Over at Dkos, DCDemocrat has written a magnificent requiem for Archbishop Romero, who was murdered as he celebrated Holy Thursday Mass 25 years ago today.
If you have no idea who Archbishop Romero was, or why so many progressives spit fire at the mention of John Negroponte or Elliot Abrams, read and be appalled.
Then, get to work.
The struggle for the poor, the disenfranchised, the forgotten ones is never ending. It has claimed many martyrs. But before Oscar Romero was a martyr, he was just a man awakened to his destiny. What destiny might you have, unexpectedly, if you let yourself take it?
As one who was there observed, "Thousands of people were applauding him, and you could see him grow stronger. It was then that he crossed the threshold. He went through the door. Because, you know, there is baptism by water, and there is baptism by blood. But there is also
baptism by the people."
Where do we start?
Start wherever you are.
In your family. In your neighborhood. In your world. There are wounds close to hand that need healing. Truths too long ignored that need telling.
In every moment there is a choice to make. To heal, or to maim. To build or to burn. To embrace or to cast away. There will be moments we falter. Because humans do falter.
But there is always another moment. Another chance. We just have to take them.
Where is YOUR next chance?
whe romero was assassinated, i remember feeling such indescribable outrage, and such a degree of violation too. that he was delivering his homily in such a public setting having just the night before given one of his most passionate yet scripture-drenched radio addresses (i beg of you, i order you: stop the oppression) in retrospect it all seems so careless, that romero’s own sense of self-protection must have en abandoned.
but it is known that romero was not being reckless or being heroic, he was simply living out his life in as fearless a manner possible in a country where ARENA and robert d’aubisson and the likes of them had guaranteed that fear would be a constant companion of anyone who was not part of “el catorce.”
the reality of romero being slain during the homily by a single bullet — in a similar fashion to martin luther king’s assassination in 1968 — has never been lost on me. equally, both men’s work — actual and written — has been very influential in my political development as well as that of my social and economic framing of the world.
so, the idea of revolution, as i understand it from these two is that it is in the quietest acts of flagrant revolution that we dare live the impossible. so while most would look at romero criticizing the military’s raping and pillaging of his country or king as he speaks to the press following his release from jail as their moments f revolution, i would say look right before those events, to the background — there is where the revolution has been fought and is being won.
as a tiny example, king maintained his relationship with bayard rustin, in spite of hoover, people within king’s own inner circle, in spite of homophobia, king maintained a relationship with an openly gay man because it was what equality was fundamentally about; romero’s understanding of liberation theology transcended academia when he renounced his privilege as bishop ad began caring that he was out of touch with the real and pressing needs of salvdorans and as such sought out their help in helping him understand. for both men, what was emerging as a movement de riguer, they both embraced it as gospel.
In the tradition of Buddhism I make my spiritual home, there’s a concept, human revolution, that fits very much with what you describe.
…. As Josei Toda states: “‘The human revolution’ I am talking about…refers to the establishment of one’s ultimate purpose in life and working towards the perfection of self. We carry out our daily lives according to our own views on life and society. However, ‘human revolution’ refers to the change that we bring about in the way we view life, society and the world. A fundamental change occurs in the way one has led his or her life up until that point…”
That inner revolution, as you say, is what gives us the strength to keep going in the face of grinding opposition. And ultimately, it’s the only kind of revolution that lasts rather than simply exchanges a regime for a junta.
to be in it but not of it, to me, has always been the supreme challenge — for to be “in it” requires a conscious presence (not attachment) and to be “not of it” demands conscious disengagement (from outcomes). i guess that is why king and romero, for example, have been so instructive in the way in which they actually applied principles into practice, full well knowing that if they were too focused on the “of it” aspect of their work, they’d forever be trapped “in it.” or so my thinking goes. they both knew their lives were not protected, but they also knew this was the day-to-day reality their people, constituents, neighbors understood almost instinctively because of who they were (and that lacking the notoriety of king or romero that their disappearance or death meant even less to their microcosm). king — i think — grew into his preaching and expectations, and in doing so grew beyond the limitations of neiburh or luther or augustine; romero on the other hand moved from an antiquated world-view which would always protect him towards a theology of believing what one preached.
sorry to seemingly ramble but just in one of those reflective moods this evening.
No rambling there.
I see we are of like minds on this, which is more often the case than we realize sometimes when “religion” labels get attached to things.
i rarely think “religion” when i think “ethics” which is probaby helpoed me survive all these years of being invlved in political aspects of public health funding,planning, etc.
fundamentally there is a huge collegial and united continuum of those who have a most definite and grounded ethical foundation for their lives, which is reflected in their work. and whose ethical foundation is revolutionary, like romero or king or chisolm, etc.
making sure that we find a common language is the chaallenge, i think.
I’d think it essential. That’s why I find the faith-based initiatives so unnerving. I just ran across another example in NC of a megachurch that pulled its contributions to a food bank because there were Catholics involved.
I think we’re up to it… the alternative is for things to continue as they have, and that prospect is too truly ugly to contemplate.
previously, the version of the faith-based initiatives that were hijacked by bush and converted into voter recruitment sites for b-c’04 including an elimination of real reporting requirements and real programmatic goals and objectives, were actually not such a bad investment of some of the limited funds for hiv prevention by way of the cdc. that is, again, and i stress, the version BEFORE bush and co. for example, balm in gilead in nyc was an amazingly effective program at working with black churches.
in almost no time flat, bush and his gang have stripped away all accountability, all tracking and all measures of scientific relevance in exchange for language that is neither evidence-based, scientifically rigorous, community-specific nor community-inclusive. the allowing of certain religious institutions, in being funded through this sham of a grant mechanism, to discriminate against certain populations (be they other denominations or say lesbian/gay) was such an outrage and yet, so very expected.
it took us five years to undo the legacy of reagan on public health. i can not even fathom how much more time it will require to rinse the spoil from our hair after bush.
the real problem is that we continue to try to make a dollar stretch beyond its breaking point in communities already stretched beyond their’s. so when i heard the price tag for the innaguration, it made me ill. thee is no justice wen such grotesque displays of contempt are so public and sanctioned.