Advent with Oscar Romero pt.1

This Sunday marks the start of Advent, and as we begin, it's helpful to remind ourselves what Advent is and about. I love how the writers of Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Everyday Radicals describe Advent. They say, Advent means "the coming." It's a time when we wait expectantly. Like Mary, we celebrate the coming of the Christ child, what God has already done; and we wait in expectation of the full coming of God's reign on earth and for the return of Christ, what God will yet do. However, our waiting is not passive; it is active. As any expectant mother knows, waiting involves preparation, exercise, nutrition, care, prayer, and work, and birth involves pain, blood, tears, joy, release, and community. It is called labour for a reason. Likewise, we are in a world pregnant with hope, and we live in the expectation of the coming of God's kin-dom on earth, and as we wait, we also work, cry, pray, and ache; we are the midwives of another world.

This Advent, I, along with others, am journeying with Saint Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, from 1977 to 1980. We are reflecting on his life and work and reading and discussing his writings, particularly Romero's four 1978 Advent sermons. Over the coming Sundays of Advent, Oscar Romero will be our guide too.

"Let's set the scene. The year is 1978. The last two national elections in El Salvador were marred by fraud, solidifying the power of a military-backed executive branch intent on crushing any resistance from the impoverished majority of the country. Paramilitary death squads violently repress any group or individual who speaks out against injustice. Disappearances and kidnappings are common occurrences, and torture is frequently carried out by government forces. Multiple priests have been threatened, deported, or killed. Romero faces frequent denunciations by the government, his own bishops, and the papal nuncio of El Salvador, who is set on removing him from office for his refusal to be silent in the face of violence and human rights violations. The diocesan printing press, radio office, and Central American University in San Salvador have been bombed repeatedly. Advent draws near. The hope of the gospel buzzes in the air." (Cameron Bellm, Advent with St. Oscar Romero)

In his first Advent sermon, Romero offered three things that he believed were central to the season of Advent. 1) A hunger for God, 2) a posture of watchfulness and attentiveness to the presence of God in the poor, and 3) a commitment to being heralds of the kin-dom of God.

This morning, I want to offer three quotes from Romero's sermons that highlight these themes, followed by a question for reflection and then a short period of silence to engage with the question and with God. 

Firstly, hunger for God. Romero says, "This is the meaning of hunger for God. The person who feels the emptiness of hunger for God is the opposite of the self-sufficient person. In this sense, rich means the proud, [those unwilling to open themselves up to God], rich means even the poor who have no property but think they need nothing, not even God. This is the wealth that is abominable in God's eyes, what the humble but forceful Virgin speaks of: 'The rich he has sent away empty' - those who think that have everything - 'the hungry he has filled with good things' (Luke 1:53) - those who have a need of God."

Question: How hungry are we for God? Is a deep desire for God central to our lives as Christians?

Secondly, Romero speaks of the importance of seeing Christ's face in one another, particularly the poor. 

As we have heard, Romero was preaching and pastoring amid horrific levels of violence, and in his conversations and preaching, Romero implored those he spoke with to see the face of Christ in one another because if they did, how could they kill each other? Romero said, "Advent should [push] us to discover the face of Christ in each brother or sister that we greet, in each friend whose hand we shake, in each beggar who asks for bread, in each worker who wants to exercise the right to join a union, and in each campesino who looks for work in the coffee groves. Then it would not be possible to rob them, to cheat them, to deny them their rights. They are Christ, and whatever is done to them Christ will take as done to himself. This is what Advent is, namely, Christ living among us." 

Of course, the counter by some is to say, well, people aren't acknowledging the image of God in me. Maybe, maybe not, but that's not the point. Jesus refused to mar the image of God in those to whom he ministered and confronted, despite the numerous times the " powers" marred the image of God in him. Our commitment to do the same, even when it's uncomfortable, even when we would rather not, bears witness to the kin-dom of God.

Question: Where is it easy for you to see the image of God in others? Where is it hard?

Finally, waiting [or hunger for God] and work.

For Romero, watching and waiting were active; the inward hunger for God and the tangible outworking of that hunger worked in tandem. It was not either/or but both/and. Romero says, "Advent is an attitude of waiting for everything to come from God but at the same time to have an attitude of dedicated work and of making our [Christian] contribution in the way that human beings must do." Put differently, pray like everything depends on God and work like everything depends on you (a say often attributed to St Augustine and/or St Ignatius).

Question: How does that balance look for us, are we about mainly prayer or mainly work? If in prayer, ask God to direct you to meaningful action to accompany it. If in action, ask God to lead your heart to prayer, to strengthen your hands for work.

This is Advent! 

I want to end with Romero's Advent invitation to his people, which is an invitation to us too, he says, "I invite you to enter into this Advent, into this time of spiritual preparation for Christmas with this sense that I have spoken about: a hunger for God. Let us become poor in spirit and in need of God. Let us be watchful and attentive to the presence of God in the poor, in our friends, in our sisters and brothers, so that we treat these people in the same way that we would treat Christ. As Christians, let us bring a committed presence to our society where we are called to be the heralds of the Kingdom of God! So be it!" 

Grace and peace,

Revd. D

—————

I am grateful to Carom Bellm for putting together excerpts from Romero’s 1978 Advent sermons and a providing a thoughtful set of questions to facilitate engagement with the Romero’s sermons, Scripture, and in prayer (all found in Advent with St. Oscar Romero).