Reviving the truth, making it heard:

...Peter...

...He is writing at a time when the church was being persecuted in some places, and the aim of the Apocalypse is to buoy up persecuted Christians...

...Now, I knew those men had come there to see him, not me, so eventually I got up and went looking for him...

...it cared about the fact that they didn't adore the idols, that they were subverting the empire...

...In the Apocalypse (6:9ff...

...It reached the point where one day he said, "Even if I wind up all alone, I'm going to carry on...

...The accusation of being "political" is as old as Christianity, as ancient as Christ...

...Later the word "martyr" began to be applied to those who, because they were witnesses, gave their blood for Christ and the faith...

...He doesn't offer his life for something in particular...

...The last reference I'll make to the Apocalypse (from chapter 3) is to the phrase we found in Archbishop Romero's retreat notes: "And I will dine with him...

...When a bishop dies a group of priests is in charge of naming an interim successor to serve until the new bishop is named...

...And I remember one day at the Hospitalito-we were having a meeting there, and it was about ten or twelve days before he was killed-and he asked us, "Have you done the paperwork to have the three priests added...

...In the New Testament the Apocalypse is the book of the martyrs...

...That is to say, he felt fear, just as Jesus did in Gethsemani...

...I don't want to conclude without mentioning some things he wrote during his last retreat...

...That's why he was sure of what he said...

...In response to those who ask, when will there be justice, John sees that the persecution is going to continue, that people will continue to die, but that it's necessary to continue witnessing to the faith, because for the Christian death should be a vocation...

...I am at the door and calling...

...Now, prophets aren't innovators, and Archbishop Romero was no innovator...

...We might direct ourselves to God at this moment as well...

...I saw this myself on many occasions...

...So he dined with the Lord, and now he's with him and with our church and with our country...

...It is the absolutizing of God which enables us to see other people and their situations clearly...

...6:10...

...All this is something which appears very rarely, and that is what made Archbishop Romero capable of being a prophet...

...The prophet is one whose very existence is a sign, and who lives the values of the Kingdom in his or her personal and community life...

...This comes from the Apocalypse (3:20...

...He tried to communicate all this to others, to share it with them...

...But he continued for another twenty minutes, totally absorbed in prayer...

...But the prophet is one who sees people and their situations as they really are, who feels intimately the things that are going on around him and isn't able to just let them continue...

...He made God the infinite in his life...

...Now, Archbishop Romero had said he wanted three more priests added to this group...

...I went to the visitors' room, the kitchen and the garden, but he wasn't there either...

...It is easy in the sense that I knew him, dealt with him, and could see the profundity of his life, the spirit of union with God that was the root of his entire existence-not just in his years as archbishop, but in his first years as a student, in his early priesthood, and in all the rest of his ministry...

...In one of his retreat notebooks there is the phrase, "I will dine with him...

...In other words, he's in no way disposed to take even one step backward, even though he knows that if he carries on, he's going to be killed...

...John says, "When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne...

...The prophets are those who speak of the eternal things, as they apply at the moment...

...Archbishop Romero was convinced that he was going to be killed...

...Where we see "be my witnesses in all places," in Greek it says "be my martyrs...

...He revived the truth, made it heard, and many believe that is why he was killed...

...someone like that can really bring people along, not just by words but by the person's life itself, which gives this witness...

...But there were others that were even more clear...

...He is not seeking out martyrdom...

...It describes Jesus as the faithful witness, that is, as the martyr...

...Archbishop Romero was very faithful to his spiritual life...

...Because he has his roots deeply in God, even at the moment of his death...

...It's been said that the degree to which a tree flowers depends on how deeply it's rooted in the ground...

...We had not...

...Mark tells the story of the blind man cured by Jesus who, when asked if he could see, replied, "I see people, but they look like trees...

...A journalist once asked him, "Where do you get the strength to carry on in spite of everything...

...As we know, two kinds of accusations against Jesus appear in the Gospels...

...That isn't getting involved in politics...

...The ads in the newspapers against him those days were, in effect, threats...

...Verses 19-20 say: "Take heart and be converted...

...He was receiving all kinds of threats at that time, even public ones...

...That is how Archbishop Romero saw it, and that is how it's seen by those who are faithful witnesses to the truth...

...And nevertheless he writes, honestly and humbly, "I feel afraid of violence...

...The papal nuncio of Costa Rica has warned me about imminent dangers for this coming week...

...Urioste holds up a simple schoolchild's notebook]-I even tremble when I touch it-is where he wrote his notes during that retreat...

...And on this same page in his retreat notebook, he criticizes himself for "not being careful enough about my confessions and my spiritual life," and then he remakes his life plan, and among the specific things he mentions are, "Get up at midnight to pray...

...On this same page in his retreat notebook, he writes, "My other fear is about the risks for my life...

...But more important than the moment of death is to give him all my life and live for him and for my own mission...

