Friday, May 06, 2005

More Truth from Archbishop Romero

A 20th centruy martyr, Oscar Romero spoke the truth of Jesus to the power of the world, his world in El Salvador.

Romero always spoke with his people, out of their pain. He surprised his superiors in the church because he was controlled only by the word of the Gospel.

People who answer only to the Gospel turn out to be dangerous people.

Romero was a dangerous man. He was a man of liberation speaking to a world of material, political and social bondage.

Today people wonder how it is that we can draw near to God. Yet, few ask how it is that God might draw near to us.

Romero always got the questions right. No wonder his answers followed naturally.

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There is one rule by which to judge if God is near us
or is far away--
the rule that God's word is giving us today:
everyone concerned for the hungry, the naked, the poor,
for those who have vanished in police custody,
for the tortured,
for prisoners,
for all flesh that suffers,
has God close at hand.


Isaiah 58:7-10; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Matthew 5:13-16

(February 5, 1978, The Violence of Love, page 34)

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