.

No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

"This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that will one day grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

"We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

"We cannot do everything, and there's a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,

but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace

to enter and do the rest.

"We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master

builder and the worker.

"We are workers, not the Master Builder; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own."

~Oscar Romero