...Like all holy men and women who have felt the mystery of sin, he felt the mystery of our freedom, which is capable of saying "yes" but also of saying "no...

...Archbishop Romero spoke like this, and when he did he was accused of getting involved in politics...

...We should seek a life which really gives the kind of witness that's needed, but we should not seek martrydom itself...

...For me, that's the kind of person who is really convincing...

...I remember one time, in December 1979 at the Hospitalito [the Divine Providence Hospital, where Archbishop Romero lived, and was later killed...

...That was Archbishop Romero -someone who flowered because he was so deeply rooted in God...

...And in spite of my sins, I have put my trust in him and I will not be confounded," he quotes a psalm...

...That's where I find the energy and the strength...

...Later, Father Azcue said Archbishop Romero had told him that day, "I want to feel clean before God...

...John also says the martyrs protest to God: "Lord, when will you do justice...

...He's also with the poor, whom he defended so much and for whom he died...

...We should also be very clear on what the criteria are for determining who is a genuine martyr...

...Our word "witness" comes from a Greek word which means "martyr...

...Archbishop Romero answered, "You ask at an opportune moment, because I've just returned from my retreat...

...if someone listens to my voice and opens the door, I will enter and dine with him...

...He was a great man, a great priest, a great bishop, murdered because of the ignominy of this country, the injustice in this country, and the hatred of those who will stop at nothing, not even at the altar...

...I think the Apocalypse is the only book in the entire New Testament that speaks of the martyrs and of martyrdom...

...I remember another time when we went to Rome together...

...The prophet is the one who is faithful to God, who says, God is asking this of me, and I'm going to do it, while others say, "Who knows, this could be dangerous, and you know, you've got to be prudent...

...Because," he says, "the heart of Christ will know how to give my life the meaning it requires...

...He also mentions "disciplines," by which he means punishing himself physically (I think this must mean mortification of the flesh), things like fasting on Fridays, things that you and I don't do but which were vital for him...

...they cried out with a loud voice, 'O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before thou wilt judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?'" This is the definition of "martyr" John gives...

...The people are suffering, going hungry, being repressed, enduring so many other things, but for us they can be like trees, like things...

...He knelt down right there and began to pray...

...One kind is religious: that he claimed he was God...

...But it is hard because his death still overwhelms me...

...And others will carry on the work of the church and the country with more wisdom and more sanctity...

...He had the humility to seek God with patience...

...We're talking about someone who has also discovered God in other people...

...Third, the giving over of one's entire life to the Christian ideal-that your whole life revolves around the ideal that Christ offers us...

...I fear the weakness of my flesh, but I ask the Lord to give me serenity and perseverance...

...The faithful witness wants to feel clean before God and, of course, before the people...

...He wrote about his death-let us say, he wrote about his martyrdom...

...After such torrents of blood have been shed, after seventy thousand people have been murdered, including seventeen priests, four nuns, and an archbishop, where is justice...

...At one point, Archbishop Romero got up and left...

...Why does he take this position...

...But there's also something else which, I believe, is a great treasure: the notes he made during his retreats, where he opened his soul before God, before himself, and before the events of the times...

...It was early in the morning, at breakfast time, and the archbishop was being visited by Cardinal Lorscheider of Brazil and a member of the civilian-military junta which, at that moment, was governing El Salvador...

...I with him and he with me...

...Later he writes, "In this way I make concrete my consecration to the heart of Jesus, which has always been the source of inspiration and Christian joy in my life...

...And I put all my life under his loving Providence, and with faith in him I accept my death, however difficult it may be...

...The truth, in countries like ours, will always have such consequences...

...I think that Archbishop Romero never said anything, never did anything, without first consulting with God...

...I don't want to state an intention, for example for peace in my country or for the flowering of our church...

...Every prophet, every bishop, every priest is obliged to speak out like that...

...He went to confession every week, and he consulted with his spiritual director...

...As soon as we got there, after traveling all night long, he invited me to go to the Basilica of St...

...The prophet is imprudent because God was imprudent, because Jesus was imprudent...

...And he said, "That's okay...

...He aided the martyrs and, if it should be necessary that I die as they did, I will feel him very close to me at the moment of breathing my last breath...

...Yet we should be very clear on one thing: we are not to seek martyrdom...

...Other countries, right here in Central America, that are not democratic or Christian haven't killed a single priest or nun...

...There were those who couldn't tolerate the truth Archbishop Romero proclaimed, just as there were those who couldn't tolerate the truth that Jesus proclaimed...

...In this country, this democratic, Christian country, we carry on as if nothing had happened...

...It was like that with Archbishop Romero...

...The confessional altar, where the tomb of Peter is said to be, is right at the entrance to the basilica...

...There's nothing strange or surprising about it, and it was one of the accusations that was also made all the time against Archbishop Romero...

...He stood up and said, "Do it, and do it now...

