Devotion for April 25, 2008

The human progress that Christ wants to promise
    is that of the whole persons
            in their transcendent dimension
            and their historical dimension
            in their spiritual dimension
            and their bodily dimension.
Whole persons must be saved,
persons in their social relationships,
            who  consider some people more human than others,
            but will view all as brothers and sisters
            and give preference to the weakest and neediest.
This is the integral human salvation
            that the church wants to bring about –
a hard mission!
Often the church will be catalogued
            with communistic and revolutionary subversives.
But the church knows what its revolution is:
the revolution of Christ’s love.

These words are from the book “The Violence of Love” by Archbishop Oscar Romero who was assassinated in San Salvador in 1980.  I find these words so poignant when I think about RMN and the struggle GLBT persons have with the oppressive church.  Romero was incredible in the struggle with the rich and government in El Salvador.  He is someone whom we can look to for courage.

Mary Ann Carlson
Cleveland Heights, OH