Last week I wrote about "THEM!" and what happens to us when we divide instead of constructively disagree.
Our divisions on the blogs are far less consequential, but I think they stem from the same sort of hardness of heart that leads to lynchings, torture, and war. If we are to really live in peace, we have to find ways to overcome that. We have to be the change we want to see in the world..
How often do we set out to counter some namecalling ass only to drop to the same level ourselves? A precious few of us have managed to overcome that tendency - and on this day 27 years ago, one of them was assassinated.
Archbishop Oscar Alfonso Romero in a great study in forgiveness, change, struggle, trust, and conviction. On this anniversary, I honor his living spirit. Please join me after the jump.
As always, this series is posted first on My Left Wing, where despite our different approaches, MSOC encouraged me from the start. Then on Street Prophets, another diverse community PastorDan invited me to help build at it's inception. This week again I'll post it to dKos, despite my minion status twice over, since it's a follow up to my well recieved and "rescued" diary last week,
How quick we are to judge and divide - this candidate, that appointment, this bill is sure to be disaster. That comment, diary,... person is a troll. At the same time, there are wrongs which must be resisted and rejected. Our passions collide, our disagreements flare.
It seems to me that the key is to resist without becoming what you are fighting, and remember that your opponents must continuously be given the opportunity to change and grow.
To deny them that is to embrace dehumanization, at the extreme murder and even genocide - for if "they" are beyond redemption, then what other possibilites are there?
There are times when, for the sake of the larger community, a user must be banned. A person excluded. There are certainly times when people should be denied polticial office or other power bases - so certainly we can oppose the Newt Gingriches, Ann Coulter's, and even the Joe Lieberman's of the world - but that is far different from saying they must be silenced everywhere, that they do not have the right to speak, or worse, that they are less than human.
That is why we so despise Ann after all...
When we go there, we've crossed the line. It's easy to do, it's even satisfying in the short term, but that way lies our own desctruction. But that guy is SUCH an ass.... How do we avoid the trap?
For all the wrongs in American society today - and they are substantial - few are as overt as the sort of repression and danger of El Salvador in the late 1970's. During that time, Oscar Romero was a traditional and conservative Catholic Priest.
From http://www.gratefuln...
The selection in 1977 of Oscar Romero as archbishop of San Salvador delighted the country's oligarchy as much as it disappointed the activist clergy of the archdiocese. Known as a pious and relatively conservative bishop, there was nothing in his background to suggest that he was a man to challenge the status quo.
No one could have predicted that in three short years he would be renowned as the outstanding embodiment of the prophetic church, a "voice for the voiceless," or, as one theologian called him, "a gospel for El Salvador." Nor could one foresee that he would be denounced by his fellow bishops, earn the hatred of the rich and powerful of El Salvador, and generate such enmity that he would be targeted for assassination - the first bishop slain at the altar since Thomas Becket in the twelfth century.
Something changed him. Within weeks of his consecration he found himself officiating at the funeral of his friend Rutilio Grande, a Jesuit priest of the archdiocese, who was assassinated as a result of his commitment to social justice. Romero was deeply shaken by this event, which marked a new level in the frenzy of violence overtaking the country. In the weeks and months following Grande's death Romero underwent a profound transformation. Some would speak of a conversion - as astonishing to his new friends as it was to his foes. From a once timid and conventional cleric, there emerged a fearless and outspoken champion of justice. His weekly sermons, broadcast by radio throughout the country, featured an inventory of the week's violations of human rights, casting the glaring light of the gospel on the realities of the day. His increasingly public role as the conscience of the nation earned him not only the bitter enmity of the country's oligarchy, but also the resentment of many of his conservative fellow bishops. There were those among them who muttered that Romero was talking like a subversive.
Romero was a malcontent. He disagreed, but like Dr. and Rev. King who I based last week's entry on, he did not divide. He could easily have spared himself the hatred, he could have bought into religion as an opiate of the masses, instead he saw that to live out his faith required him to be one with the poor, the suffering. To suffer with them and use his position to challenge the causes. He goal was not to invert the power structure, not "regieme change" it was liberation for all from the injustice of that structure. Often he addressed his words directly to his opponents - speaking of forgiveness, inclusion, brotherhood.
Interestingly - he also did not draw lines on religious grounds. Certainly he proclaimed the Gospel of the crucified Christ - but he did not exclude those who did not share his faith.
In "Oscar Romero, Reflections on his life and writings" Marie Dennis, Renny Golden and Scott Wright share stories of his regard for people like Herbert Anaya, the 2nd President of the Non-Governmental Human Rights Commission in El Salvador after the first was assasinated. They share the realitization Romero came to in his writings that
Everyone who struggles for justice, everyone who makes just claims in unjust surroundings is working for God's reign even though he is not a Christian. The church does not compromise all of God's reign; God's reign goes beyond the church's boundaries.
