One very fatal Mass...
A premature death crept silently forward until it could be quiet no more.
On March 24th 1980 while celebrating his Catholic Mass (with hands extended as if to welcome heaven) Archbishop Oscar Romero of Salvadore was himself ushered to heaven through an assassin's bullet.
Below is a poignant and prophetic quote lifted from his final sermon that deadly morning:
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts; it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our life-time only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders, not ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.
These thoughts burden my soul. They remove the screaming priorities of petty desires, resentments, unforgiveness, betrayals, ambitions, passions and personal rights.
Romero places living into a liberating, righteous and humble orbit. He resoundly tackles any self-importance resting upon our efforts, or stored within our souls.
2000 years prior to Romero's murder, John the Baptist (who too would be assassinated) spoke with a similar self-effacing grandeur of another also yet to be assassinated -
He (Jesus) must increase and I must decrease (John 3:30)
Two Last Words:
Aren't all Christians first meant to be a bridge between two worlds?