Oscar Romero quotes

"You and I are responsible for seeing that Christ's message reaches everyone. "

Remember, I am trying to speak as a member of a people, of a diocese.

Although it is true that I am the bishop of the diocese, still I am not the only one with a prophetic mission.

It is my whole people, all of my priests, all my religious, the Catholic schools, and all who form the Catholic community.

In the name of all of you, beloved lay people who listen to me and reflect with me, I tell what our prophetic mission is, what we must preach with our witnessing and with our words before the Salvadoran people, who so much need this Christian light.

You and I are responsible for seeing that Christ's message reaches everyone. 112

JULY 15, 1979

I am glad, brothers and sisters, that our church is persecuted

precisely for its preferential option for the poor and for trying to become incarnate in the interest of the poor and for saying to all the people,

to rulers,

to the rich and powerful: unless you become poor, unless you have a concern for the poverty of our people as though they were your own family,

you will not be able to save society.

JULY 15, 1979

Christ arisen has put in history's womb the beginning of a new world

To come to Mass on Sunday

is to immerse oneself in that beginning, which again becomes present and is celebrated on the altar at Mass.

And we who go forth from Mass know we have proclaimed the death that saved the world and proclaimed the resurrection of Christ, who lives as hope,

so that all the universe of heaven and earth

may join together,

all things in heaven and on earth may come together in Christ.

JULY 15, 1979

Mary, Star of Evangelization 10

July 16 is an important date on the calendar of popular devo-tion. It is the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. I recall something very accurate that a missionary said in expressing his admiration for the deep hold that this devotion has among us.

He called Our Lady of Mount Carmel "our people's best mis-sionary."

Indeed, I believe there is not a village in El Salvador where the appeal of the Blessed Virgin under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is not felt on this feast day. This is so whether in the general rejoicing of a patronal festival or in a confraternity's simple observance, whether attending Mass or saying a prayer at the altar of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, whether in the village church or in some hamlet or in a home where a family preserves as a precious heirloom an image venerated by their grandparents.

Today, when pastoral experts in their deliberations and briefings are placing great importance on folk religion or popular devotion, the devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a phenomenon that deserves our attention. We should nurture it as

one of those providential resources that the church enjoys for performing its essential task of evangelizing.

In the Magna Carta of evangelization, the exhortation "Evan-gelization in the Modern World," the late Paul VI used the pastoral experience of the world's bishops to put forth effective norms for ascertaining the exceptional values of these popular devotions. There is no doubt that these enthusiastic religious displays include many deviations, such as fanaticism, supersti-tion, selfish interest, and even doctrinal error, along with the important positive elements of evangelization. But, when properly used, these expressions of our peoples soul are genuine worship of our God and, for many, perhaps the only opportunities for a meeting with the Lord

A pilgrimage to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, or the action of preparing to receive the classic scapular, or of recalling and renewing this alliance with Mary, can lead us to the goal of evan-gelization, which is sincere conversion and the expression, through the sacraments, of our adherence to the gospel and its hard demands. There should thus be no doubt that July 16 is a privileged day for our pastoral work.

The feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is thus a precious heritage of today's church, which is the timeless church. It must do with its inherited treasures what is done with any inheritance - not squander it but manage it well.

It would be unforgivable to destroy or to belittle these lovely and pious expressions of our people merely because they do not fit more sophisticated theological criteria. The wise thing to do is to take these means that our early evangelizers left us and enhance them with the resources of pastoral renewal.

To those whom the Lord has put in charge of church commu-nities, pastoral charity should suggest the norms to follow in regard to popular piety, which is so fruitful and yet at the same time so vulnerable. Above all, one must be sensitive to it, quick

to appreciate its inner nature and undeniable values, and ready to help it overcome its risks of deviation. When it is properly guided, this popular piety can increasingly become a genuine encounter with God in Jesus Christ for the masses of our people.''

If this is the case for popular piety in general, then the teaching of Paul VI will be even more valid when those masses of people surround the Virgin Mary like loving children. The same document becomingly calls her the Star of Evangelization.

JULY 13, 1979