Outside the limits of Catholicism perhaps there is more faith, more holiness. So we must not extinguish the Spirit. The spirit is not the monopoly of the movement, even a Christian movement, of a heirarchy or priesthood or religious congregation. The Spirit is free."
While some here may be uncomfortable with the Christian-centric framing of that - the recognition is clear that the experience of Truth that Romero and I share by Christian tradition is not limited only to our tradition. It is encountered other places, other ways, and cannot be controlled or limited - however deeply held our beliefs are. Common goals can be achieved by diverse groups who disagree profoundly yet recognize that they can do so constructively.
On March 23rd, the 5th Sunday of Lent, he preached a homily which is beautifully captured in the movie "Romero." Addressing his remarks, carried over radio, to members of the armed forces he said
"Brothers, you are from the same people; you kill your brother peasants... No soldier is obliged to obey an order that is contrary to the will of God. Now it is time for you to recover your consciences so that you forst opey conscience rather than a sinful order... In the name of God, then in the name of this suffering people, who's cries rise to the heavens, every day more tumultuously, I ask you,
I beg,
I order you in the name of God:
STOP THE REPRESSION!"
Like his savior, he had directly confront the powers that be and the injustice of the world around him. He knew his life was in grave danger - but he persisted. He gave an interview March 24, 1980 shortly before beginning a memorial mass at a Hospital. In the interview he said:
Martyrdom is a grace I don't believe I am worthy of. But if God accepts the sacrifice of my life, may my blood be a seed of liberty and the sign that hope will soon become a reality."
At the subsequent mass, the readings were Psalm 23 (The Lord is my Shepherd... Though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death, I fear no evil...). The Gospel reading was John 12:23-26. In the brief homily that followed, Romero said:
You have just heard in Christ's Gospel that one must not love oneself so much as to avoid getting involved in the risks of life that history demands of us, and that those who fend off danger will lose their lives. But whoever out of love for Christ gives themselves to the service of others will live, like the grain of wheat that dies, but only apparently. If it does not die, it would remain alone... Only in dying does it produce the harvest."
Moments later, a single shot pierced his heart as he prepared to lift up the bread and wine of the Eucharist.
His life was over, but his influence was only beginning. His words continue to inspire.
How easy it is to denounce structural injustice, institutionalized violence, social sin! And it is true, this sin is everywhere, but where are the roots of this social sin? In the heart of every human being. Present-day society is a sort of anonymous world in which no one is willing to admit guilt and everyone is responsible. We are all sinners, and we have all contributed to the massive crime and violence in our country. Salvation begins with the human person, with human dignity, with saving every person from sin. And in Lent this is God's call: Be converted!
This conversion is not merely of the individual, and not necessarily to his own theological views, rather it is a conversion of society, a communal conversion to embrace justice and peace. Romero begain his journey a timid, conservative Priest, unsure about those who would mix religion and poltics, he died their patron saint. Showing it could be done without imposing, limiting, or dividing. His involvement was not about power or control, it was about service and justice and a compassionate being with those who the systems excluded, trampled, and violently repressed
His funeral on March 30, 1980 drew 150,000 in defiance of the authorities. Shots were fired, bombs exploded and over 40 people died, either shot or trampled. More seeds were sown, change was coming.
Justice still eludes us. It still eludes El Salvador, but signifacnt progress has been made, and can be again. But I believe real progress will only come when we learn, like Romero, that it is not about personal power, not about imposing and enforcing dogma, but about truly joining with those we seek to serve
Our individual beliefs are not a source of power, but of strength. Not of glory, but of service. Not of exclusion but of unity embracing diversity
5 years later, things had changed enough for a public procession in his memory. A huge banner led the way, proclaiming "If they kill me, I will rise again in the Salvadoran people." and the people sang "STOP THE REPRESSION!"
We bloggers are also engaged in a struggle against repression. The stakes are perhaps not as drastic, or immanet for us. As I write this, I have little fear of an assassin's bullet after all. We get frustrated. We get impatient. We disagree.
I think it's crucial to the future we are working for that we learn how to do that without dividing. That does not mean we all agree - that means we turn away from that hardness of heart that writes the other off completely.
At the conclusion of their book on his life, Dennis, Golden, and Wright say:
His life is a witness that allows us to interrogate power and to find hope rather than dispair in the face of an often dehumanizing globalization. His legacy and our challenge is to discover the idols that crush the poor in the world today and to side with them in their struggle for dignity. Romero is a 20th Century prophet and martyr who's life is not only a symbol but a historical gift.
I'll close this rambling look at Romero's life with words he may or may not have penned, but which are commonly attributed to him. One of the prayers that keeps me going in times of doubt, struggle, and confusion.
It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision. • We accomplish in our lifetime 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 program accomplishes the church's mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. • This is what we are about: We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities. • We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing 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, and opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest. • We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. • Amen •