The 8th Sacrament

30 Years ago today, my friend Bill reminds me, Archbishop Oscar Romero met with death. This grisly contemporary Pieta at the foot of the cross of the one who preceded him by 2000 years is a clue to his story. He followed the example of Jesus, and those in power in the so-ironically named El Salvador (“The Savior”) followed the example of Christ's killers.

A confession: this reading of the passion of Jesus has always been a pain for me. In the Catholic Church, it is traditional to stand during the reading of the Gospel. Perhaps it’s a way to keep sleep-deprived people like me awake. So the reading of this long gospel often made me aware of my own small pains more than the suffering of the main character. I would shift my weight from one tired leg to the other, my thoughts wandering to the things happening in MY life, things small, things not related to life and death, to good and evil. How petty of me.

Unlike his Savior's, Archbishop Romero’s death did not come after a day-long trial, an overnight humiliation, and a morning trudge up a hill to suffer for hours in naked humiliation. It came in an instant while he was celebrating Mass in the chapel of La Divina Providencia Hospital – the Hospital of Divine Providence. It came by a bullet from an American-made M-16 assault weapon wielded by an assassin trained at an American facility. He had aroused the ire of those in control of the poor country by preaching about the abuses of power. He had, just the day before, called to the soldiers to answer the call of God to love, rather than the call of their superiors to suppress the poor. He did not shift from leg to leg. He did not let his mind wander to petty things. The pain of the people was his burden; serving their needs was his mission.

On Monday we got word that we can anticipate surgery in a month. As with Lent, I have the opportunity to be present to this weeks-long journey or to waste time and wish it would just arrive. As with this Good Story, this long reading of the Passion, I can shift from tired leg to tired leg and let my mind wander to petty things. Or I can live the life of Oscar Romero, present to those around me, responding to them, serving them. But such service is not sacrifice.

Yesterday I asked you to just read this long story, read until something stopped you and stay with that as long as you can. What stopped you? For me, it was Jesus’ institution of Servant Leadership. Perhaps it is the 8th Sacrament, but we missed it. His followers quickly fell to petty things – which would have the power when Jesus was gone. Jesus response was calm and clear: “the first among you must be the servant of all.”  Today as we feel the tiredness in our legs and the reluctance of our mind to stick with this long reading, this slowly unfolding journey of Jesus, we recall the quick death and eternal life of such a Servant Leader. You can learn more about Oscar Romero by clicking (here).  Learn about Servant Leadership by clicking (here).


 FreeLemonadeStand by John J. Daniels is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.