Preaching to the Rich and the Poor

Oscar Romero

Three short years transformed Archbishop Oscar Romero from a conservative defender of the status quo into one of the church’s most outspoken voices on behalf of the oppressed. But he always spoke to all the people of El Salvador, people supportive of the guerrillas as well as people in the government and the army, the oppressed as well as the oppressors.

Peoples are free to choose the political system they want but not free to do whatever they feel like. They will have to be judged by God ¹s justice in the political or social system they choose. God is the judge of all social systems. Neither the gospel nor the church can be monopolized by any political or social movement. January 14, 1979

The present form of the world passes away, and there remains only the joy of having used this world to establish God ¹s rule here. All pomp, all triumphs, all selfish capitalism, all the false successes of life will pass with the world ¹s form. All of that passes away. What does not pass away is love. When one has turned money, property, work in one ¹s calling into service of others, then the joy of sharing and the feeling that all are one ¹s family does not pass away. In the evening of life you will be judged on love. January 21, 1979

I wish to affirm that my preaching is not political. It naturally touches on the political  ­ and it touches the people ¹s real lives  ­ but it does so in order to illuminate those realities and to tell people what it is that God wants and what it is that he does not want. January 21, 1979

No one can serve two lords. There is only one God, and that God will either be the true one, who asks us to give things up when they become sin, or it will be the god of money, who makes us turn our back on Christianity ¹s God. January 21, 1979

The psychotic campaign against Christian communities  ­ isn ¹t that persecution? Isn ¹t the trampling of the people ¹s human rights also persecution? The church considers this its ministry: to defend God ¹s image in human beings. January 21, 1979

One can perfectly well be a nuncio or a military chaplain, provided one is converted to the gospel. If these duties are carried out with a genuine sense of being a church that tries first of all to be faithful to the gospel rather than to earthly advantages  ­rather than to the advantages of a diplomatic or military career  ­ then indeed there can and should be representatives in the midst of the diplomatic and the military worlds. But they must be truly the voices of the gospel and of the church. That is where the problem seems to be: conversion to the gospel. February 9, 1979

In our preaching to rich and poor, it is not that we pander to the sins of the poor and ignore the virtues of the rich. Both have sins and both need conversion. But the poor, in their condition of need, are disposed to conversion. They are more conscious of their need of God.

All of us, if we really want to know the meaning of conversion and of faith and confidence in another, must become poor, or at least make the cause of the poor our own inner motivation. That is when one begins to experience faith and conversion: when one has the heart of the poor, when one knows that financial capital, political influence, and power are worthless, and that without God we are nothing.

To feel that need of God is faith and conversion. February 18, 1979

To try to preach without referring to the history one preaches in is not to preach the gospel. Many would like a preaching so spiritualized that it leaves sinners unbothered and does not term idolaters those who kneel before money and power. A preaching that says nothing about the sinful environment in which the gospel is reflected upon is not the gospel. February 18, 1979

There are lots of fawners, lots of false prophets, and  ­ in times of conflict like ours  ­ lots of pens for hire and words for sale. But that is not truth.

I heard that when they got my bag from customs two days ago, someone said,  ³There goes the truth. ² That remark fills me with confidence, because in my bag I haven ¹t brought contraband or lies. I bring the truth. I went to Puebla to learn more of the truth.

When a journalist asked me,  ³They say that after Puebla you will change your preaching. What do you think? ² I told him,  ³The truth doesn ¹t have to change. The truth will still be said, perhaps more precisely, but always within our limitations. It ¹s the particular word of a man who has his own style and way of being, but who is only God ¹s instrument in the history of events. ² February 18, 1979

I cannot change except to seek to follow the gospel more closely. And I can quite simply call to everyone: let us be converted so that Christ may look upon our faith and have mercy on us. February 18, 1979

Like the prophets ¹ words proclaiming to Babylon ¹s captives times of joy and freedom, the church ¹s word calling to love, reconciliation, and pardon can seem like a mockery when others hold to violence, kidnapping, and terrorism. But the church will never walk that path, and whatever is said to that effect is false. It is a slander that only enhances in the church the glory of our persecution. February 18, 1979