...That is, we're not just talking about a vertical relationship with God, about a person who's spent his or her whole life singing alleluias, and has known God only in that way...

...And this [Msgr...

...The Roman Empire didn't care if the early Christians were defending the divinity of Christ or the Trinity...

...I always say that Archbishop Romero was martyred for his love for the poor, for defending them, and for the magisterium of the church...

...And even today we're still afraid to have a picture of him or a book about him in our houses...

...The prophet always speaks of God and of the circumstances in which we find ourselves...

...The martyr is the faithful witness...

...The scripture writers tell us that this, even more than the crucifixion, was the most difficult part of Jesus' Passion, when he saw there in Gethsemani all that was going to happen to him...

...That was the source of his strength and his vitality...

...When I'm asked, what was it about Archbishop Romero that I most admire, I've always answered: the sanctity of his priestly life, his unity with God, his inte-rior life and spirit, because everything else that he was came from all that...

...This was a man who had discovered that the root of his existence, of his whole being-as a person, as a priest, as a bishop-was God...

...Many of us-for fear or whatever other reason-criticized him, judged him, abandoned him...

...Just as death is a theological and not a biological event, so too for the Christian who gives and wants to give himself in true witness, death is a vocation, a call...

...I knelt too, but after ten minutes I got up...

...I'll be coming...

...Of course, the Gospels speak of Jesus as the one who gives his life, who hands over his life, and he is, you might say, the prototype of the martyr...

...He sought to live a life of witness...

...Archbishop Romero's homilies have already been published, and this year, at the tenth anniversary of his death, we will also be publishing his journal, which he taperecorded each night...

...They helped make him who he was...

...What we should aim for is a life of witness...

...He was offered the chance to leave the country, he was offered all kinds of positions in various places, but he said, no, I'm going to stay here...

...I've been warned about serious threats against me for this coming week...

...As a prophet, Archbishop Romero was able to cleanse the language...

...To really love the poor requires concrete actions...

...The first is that God is present as the root and summit of the person's life...

...Father Azcue was his last spiritual director, and on the day he was killed, Archbishop Romero went to have Father Azcue hear his confession...

...I went to his apartment, but he wasn't there...

...He or she is also one who carries on in faith, in spite of all misunderstandings...

...He couldn't see them well...

...These four elements were present in the life of Archbishop Romero...

...He spoke out about all the people who had been tortured, massacred, and hurled into rivers...

...He is the one who suffers those things, just as Jeremiah and Isaiah and all the true prophets suffered...

...We speak a lot about the virtue of prudence, but not so much about the virtues of fortitude and justice...

...And there was another sign that he was certain he was going to be killed...

...In another place he writes, "Father Azcue came and heard my confession...

...He died on March 24,1980, and February 25 of that year he began his last retreat...

...Because if our Lord hadn't said what he said, they wouldn't have crucified him, either...

...I would say that death is not a biological event but a theological event: the death of a Christian is a theological event, and that is how we should see it...

...And it is about the martyrdom of Archbishop Romero that I wish to speak...

...John, in the Apocalypse, is distilling all the thought of the church of that time about martyrdom...

...On another page in his notebook, he wrote, "It's hard for me to accept the violent death which, in these circumstances, seems very possible...

...For him God was the absolute...

...There's nothing that makes me think more of how unjust and stupid people can be...

...That magisterium is very clear: it says the church should make a preferential option for the poor...

...The prophet, then, in a certain sense, is the great conservative, the one who wants to conserve the great values that God has given us...

...He feared, he knew, he foresaw his death...

...Second, the person has been connected with other people...

...In the Letter to the Hebrews we learn that without the shedding of blood there is no redemption, there is no salvation...

...He sought out guidance for what he was doing...

...The grace of God will enable us to live through the unknown circumstances...

...When we're not capable of seeing people in their true situations, we're seeing them as trees...

...This is absolutely necessary...

...The other is political: that he was subverting the people...

...I went up to him and said, "They're waiting for you...

...And the fourth, I would say, is the acceptance of death for the faith itself...

...Finally, it occurred to me to look in the chapel, and there he was, kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, which was exposed...

...Later on, after his death, we remembered that incident, and we said to ourselves, "Well, he knew...

...What most impressed one about Archbishop Romero was his capacity for encounter with God, his ability to root his life totally in God...

...My disposition" -and here remember the criteria we mentioned earlier for a genuine martyrdom, especially the accepting of the Christian ideal and the willingness to give one's life for the faith itself-"should be to give my life for God, however it should end...

...He didn't care what the accusations and the threats were, he was sure of the things he'd said because he had been in dialogue with God about them...

...He ends with these words: "To be happy, for me it is enough to know for sure that he is in my life and in my death...

...In one place, for example, he says, "I feel afraid of violence...

...that is speaking of the Fifth Commandment: Thou shalt not kill...

...They can wait...

...The prophet speaks of respect for life, and that is older than the first page of the Bible...