RADICAL COMPASSION

An ecumenical celebration to mark the 32nd

anniversary of the martyrdom of Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador

15 August 1917 - 24 March 1980

As the congregation gathers, each person is invited to light a candle at the front of the church, to be a light for radical compassion and justice in our world ……

Gathering song : Choose Life (music: Gregory Norbet OSB, adapted from Oscar Romero’s final homily) - Refrain :

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Choose life that you may be a leaven for the human family.

Then shall you live in peace, as justice bears the gift of freedom throughout all the world.

1. I do not believe in death, without the resurrection which will come. If they kill me, I shall rise once again in you, my people, God’s beloved poor. refrain

2. May God accept my sacrifice as a sign of liberation, living hope. A bishop, a pastor, may die, but the Church of God, which is the people, this will never die. refrain Welcome :

Penitential Rite : We are called to examine our choices, to reflect on their effect on others, and to take responsibility for them. So, we take a moment to examine our conscience, to ask ourselves, honestly, if we are making choices that are life-giving. During this time of Lenten journeying how is our relationship with God? How have we chosen to nourish this relationship in personal and communal prayer, reflection, and action for justice and compassion?

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+ How is our relationship with others? Family? Friends? Do we make good choices in regard to our relationships with others?

+ How have we cared for our environment? Do we serve as a co-creator with God in our world?

+ Have we been tempted by power, glory, and riches? Do we ignore those in need to fulfil our own needs?

+ Upon Jesus’ departure from the desert when he was tempted three times, he is ministered to by angels. Who are the angels ministering to us in our moments of strength and weakness?

+ As we seek forgiveness for all the ways in which our choices have not promoted the common good of the entire human family, let us join together in praying for mercy and forgiveness :

All: Señor, ten piedad! Señor, ten piedad! De tu pueblo, Señor; Señor ten piedad! (Misa Popular Salvadoreña - Guillermo Cuellar )

For the ways in which our choices have not been made in developing and nurturing our relationship with God, we seek mercy and forgiveness. All: Have mercy, O God! Have mercy, O God! On your people, have mercy; have mercy, O God! For the ways in which we have not cared for our environment and, instead, taken advantage of our natural resources, we seek mercy and forgiveness. All: Cristo, ten piedad! Cristo, ten piedad! De tu pueblo, Cristo; Cristo, ten piedad! For the ways in which our choices have not been made with full awareness of the worth and dignity of every human person; for our exclusion of women, men and children in all their diversity, and failure to recognise the sacredness of all human life, we seek mercy and forgiveness. All: Señor, ten piedad! Señor, ten piedad! De tu pueblo, Señor; Señor, ten piedad!

Hear the voice of Oscar Romero, speaking in December 1977, of the cost of radical compassion: For the Church, the many abuses of human life, liberty, and dignity are a heartfelt suffering. The Church, entrusted with the earth’s glory, believes that each person is the Creator’s image and that everyone who tramples it offends God. As holy defender of God’s rights and of those images, the Church must cry out. It takes as spittle in its face, and lashes on its back, as the cross in the passion, all that human beings suffer, even though they may be unbelievers. They suffer, as God’ images. There is no dichotomy between humanity and God’s image. Whoever tortures a human being, whoever abuses a human being, whoever outrages a human being abuses God’s image, and the Church takes as its own that cross, that martyrdom.

All: Return to God, Marty Haugen

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1. Now the time of grace has come, the day of salvation: come and learn now the way of our God. Refrain 2. I will take your heart of stone and place a heart within you, a heart of compassion and love. Refrain 3. If you break the chains of oppression, if you set the pris’ner free, if you share your bread with the hungry, give protection to the lost, give a shelter to the homeless, clothe the naked in your midst, then your light shall break forth like the dawn. Refrain Prayer All-loving and ever-living God, you gave your servant Bishop Oscar the courage to witness to the Gospel of Christ, even to the point of giving their lives for it in the pursuit of justice. Help us to endure all suffering for love of you, to seek you with all our hearts, and to rejoice in the resurrection victory, over all oppression, of your beloved Christ, living and reigning in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. amen

A reading from Through the Year with Oscar Romero - The Prophetic Church The Church cannot remain silent when it sees these injustices of an economic nature, of a political nature, of a social nature. If it remains silent, the Church is complicit with those who marginalise themselves and are asleep in a conformity that is sickly and sinful, or with those who take advantage of this unawareness of the people to abuse them and corner the market politically and economically,

marginalising the immense majority of the people. This is the voice of the Church, brothers and sisters. And as long as they don’t allow us the freedom to proclaim these truths of the gospel, this is persecution. What we are talking about are substantial things, not something of little or no importance. This is a question of life or death for the reign of God on this earth. (24 July 1977)

Song : Unless a grain of wheat, Bernadette Farrell

1. If we have died with him, then we shall live with him; if we hold firm, we shall reign with him. Refrain

2. If any one serves me, then they must follow me; wherever I am, my servants will be. Refrain 3. If you remain in me and my word lives in you; then you will be my disciples. Refrain

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A reading from the Gospel of Mark (Mark 8 : 27-31) And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Homily

Come Healing, Leonard Cohen - recorded music

O gather up the brokenness and bring it to me now;

The fragrance of those promises you never dared to vow.

