Thursday, March 24, 2005

The 25th Anniversary of Romero's Death

I haven't had alot of time lately to write much (in one week I'm on a plane out of here), but I would like to note that I've been more and more impressed by Tim's El Salvador Blog, and how he's been able to keep us abreast of Salvadoran news. With gangs and CAFTA on the U.S. agenda, there's only going to be more news in the U.S. media in the coming days, so if you're interested, you should definitely check out his blog.

This month, he's also shared with us many of Oscar Romero's words, and his selection for today -- March 24th, the day he was killed 25 years ago -- seems especially apropos for our current military misadventures in Iraq and elsewhere. Tim has found some of his quotes from Romero through a free e-book available from the Bruderhof Communities (see their daily quotes in the right-hand column here).

Oddly (and wonderfully) enough, the Romero anniversary is partly responsible for my meeting my fiancé. One year ago, in a very quick and casual meeting here in San Salvador, I mentioned that she might be interested in attending a memorial mass at the UCA (in which I was playing cello, accompanying the UCA choir). Perhaps if she had not shown up there, we might never have again laid eyes on each other.

In that vein, I'd like to share one of my favorite passages from Romero (which can be found in the free e-book), that relates to marriage and the family, taken from a homily delivered on October 7, 1979:
I call on all of you, makers of so many families, builders of so many homes: Let each family in El Salvador not be a hindrance to the urgent changes that society needs. Let no family isolate itself from society as a whole because it is itself well off.

No one marries just so the two of them can be happy; marriage has a great social function. It must be the torch that lights up the way to new liberations for other marriages around it.

From the home must come the man or woman able to promote the changes needed in politics, in society, in the ways of justice: changes that will not come about as long as home life opposes them. But it will be so easy once boys and girls are trained in the heart of each family to aspire not to have more but to be more, not to grab everything but to give abundantly to others. They must be educated for love.

Loving is what the family is all about, and loving means giving oneself, surrendering oneself to the well-being of all and working for the common happiness.

1 comment:

Tim said...

Thanks for the kind endorsement. I am certainly finding that there is never a lack of material to write about.

Tim