Lent celebrates Jesus being led by the Spirit into the wilderness to strengthen his life witness. The Spirit guides Jesus throughout his life that devils cannot end. So too Oscar Romero is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to strengthen his life witness which devils too cannot end. Oscar was born into a family of modest means and discerned a call to the priesthood. He succumbed to its temptations toward status. His Jesuit friend, Rutilio Grande, did not. Rutilio immersed himself in the lives of the El Salvadoran people who were increasingly targeted for oppression by people of status, including churchmen. Like Jesus, Rutilio gathered common people together, for literacy classes, theology discussions, and land reform activities which people of status opposed. Rutilio was a witness to Oscar about the injustices and suffering inflicted upon the people; land theft, poverty, raping of women, murder. Oscar, encased in church walls rather than immersed in people’s lives, was hesitant to believe Rutilio’s experiences. Until Rutilio was murdered. Rutilio was assassinated by armed government agents. El Salvador’s president contacted Romero to offer his condolences but told lies about Rutilio. “When I looked at Rutilio lying there dead I thought, “If they have killed him for doing what he did, then I too have to walk the same path.” Oscar began advocating for human rights for the people and thus began standing up to government officials. He did so through his weekly homilies which he had broadcast as he traveled across the country immersing himself in people’s lives – as Rutilio and Jesus had done. In early 1980 Romero stood up to U.S. President Carter writing him a public letter to stop military aid to El Salvador’s military rulers, “It will undoubtedly sharpen the injustice and the political repression inflicted on the organized people, whose struggle has often been for their most basic human rights.” Carter increased the military aid. The Church too supported the military rulers. Pope John Paul II admonished Romero and told him to maintain priestly unity as his top priority. Romero continued to prioritize the human rights of the people and rejected the priorities of the status quo. Parishes were being raided and bombed. Priests, nuns, and church members were being persecuted, tortured, murdered. Romero too was targeted. Reflecting on his circumstance he stated, “I have often been threatened with death.” “If they kill me, I shall arise in the Salvadoran people. If the threats come to be fulfilled, from this moment I offer my blood to God for the resurrection of El Salvador. Let my blood be a seed of freedom and the sign that hope will soon be reality.” Oscar Romero was murdered while celebrating Mass on March 24, 1980. His Spirit remains alive in all peacemakers.
Prayer: “You should know that you have not suffered alone… You are the people of God. You are Jesus in the here and now.”
Question: How do I keep my peacemaking Spirit alive?
April 5, 2026 Gospel John 20:1-9 Easter