A reflection by Oscar Romero,
He was
the Roman Catholic Archbishop of El Salvador and a champion of justice for the poor and the oppressed. He spoke out against the Salvadorian Regime and its ways of torture and assassination. A regime that oppressed the masses and protected the powerful and rich.
He practised 'reading the signs of the times' and clearly understood what was really happening. In short, he was a prophet of our times and a man of the people. Like many prophetic mystics before him, he was feared and hated by those who held and abused power. It is no surprise that to 'still his voice' he was
assassinated in 1980 at the Altar of his church. However, this did not silence the Regime's critics it merely empowered them to protest even more.
This reflection reminds us to resist measuring
our accomplishments and gives a very liberating picture of the roles of the Master
( Teacher or Guru) and the Disciple. It also emphasises that our task is to live a fruitful life in order to hand-on a better future for our descendants and our planet
We accomplish in our life time
only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing
we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the Kingdom always lies
beyond us.
No statement says all that could
be said.
No prayer fully expresses our
faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings
wholeness.
No programme accomplishes
the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives
includes everything.
This is what we are about
We plant the seeds that one day
will grow
We water seeds already planted,
Knowing that they hold promise.
We lay foundations that
Will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces
Effects far beyond our
capabilities.
We cannot do everything and there
is a sense of liberation in realising 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 to do the rest, but
that is the difference between master builder and the worker.
We are the workers, not master
builders. Ministers, not Messiahs We are prophets of a future not our own
Oscar Romero
