Lent 35

This status popped up on my newsfeed today courtesy of fellow seminarian and blogger David Hosey:

Today, the world remembers Archbishop Oscar Romero.
In February of 1980, Romero wrote a letter to President Jimmy Carter, imploring him not to send military aid to El Salvador:
“The contribution of your government instead of promoting greater justice and peace in El Salvador will without doubt sharpen the injustice and repression against the organizations of the people which repeatedly have been struggling to gain respect for their most fundamental human rights.”
Today, the U.S. continues to send billions of dollars in military aid around the world, supporting humans rights violations in Palestine/Israel (Israel alone gets more than $3 billion a year), Egypt, the Philippines, and Nigeria, to name just a few places that have been in the news recently.
To paraphrase Romero's words: "I hope that your religious sentiments and your feelings for the defense of human rights will move you to accept my petition, avoiding by these actions worse bloodshed in so many suffering countries."

35 years ago, Archbishop Oscar Romero was martyred while presiding over the Mass.  While alive, he spoke out on behalf of the poor and the voiceless, and this unfortunately made enemies who conspired to kill him.  May his work to bring about the Kingdom of God continue today and always, so that his martyrdom not be in vain.

Today, I saw God in the life, ministry, and legacy of Archbishop Oscar Romero.