{"id":10806,"date":"2012-04-01T22:44:57","date_gmt":"2012-04-01T11:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=10806"},"modified":"2012-04-01T23:00:50","modified_gmt":"2012-04-01T12:00:50","slug":"abp-oscar-romeros-prayerpoem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2012\/04\/01\/abp-oscar-romeros-prayerpoem\/","title":{"rendered":"Abp Oscar Romero’s prayer\/poem"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Future Not Our Own (The Long View)<\/em>\u00a0is a prayer\/poem of Archbishop Oscar Romero which holds great truths of the Christian faith and continues to nurture my discipleship. It weaves together encouragement, comfort and faith in God.<\/p>\n

We were living in Argentina during its “Dirty War” when Archbishop\u00a0Oscar Romero, the Champion of the Poor and Oppressed in El Salvador, was murdered while celebrating Mass because he stood for Christ\u2019s justice and mercy.<\/p>\n

A Future Not Our Own (also known as ‘The Long View’)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It helps, now and then, to step back
\nand take the long view.
\nThe kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
\nit is beyond our vision.<\/p>\n

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of
\nthe magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
\nNothing we do is complete,
\nwhich is another way of saying
\nthat the kingdom always lies beyond us.<\/p>\n

No statement says all that could be said.
\nNo prayer fully expresses our faith.
\nNo confession brings perfection.
\nNo pastoral visit brings wholeness.
\nNo programme accomplishes the church’s mission.
\nNo set of goals and objectives includes everything.<\/p>\n

This is what we are about:
\nWe plant seeds that one day will grow.
\nWe water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
\nWe lay foundations that will need further development.
\nWe provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.<\/p>\n

We cannot do everything
\nand there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
\nThis enables us to do something,
\nand to do it very well.
\nIt may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
\nan opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest.<\/p>\n

We may never see the end results,
\nbut that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
\nWe are workers, not master builders,
\nministers, not messiahs.
\nWe are prophets of a future not our own.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The prayer holds\u00a0truth for the Archbishop’s own life: in his murder, his future was not his own. It is also true that in my life Oscar Romero’s life\u00a0“water(ed) seeds already planted”.\u00a0I thank God for Archbishop Oscar Romero.<\/p>\n

May the Holy Spirit nurture our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as we enter Holy Week.<\/p>\n

A well set out version for printing is found at A Future Not Our Own<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Also my fuller reflection on the 30th anniversary year, 2010,\u00a0of his assassination, Archbishop Romero: Easter Faith<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Future Not Our Own (The Long View)\u00a0is a prayer\/poem of Archbishop Oscar Romero which holds great truths of the Christian faith and continues to nurture my discipleship. It weaves together encouragement, comfort and faith in God. We were living … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10806"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10806"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10828,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10806\/revisions\/10828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}