Archbishop Oscar Romero

Archbishop Romero used his faith as a catalyst to work towards the empowerment of the poor in his country, El Salvador, during a time of intense repression and grave mistreatment. Although, he was hesitant to take a stand at first because of the risks involved to his own life, he saw he had a higher calling. He was assassinated on March 24th, 1980 while he was celebrating mass. After some not-so uplifting posts, I wanted to share a prayer often attributed to Archbishop Oscar Romero, but which was actually drafted for Cardinal Deardon by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw and first recited at a mass for deceased priests in 1979. (http://www.xaviermissionaries.org/m_life/NL_Archives/2003-N_Lett/Romero_Prayer.htm)

It has really inspired me. This is his prayer:

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even 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 a 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 the 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 far 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, an opportunity for the Lord’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.

My prayer is that we may never cease to work towards a better future, while recognizing that our efforts will never bring a perfect end.