To build the unity and authenticity of the church, the true bride of Christ, is the joy of the pastor who wishes for Christ all love, all homage, and all solidarity. If in any way my poor human presence blurs his image, then I say like John the Baptist: I must disappear, but he, the church ¹s bridegroom, must grow. I must bear no rivalry toward him but simply serve him with humility and love and rejoice that he wins the heart of his church. February 25, 1979

I recognize my limitations and my miseries, but I cannot renounce the role that Christ has given me: to be the sign of the church ¹s unity, teaching, and truth in the archdiocese. February 25, 1979

I don ¹t want to be an anti, against anybody. I simply want to be the builder of a great affirmation: the affirmation of God, who loves us and who wants to save us. February 25, 1979

The church renews itself. We cannot preserve old traditions that no longer have any reason for being, much less those structures in which sin has enthroned itself and from which come abuses, injustices, and disorders.

We cannot call a society, a government, or a situation Christian when our brothers and sisters suffer so much in those inveterate and unjust structures. February 25, 1979

When we speak of the church of the poor, we are simply telling also the rich: Turn your eyes to this church and concern yourselves for the poor as for yourselves. At Puebla we said the poor are a concern of Christ, who will say at the end of life,  ³Whatever you did to one of these poor ones, you did to me. ² March 4, 1979

If we are worth anything, it is not because we have more money or more talent or more human qualities. Insofar as we are worth anything, it is because we are grafted onto Christ ¹s life, his cross and resurrection. That is a person ¹s measure. March 4, 1979

You know that the air and water are being polluted, as is everything we touch and live with, and we go on corrupting the nature that we need. We don ¹t realize we have a commitment to God to take care of nature. To cut down a tree, to waste water when there is so much lack of it, to let buses poison our atmosphere with those noxious fumes from their exhausts, to burn rubbish haphazardly  ­ all that concerns our alliance with God. March 11, 1979

It would be too bad if the same thing were to happen with the Puebla document as with Medell ­n ¹s. Many Catholics, out of prejudice, at times out of ignorance, did not put it into practice.

If our own archdiocese has become a scene of conflict, let there be no doubt in your minds, it is because of its desire to be faithful to this new evangelization.

From Vatican Council II until now, and in particular in the meetings of Latin American bishops, the demand is for an evangelization that is committed and fearless. March 11, 1979

A church that suffers no persecution but enjoys the privileges and support of the things of the earth  ­ beware!  ­ is not the true church of Jesus Christ. March 11, 1979

I look at you, dear friends, and I know that my humble ministry is only that of Moses: to transmit the word  ­  ³Thus says the Lord. ² And what pleasure it gives me when you say in your intimate hearts, or at times in words or in letters I receive, what the people replied to Moses:  ³We will do all that Yahweh has ordained. ² March 18, 1979

The other day a priest told me that a man wanted to go to confession who hadn ¹t done so for forty years. He said he wanted to be converted, as he had heard about here in the cathedral.

When they say I preach political matters, I refer to these testimonies of conversion to God. That is what I seek: conversion to God. If I point to political matters here, it is often because of the corruption of political affairs, so that those whom God loves even when they are mired in sin may be converted too. March 18, 1979

Would that I were being listened to by those whose hands are soiled with murders! They are many, alas. For torturers are also murderers; one who begins to torture does not know where it will end. We have seen torture victims taken to hospitals to die under all sorts of deceitful stratagems. Torturers too are killers, murderers; they do not respect the sacredness of life. No one may raise a hand against another, because human beings are God ¹s image.  ³You shall not kill! ² I also wish to mention the enormous disgrace of killing even in the mother ¹s womb. Abortion, too, is killing, an abhorrent crime. And it is even one ¹s mother who abuses and kills!  ³You shall not kill! ² When Christ perfected this commandment, he said: When you begin to hate, you have also begun to kill. March 18, 1979

I am not a politician or sociologist or economist. I am not the one responsible for solving the country ¹s political and economic problems. There are others, lay people, who have that tremendous responsibility. From my post as pastor, I only call upon them to use those talents that God has given them. As pastor I have the task  ­ and this is what I try to do  ­ of building the true church of our Lord, Jesus Christ. March 25, 1979

Those who, in the biblical phrase, would save their lives  ­ that is, those who want to get along, who don ¹t want commitments, who don ¹t want to get into problems, who want to stay outside of a situation that demands the involvement of all of us  ­ they will lose their lives.

