God is near

No Christian should feel alone in his or her path, no family has to feel abandoned, no people should be pessimistic even amid crises that seem insoluble, like those of our country. God is among us. Let us have faith in this central truth of the sacred revelation. God is present; he is not asleep, rather he is active, he observes, he helps and, at the proper time he will act appropriately. Because of this the presence of joy awakens joy in our hearts. Rejoice in the Lord!Again I say to you: Rejoice because God is near!

Oscar Romero, December 16, 1979

Posted by Carlos J. Medina

As brothers and sisters

Let us not serve the poor with paternalism, helping him or her as if reaching down from above to someone below. This is not what God wants, but rather he wants us to do this as one brother or sister to another. This is my brother or sister, this is Christ; and, with Christ, I am not reaching down from above to serve someone below, rather I am reaching up from below to serve him above.

Oscar Romero, September 2, 1979 Trans. by Irene B. Hodgson

Posted by Carlos J. Medina

What kind of Gospel is that?

This is what the Church wants: to bother your conscience, to provoke a crisis in the times we are living in. A church that doesn't stir up a crisis, a gospel that doesn't make us uncomfortable, a word of God that -to put it crudely- doesn't cause an allergic rash, a word of God that doesn't touch the specific society in which it is spoken, what kind of Gospel is that? Very beautiful pious concerns that won't bother anyone is how many want the sermons to be. And those preachers who, so as not to bother anyone and so as not to have conflicts and difficulties, do not shed light on the reality they are living in, lack the courage of Peter to say to the mob, "You have killed him" [Acts2, 23]. Although he would also lose his life because of this accusation, he proclaimed it. It is the courageous gospel; it is the good news that came to take away the sins of the world.

Oscar Romero April 16, 1978

Posted by Carlos J. Medina