The splinters that you carry, the cross you left behind, Come healing of the body, come healing of the mind.

And let the heavens hear it, the penitential hymn.

Come healing of the spirit, come healing of the limb

Behold the gates of mercy, in arbitrary space, And none of us deserving the cruelty or the grace.

O solitude of longing, where love has been confined, Come healing of the body, come healing of the mind.

O see the darkness yielding, that tore the light apart

Come healing of the reason, come healing of the heart.

O troubled dust concealing, an undivided love; the Heart beneath is teaching to the broken Heart above.

O let the heavens falter and let the earth proclaim:

Come healing of the Altar, come healing of the Name.

O longing of the branches, to lift the little bud O longing of the arteries, to purify the blood.

And let the heavens hear it, the penitential hymn;

Come healing of the spirit, come healing of the limb

O let the heavens hear it, the penitential hymn Come healing of the spirit, come healing of the limb.

Intercessions : Celebrating the memory of Archbishop Oscar Romero, we are conscious of the many challenges which face our world, our Church, our local communities. As we recall these in prayer, let us not be overwhelmed but strengthened to act with love and compassion:

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For peace in the places of war, poverty and injustice, that leaders of government will be inspired by the vision of humanity which drove Oscar Romero. God, in your mercy: Hear our prayer.

For the peoples of Central America, and especially El Salvador, that they may rise above violence, inequalities and injustice in a commitment to the common good. God, in your mercy: Hear our prayer.

For people of faith, that we may respond to situations of injustice, conflict, inequality, poverty and disease in the light of our belief, and so recognise the presence of the divine calling us to action for justice and radical compassion. God, in your mercy: Hear our prayer.

For the Church, that its pastors, theologians, and pastoral ministers may always reflect God’s call to a preferential option for the poor. God, in your mercy: Hear our prayer.

For progress in the canonization of Archbishop Oscar Romero, that his example will continue to inspire a lively commitment to work for the unity of all people of faith, growth in personal belief and values, and solidarity with the poor. God, in your mercy: Hear our prayer.

And does the Spirit inspire us to pray for more ... spontaneous prayer may be added here …

Loving Creator, hear your people’s prayer, for we are human and often overwhelmed by the many difficulties we face in our world, in our Church, in our lives. We call upon the memory of Monsenor Romero who, in the face of so many challenges, never ceased to act with love. Help us to become instruments of peace in our world, to confront violence and its causes, the toxic roots of injustice, and the vicious hatred that disfigures the human person made in your image. This we ask through the transfigured Christ, for ever and ever. amen

Dismissal & Blessing :

Let us go out and be light! May our words burn like the word of the prophets. May our defence of the poor and suffering, the victims of in justice and oppression, be a transforming power for our world. May our voice, our feet, our hands become those of Christ, building up the reign of God in human history.

The blessing is said by all:

May the blessing of the God of Sarah and Abraham, the blessing of the Redeemer, born of Mary, the blessing of the Spirit, brooding over us as a mother over her children, be with us all, now and for ever. amen

Recessional hymn : The God of liberation, Patrick Lee (tune: Ellacombe)

1. The God of liberation has challenged us to fight injustice, exploitation, and sins against the light,

by state or corporation, or any seeking gain: from human degradation or profit wrought from pain.

2. The God of recreation has called us to proclaim the work of reparation, of rescue from our shame; the city’s restoration, repair for homes and ways,

a time for jubilation, fresh hope, new faith, and praise.

3. The God of our salvation has sent us Christ to be our source of inspiration, the truth which sets us free,

a reconciliation, the pathway to release, and healing for the nation, where justice leads to peace.

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There will be a retiring collection for the work of the Archbishop Romero Trust.

Archbishop Romero Trust 8 Deans Mews, London W1G 9EE www.romerotrust.org.uk romerotrust@btinternet.com

JOIN US AS A FRIEND OF ROMERO info@romerotrust.org.uk

Registered Charity 1110069