What a terrible thing to have lived quite comfortably, with no suffering, not getting involved in problems, quite tranquil, quite settled, with good connections politically, economically, socially  ­ lacking nothing, having everything.

To what good?

They will lose their lives.

 ³But those who for love of me uproot themselves and accompany the people and go with the poor in their suffering and become incarnated and feel as their own the pain and the abuse  ­ they will secure their lives, because my Father will reward them. ²

Brothers and sisters, God ¹s word calls us to this today. Let me tell you with all the conviction I can muster, it is worthwhile to be a Christian. April 1, 1979

To each one of us Christ is saying: If you want your life and mission to be fruitful like mine, do as I. Be converted into a seed that lets itself be buried. Let yourself be killed. Do not be afraid. Those who shun suffering will remain alone. No one is more alone than the selfish. But if you give your life out of love for others, as I give mine for all, you will reap a great harvest. You will have the deepest satisfactions. Do not fear death or threats; the Lord goes with you. April 1, 1979

At this moment, in the name of all my priests, I beg pardon for not having shown all the fortitude the gospel asks in serving the people that we must lead, for having confused them at times, softening too much the message of the cross, which is hard. April 1, 1979

The message of Holy Week has perhaps greater meaning for the present time than for any time before. Amid so many voices and cries from oppressed and oppressors, amid so much machinery of repression and so many moans of victims, amid the selfishness of those who refuse to hear the protest of the hungry, in the presence of rightful efforts made for social justice, and in particular as we live surrounded by a virtual environment of terrorism, vengeance, and violence  ­ what good it would do us all to raise our problems and our feelings and personal or group efforts to the transcendent level that Christ calls us to from his cross in Holy Week: to God ¹s justice and his merciful love. April 6, 1979

The church cannot agree with the forces that put their hope only in violence.

The church does not want the liberation it preaches to be confused with liberations that are only political and temporal.

The church does concern itself with earthly liberation  ­ it feels pain for those who suffer, for the illiterate, for those without electricity, without a roof, without a home.

But it knows that human misfortune is found not only there. It is inside, deeper, in the heart  ­ in sin.

While supporting all the people ¹s just claims, the church wants to lift those demands to a higher plane and free people from the chains that are sin, death, and hell.

It wants to tell us to work to be truly free, with a freedom that begins in the heart: the freedom of God ¹s children  ­ the freedom that makes us into God ¹s children by taking from us the chains of sin. April 8, 1979

If my person is repulsive to some, who would therefore silence my voice, let them not look at me, but at him who bids me tell them: Love one another! It is not me they hear, but the Lord, who is love and wants to make us his own by the sign of his love. April 12, 1979

A civilization of love that did not demand justice of people would not be a true civilization: it would not delineate genuine human relations. It is a caricature of love to try to cover over with alms what is lacking in justice, to patch over with an appearance of benevolence when social justice is missing. True love begins by demanding what is just in the relations of those who love. April 12, 1979

If there is not truth in love, there is hypocrisy. Often, fine words are said, handshakes given, perhaps even a kiss, but at bottom there is no truth.

A civilization where trust of one to another is lost, where there is so much lying and no truth, has no foundation of love. There can ¹t be love where there is falsehood.

Our environment lacks truth. And when the truth is spoken, it gives offense, and the voices that speak the truth are put to silence. April 12, 1979

God is not failing us when we don ¹t feel his presence. Let ¹s not say: God doesn ¹t do what I pray for so much, and therefore I don ¹t pray anymore. God exists, and he exists even more, the farther you feel from him. God is closer to you when you think he is farther away and doesn ¹t hear you. When you feel the anguished desire for God to come near because you don ¹t feel him present, then God is very close to your anguish. When are we going to understand that God not only gives happiness but also tests our faithfulness in moments of affliction? It is then that prayer and religion have most merit: when one is faithful in spite of not feeling the Lord ¹s presence. Let us learn from that cry of Christ that God is always our Father and never forsakes us, and that we are closer to him than we think. April 13, 1979 (Good Friday)

You that have so much social sensitivity, you that cannot stand this unjust situation in our land: fine  ­ God has given you that sensitivity, and if you have a call to political activism, God be blessed. Develop it.

