November 16, 2009
Monday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
But many in Israel were determined and resolved in their hearts not to eat anything unclean; they preferred to die rather than to be defiled with unclean food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. Terrible affliction was upon Israel. Maccabees 1:62-63
Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him; and when he came near, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" He replied, "Lord, please let me see." Jesus told him, "Have sight; your faith has saved you." Luke 18:40-42
Piety
http://norprov.org/spirituality/ignatianprayer.htm
Praying the Jesuit Examination of Conscience
1. Thanksgiving: Lord, I realize that all, even myself, is a gift from you. Today, for what things am I most grateful?
2. Intention: Lord, open my eyes and ears to be more honest with myself. Today, what do I really want for myself?
3. Examination: Lord, show me what has been happening to me and in me this day. Today, in what ways have I experienced your love?
4. Contrition: Lord, I am still learning to grow in your love. Today, what choices have been inadequate responses to your love?
5. Hope: Lord, let me look with longing toward the future. Today, how will I let you lead me to a brighter tomorrow?
Adapted from Through All the Days of Life, a collection of prayers compiled by Fr. Nick Schiro, S.J.
Study
The scriptures today have special meaning for those who remember that this is the twentieth anniversary of the murder of six Jesuit priests at the University of Central America and a cook and her daughter in El Salvador. While half a world away, there was celebration in Germany with the fall of the Berlin wall just days earlier, El Salvador was bound up in a civil war where the death squads were killing civilians. Today, the Salvadoran government, U. S. Congress, and Jesuit institutions honor their memory. They, like the early Jews were determined and resolute to follow the precepts of the Lord.
Jesuit Fr. John Dear spent time in El Salvador and knew these “resolved and determined” priests. In his recent column for National Catholic Reporter, he recalled each one by name:
Segundo Montes. Head of the University of Central America sociology department, director of the new human rights institute, superior of the Jesuit community, Segundo worked every weekend with the poor in Quezaltepeque. He had a big red beard, and people called him “Zeus.” “I consider it a duty to work for human rights,” he once said. “It is the duty of every human being who has the sensibility and sensitivity to the suffering of people.”
Ignacio Martin Baro. Vice president of the University of Central America, social psychologist, expert in the field of public opinion in El Salvador, he worked every weekend in the poor parish of Jayaque
Juan Ramon Moreno. Assistant director of the pastoral institute at the University of Central America, secretary of the Jesuit province, teacher of novices, he founded a Jesuit newsletter and set up a state of the art library in the new Romero Center which the death squads completely destroyed after killing the Jesuits. “The vocation of the church and of the followers of Jesus,” he wrote “is to be the innermost recess of Christ’s compassion.”
Amando Lopez. Former head of the San Salvador seminary and of the Jesuit University in Managua, Nicaragua, he worked every weekend among the poor in Soyapango. I remember having lunch with him once and asking him about his friend, Jean Donovan, killed in 1980.
Joaquin Lopez y Lopez. The oldest, he had recently been diagnosed with cancer. One of the founders of the University of Central America, he also founded “Fe Y Alegria,” a network of 13 schools that served eight thousand impoverished Salvadoran children, as well as two clinics which served 50,000.
Elba and Celina Ramos. Elba was the cook of the Jesuit house of studies down the road. That night, she brought her 16 year old daughter Celina to the University of Central America thinking they would be safer there on campus during the rebel offensive. They had been sleeping in a parlor room next to the Jesuit house when the death squads stormed the community. A few weeks earlier, Celina told a classmate that she hated violence so much that she would never again even kill an insect.
Ignacio Ellacuria. The university president, a world renown theologian and philosopher, and well known public figure in El Salvador, he helped write Archbishop Romero’s pastoral letters, envisioned a new type of Jesuit university committed to social justice, and in 1985, held a nationally televised open forum at the university where he methodically outlined, exposed and denounced the right wing government and its death squads.
Action
The El Salvador martyrs are not alone. Numerous study resources about the execution-style murders are on the Creighton University web site. These include a homily offered on the murder victims by Rev. Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J., who reflected: “We mourn not only for them, but for all the victims of this wasteful war that for more than 10 years has bled a tiny, tortured country. We mourn for the 70,000 people of El Salvador who have died in this war and the hundreds of thousands who have been displaced by the fighting. We remember the martyrs that preceded [these] victims, Rutillo Grande, a Jesuit assassinated in 1977, the same year that a right-wing paramilitary group ordered all Jesuits to leave the country or face a sentence of death. We remember Archbishop Oscar Romero, struck down by an assassin’s bullet in 1980 while celebrating Mass. We remember also the four American women missionaries who were kidnapped, assaulted and murdered by military forces in December of 1980.”
Lord, please help us to see the poverty and injustice around the world and around the corner. Help us to act to bring the comfort of Gospel love to those who are poor in spirit as well as poor in body.
“We are people of the Gospel, a gospel that proclaims the reign of God, and that calls us to try to transform this earth into as close a likeness of that reign as possible,” Fr. Ellacuria wrote.
Fr. John encourages us to take sides with the poor. Let us examine our own lives and seek what social sins we are turning a blind eye toward on this fateful day. Fr. John concludes his column with this call to action: “As we remember Ellacuria and the Jesuit martyrs, let’s pledge to carry on their work, follow their Gospel example, share their prophetic mission, and practice their fearless faith and bold hope. As we do, we too will be blessed.”
In a special address at Our Lady Queen of Peace Sunday night, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton told us that Elba Ramos left her husband at home that fateful night to safeguard their house. After he lost his wife and daughter, Senor Ramos planted a rose garden in the back yard where the murders took place.
Where can you plant roses to bring peace into the world?
