Remembering Oscar Romero (1)

Today March 24, marks the 29th. anniversary of the assassination of the late bishop of El Savador, Oscar Romero by unknown assailants.

US Catholic reports here:

On this 29th anniversary of his death, the people will march through the streets carrying that promise printed on thousands of banners. Mothers will make pupusas (thick tortillas with beans) at 5 a.m., pack them, and prepare the children for a two-to-four hour ride or walk to the city to remember the gentle man they called Monseñor.

Read the whole story here.

Today too, all over the world, we continue to witness violence being perpetrated by governments and their agencies, drug lords, mafia and crime syndicates, people traffickers, etc. etc. against ordinary citizens.

Back home here, we too continue to see all kinds of threats, counter-threats, arbitrary arrests being forced on the common people.

It is only appropriate then that we ever more heed the words of Archbishop Romero. In a book of collected sermons, "The Violence of Love", Romero had this to say on December 5, 1977:

"To be a Christian now means to have the courage to preach the true teaching of Christ, and not be afraid of it, not be silent out of fear, and preach something easy that won't cause problems. To be a Christian in this hour means to have the courage that the Holy Spirit gives in the sacrament of Confirmation, to be valiant soldiers of Christ the King, to make his teaching prevail, to reach hearts and proclaim the courage that one must have to defend God's law."

His words still ring true even now. During these times of uncertainty, especially wherever justice and peace are being held ransom, many times by those forces which are supposed to uphold these principles, it's imperative that we do not lose hope, and that in spite and despite everything that is happening all around us, we continue to take heart and live in hope.

In his own words, Let's not curse the darkness, rather light a candle.

For more on Romero's life, go here.

To download a free copy of the e-book The Violence of Love, (231 pages, 963 kb) go here.

Purpose Driven Life

A friend sent in this message via email. I think it's appropriate especially during this time of Lent, to reflect on these words:

People ask me, What is the purpose of life?

And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity.

This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.

We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.

I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for..

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems: If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people. You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.

Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before.. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease..

So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit.. We made no major purchases.

Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD. Difficult moments, SEEK GOD. Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD. Painful moments, TRUST GOD. Every moment, THANK GOD

The above insights are from Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church and author of a number of best selling books. His book, The Purpose Driven Life, sold over 30 million copies. In January 2009, Rick also (somewhat controversially), led the prayer during Barrack Obama's inauguration ceremony.

Access Rick's website here.