In the midst of a history of suffering, Saint Oscar Romero lived and shared with the poor his unshakeable faith in the Lord of Life, the hope of seeing in El Salvador the Christian reality of new heavens and a new earth, and a charity not simply announced, but embodied in the fate of the poor. With them, from them, and for the good of all, he proclaimed the great values that God has given to humanity.
During the liturgy, Saint Oscar became especially alive. For him, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, was the crown of the Liturgical Year. In Daniel, we are looking at the end of time and we see the Son of Man coming. His kingship and his dominion, the kingdom of God, are established. His kingdom stands firm and is everlasting. In John, Jesus acknowledges to Pilate that he is a king; for this I was born; for this I came into the world; to testify to the truth. But he makes clear: my kingdom does not belong to this world; my kingdom is not here.
Saint Oscar proclaimed that the kingdom of God will come, and that it is our final destiny and our final home. This is our faith. He firmly believed that this does not diminish in any way our efforts to bring about truth, justice, love and peace in this world, but rather frees us to give ourselves to them even more fully.
The day he died, Saint Oscar Romero was contemplating the Kingdom of God. He reflected on how it impacts our journey together here on earth, only seconds before he was martyred by an assassin’s bullet. Celebrating an anniversary Mass, he lamented that many “think that Christianity should not be involved in these things.” He referred to a woman who with noble spirit put all her cultural formation, all her grace, at the service of a cause that is now so necessary: "the true liberation of our people.” He added, we should not only pray for her eternal rest but take up this message and live it intensely. “One must not love oneself so much as to take steps to not get involved in the risks of life that history demands of us.... If one wants to remove the danger, one will lose one's life, while one who gives oneself for love of Christ to the service of others, will live like the grain of wheat that dies, and only by falling apart does it produce the harvest.”
For Saint Oscar Romero, the witness of this noble woman from her place in eternity gives the same message that Vatican II gives us in a passage he chose and read on her behalf:
We do not know the time for the consummation of the earth and of humanity, nor do we know how all things will be transformed… We are taught that God is preparing a new dwelling place and a new earth where justice will abide… The expectation of a new earth must not weaken but rather stimulate our concern for cultivating this one… While earthly progress must be carefully distinguished from the growth of Christ's kingdom, to the extent that the former can contribute to the better ordering of human society, it is of vital concern to the Kingdom of God. For after we have obeyed the Lord, and in His Spirit nurtured on earth the values of human dignity, brotherhood and freedom, and indeed all the good fruits of our nature and enterprise, we will find them again, but freed of stain, burnished and transfigured, when Christ hands over to the Father: "a kingdom eternal and universal, a kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, love and peace." On this earth that Kingdom is already present in mystery. When the Lord returns it will be brought into full flower. (Guadium et Spes, #39)
Saint Oscar continued, “This is the hope that encourages us as Christians. We know that every effort to improve a society, especially when injustice and sin are so prevalent, is an effort that God blesses, that God wants, that God demands of us.”
As we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, let us renew our faith in the Kingdom of God, our final home, and intensify our solidarity with the poor and forgotten who Saint Oscar Romero loved, and for whom he shed his blood.
Photo above of Father John Spain, MM, outside San Sebastian Church, where Bishop Gerardi martyred in the garage of the parish house in Gautemala City, Guatemala. Below, Father John Spain reads the Gospel at the altar where Saint Oscar Romero was martyred, at a Mass presided by Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chávez in 2017. Photo courtesy of author.
