Daily Homily 3-24-2020
March 24th (The Feast of St. Oscar Romero)
St. Oscar Romero was the Archbishop of San Salvador from 1977 through 1980. He led that church during the time of a bloody civil war. He took no sides other than the side of the poor and vulnerable.
Because he advocated for the poor, he became a threat to the rich and powerful. As an Archbishop, Romero had to struggle with the poverty of his Archdiocese, the violence of the war and the criticism of the hierarchy of the church including the authorities in Rome. Certainly, he could have retreated. He did not back down. He remained firm in his principles despite all those who compromised their values in the church.
He was not very prophetic at the beginning of his life. He was shy and bookish and full of self-doubt. He came from a poor family and he never forgot where he came from. He was prone to be moderate, but as he saw injustice, he found his voice. He suffered from poor health and from depression, but he would not let those things stop him. He loved his people and grieved over how they suffered.
Romero spoke the truth over his radio broadcasts. He used his office as Archbishop to try to bring an end to the conflict. Trying to tread the middle ground he made enemies all around. He died in 1980 as he was saying Mass at a hospital chapel where he lived. He was shot as he was celebrating the liturgy by a government operative and died instantly. He has been declared a martyr of the church. In the homily at that last Mass he said.
……one must not love oneself so much as to avoid getting involved in the risks of life which history demands of us. Those who would avoid the danger will lose their life, while those who out of love for Christ give themselves to the service of others will live….
On this Feast of the martyr Oscar Romero we remember in prayer all the medical personal who have lost their lives to try to save others from the Covid 19 virus. We pray for those who still struggle against this scourge today. May they be protected and given strength this day. They are laying their life on the line for others and imitating the unselfishness of Jesus.
We pray that we may be unselfish in this difficult time. May we find the courage to make the right choices for the good of others.
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Dear Parishioners,
We have received several communications for our diocese in the last 24 hours. The Catholic Schools Office wrote to say that the earliest our school would open is on April 14th. This creates a lot of difficulties for teachers and students and parents. Please pray for all of them.
The Bishop emailed yesterday to say that all Holy Week Services will have to be livestreamed. The parish churches will be closed until After Easter. We will be working to make sure that we can livestream our services and how that might best be done so that we may have dignified celebrations.
May the Lord protect all of you this day. Fr. Matthew, Deacon Pat and I prayed for all of you at the private Mass we celebrated this morning.
Bless you,
Fr. Mark