After having just concluded a sermon, in which he encouraged Salvadoran soldiers to obey God rather than the oppressive government, as he was still standing at the altar, he too was gunned down. No one was ever convicted of his assassination, although investigations concluded that the order had been given by right wing politician, Roberto D’Aubuisson. There was even a massacre at Romero’s funeral, with smoke bombs exploding on the street and thirty-one people killed by gunfire.
In October 2018 he was proclaimed a saint by the Catholic Church.
The God We Hardly Knew
No one can celebrate
a genuine Christmas
without being truly poor.
The self-sufficient, the proud,
those who, because they have
everything, look down on others,
those who have no need
even of God ― for them there
will be no Christmas.
Only the poor, the hungry,
those who need someone
to come on their behalf,
will have that someone.
That someone is God.
Emmanuel. God-with-us.
Without poverty of spirit
there can be no abundance of God.
Entry written by D.S. Martin. His latest poetry collection is Ampersand (2018, Cascade). His books are available through Amazon, and Wipf & Stock, including the anthologies The Turning Aside, and Adam, Eve, & the Riders of the Apocalypse.
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