[Propertalk] Pentecost part 3

[robertpmorrison at charter.net]

	 “(Yesterday’s) beatification of El Salvador Archbishop Oscar
Romero is doing more than just giving Latin America its long-awaited
saint-in-waiting. It has helped redefine the (…) Church's concept of
martyrdom (, of witness), and paved the way for others killed for
doing God's work to follow in Romero's saint-making footsteps. … 

	 “Romero was killed by right-wing death squads – presumably
baptized Catholics from the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic El Salvador
– who vehemently opposed his preaching against the repression of the
poor by the army at the start of the country's 1980-1992 civil war.
Romero was gunned down on March 24, 1980, as he celebrated Mass in a
hospital chapel in San Salvador.” 6 

	 Romero, with every uplifted hand which signified the blessing of
God, whether at the Altar, or in the market-place, or on the dirt
roads; Oscar Romero was showing that the blessing of the Spirit
demanded the setting aside of the “I” which thought nothing beyond
self-glory and self-safety. 

	 Instead, all whom the Spirit has touched and thrilled discover that
in losing the “I” they become at one with God in the way that
Jesus prayed. When we make room for the Spirit to fill us for God’s
ministry then we find that we don’t need to promote the “I”, the
internal ways of the world. 

	 The late Henri Nouwen put it this way in a third image. “The
Spirit of God is like our breath. God’s spirit is more intimate to
us than we are to ourselves. We might not often be aware of it, but
without it we cannot live a ‘spiritual life.’ It is the Holy
Spirit of God who prays in us, who offers us the gifts of love,
forgiveness, kindness, goodness, gentleness, peace, and joy. It is the
Holy Spirit who offers us the life that death cannot destroy.” 7 

	 Soaring bird, cleansing fire, assisting breathing – all lead us to
see how we may be transformed into God’s agents of joy, of peace, of
love. These images and more help us to understand how we’re called
to continue the work of Jesus. So we pray that God will take us where
God wants us to go, to meet who God wants us to meet; that God will
tell us what God want us to say. And we pray that God will keep us out
of God’s way. 8
  Let us always pray: “Come, Holy Spirit, come.” 

	-----------------------------------------
 Robert P Morrison
St. Alban's Episcopal Church
PO Box 1556
Albany, OR 97321

541-921-1076
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