But look: don ¹t waste that call; don ¹t waste that political and social sensitivity on earthly hatred, vengeance, and violence.

Lift up your hearts. Look at the things above. April 15, 1979 (Easter Sunday)

 ³Receive the Holy Spirit. ² Christ himself explains:  ³As my Father sent me, I send you. ² He means that the church is born with this breath of his, and the mission that the church will bear to the world for all time will be that of Christ dead and risen. The church celebrates its liturgy and preaches its message only for this: to save from sin, to save from slaveries, to overthrow idolatries, to proclaim the one God, who loves us. That will be the church ¹s difficult mission, and it knows that in fulfilling that mission, which earned for Christ a cross and humiliations, it will have to be ready also not to betray that message and, if necessary, to suffer martyrdom like him  ­ suffer the cross, humiliation, persecution. April 22, 1979

You have to understand clearly that the conflict is between the government and the people. There is conflict with the church because we take the people ¹s side. I insist that the church is not looking for a fight with the government, and for my part I do not want disputes with the government. When they tell me I am a subversive and that I meddle in political matters, I say it ¹s not true. I try to define the church ¹s mission, which is a prolongation of Christ ¹s. The church must save the people and be with them in their search for justice. Also, it must not let them follow ways of hatred, vengeance, or unjust violence. In this sense, we accompany the people, a people that suffers greatly. Of course, those that trample the people must be in conflict with the church. June 2, 1979

It is wrong to be sad. Christians cannot be pessimists. Christians must always nourish in their hearts the fullness of joy. Try it, brothers and sisters; I have tried it many times and in the darkest moments, when slander and persecution were at their worst: to unite myself intimately with Christ, my friend, and to feel a comfort that all the joys of the earth do not give  ­ the joy of feeling oneself close to God, even when humans do not understand one. It is the deepest joy the heart can have. May 20, 1979

Sincerely, I have never favored anyone, because I have been committed only to my God. I have always proclaimed my autonomy so as to be able to praise what is good in anyone as well as to be able to rebuke with total freedom what is evil and unjust in anyone. That is what the church is here for. The political circumstances of peoples change, and the church cannot be a toy of varying conditions. The church must always be the horizon of God ¹s love, which I have tried to explain this morning. Christian love surpasses the categories of all regimes and systems. If today it is democracy and tomorrow socialism and later something else, that is not the church ¹s concern. It is your concern, you who are the people, you who have the right to organize with the freedom that is every people ¹s. Organize your social system. The church will always stay outside, autonomous, in order to be, in whatever system, the conscience and judge of the attitudes of those who manage or live in those systems or regimes. May 20, 1979

Transcendence means breaking through encirclements. It means not letting oneself be imprisoned by matter. It means saying in one ¹s mind: I am above all the things that try to enchain me. Neither death nor life nor money nor power nor flattery  ­ nothing can take from one this transcendent calling. There is something beyond history. There is something that moves the threshold of matter and time. There is something called the transcendent, the eschatological, the beyond, the final goal. God, who does not let things contain him but who contains all, is the goal to which the risen Christ calls us. May 27, 1979

How many there are that would do better not to call themselves Christians, because they have no faith. They have more faith in their money and possessions than in the God who fashioned their possessions and their money. June 3, 1979

It ¹s amusing: This week I received accusations from both extremes  ­ from the extreme right, that I am a communist; from the extreme left, that I am joining the right. I am not with the right or with the left. I am trying to be faithful to the word that the Lord bids me preach, to the message that cannot change, which tells both sides the good they do and the injustices they commit. June 3, 1979

The church is not an opposition party. The church is a force of God in the people, a force of inspiration so that the people may forge their own destiny. The church does not want to impose political or social systems. It must not. That is not its field of competence. Rather, the church invokes the freedom of peoples not to have a single standard imposed on them, but for individuals to be allowed to further through their skills and technology what the people deserves, what the people thinks it wants, as the architect of its own destiny, free to choose its own way to achieve the destiny that God points out to it. June 10, 1979

He is not a distant God  ­ transcendent, yes, infinite, but a God close at hand here on earth. June 10, 1979