Last May 23,
2015 Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated during the 1980-92 civil war
in El Salvador, has been beatified. The ceremony was attended by almost 300,000
people who came from all over Latin America and abroad. He was shot dead by a
sniper as he celebrated Mass in a hospital chapel near his cathedral on March
24, 1980 some 35 years ago.
Cardinal
Angelo Amato, the Vatican Envoy who presided the beatification rites said: “his
preference for the poor was not ideological but evangelical. He pleaded for
forgiveness and reconciliation.”
In those
years of the civil war in El Salvador 80,000 people died and 12,000
disappeared. As Archbishop of his country, he took a stand during El Salvador’s
darkest moment. When the US-backed Salvadorean army was using death squads and
torture to stop leftist revolutionaries from seizing power, he was not afraid
to speak out in his weekly sermons. He was the conscience of the government.
The day
before he was shot, he said in his last homily: “the law of God which says thou
shall not kill must come before any human order to kill. It is high time you
recovered your conscience.” He was calling on the National Guard and the police
to stop violence: “I implore you, I beg you, I order you in the name of God:
stop the repression!”
That was the
sermon that cost him his life. The day after, while celebrating mass, he was
hit through the heart by a single bullet. The words of a prophet, many times,
are hard to accept. The easiest way is to silence him by death.
The Gospel
today (Mk 6:1-6) presents Jesus as a man of God, a prophet from God. But he is
not welcome by his own people. He is rejected! We see a great contrast here:
last Sunday we heard miracle done. Today none. Miracles are absent. We realize,
faith produces miracles.
But Jesus
has a very timely and compelling message for us today: make a stand, be
prophets!
Mr. Webster
defines a prophet as “one who utters divinely inspired revelation.. effective
spokesman for a cause.. one who delivers a message from God.”
To be
followers of Jesus, we need to make a stand. We need to become prophets. This entails
3 things:
1. We will be ignored. Nobody listens.
We will find close ears, unwelcoming hearts. The 1st Reading speaks
of “obstinate people.” The real
challenge is to speak not with words but by our example, our witness, our
lives. Our personal witness is hard to ignore especially if it is a joyful
witness done out of great love.
To be a
prophet means we are heralds of the “good news.” Our news is liberating,
life-giving. It is the source of peace, joy and
hope.
2. We will experience hardship. We will
have sufferings, pains and persecutions. In the 2nd Reading, St.
Paul experienced all these: insults, hardships, persecutions, constraints. He beg
the Lord: “Please Lord, take them away! Remove them! But God surprisingly said:
“No. My grace is enough for you!” In other words: Kaya mo yan! Ayawg talaw.
Padayon sa pagpakigbisog!
That is
exactly what God is telling you now: don’t be afraid. Move forward. My grace is
enough for you!
St. John
Bosco used to say: “you don’t have to look for special penances or
mortification. Just bear the sufferings and annoyances of life with christian
resignation.”
3. But we need to persist. Christ will
sustain us. Our faith will lift us up. Mysteriously, in our weakness, God will
make us strong. The beautiful song “When we Believe” gives us this
encouragement:
“There can
be miracles / When you believe
Though hope
is frail / its hard to kill.”
Somebody said:
“the only way to transform the world is personal witness. One conscience at a
time.” But the cost may be your life.
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