30 Years Ago--The Martyrdom of Six Jesuits of El Salvador
The murder of six Jesuits of El Salvador 30 years ago last Saturday--a reflection by Mgr Peter Magee, Vatican diplomat to El Salvador at the time.
"It was an experience I will never forget. I became sick at the sight of the carnage. There was something else, though. While I could feel the terror of the moment (I wondered if I myself might be shot, too, at some point in the ensuing days if a persecution of the Church was underway), I also felt something that I can only describe as holiness. Not holiness as a moral or spiritual state, but a holiness ‘out there’ in front of me, covering the slain and covering those of us there. If I can put it this way, it was an ‘objective’ holiness, something I touched as if touching the breeze or as if I were being touched by it. On reflection, I think it fair to say that we were touched by God in that horrible, terrifying place and time, because those who had been slain had been slain for putting the gospel into practice. They had quite simply imitated Christ the Lord to the end. I think it must have been how Mary and John, and the others, felt at the foot of the cross. A senseless, violent death, yet one which breathed forth the life-giving holiness of God. That ‘holiness out there’ remained present in the ensuing days. The funeral, with the six coffins side-by-side in the university chapel, only intensified the experience. Only God could bring something so holy out of something so horrible.
That moment had a profound impact on me and on my understanding of being a priest. Preaching the gospel can never be about kowtowing to ideological or political perspectives, or any other perspectives for that matter.
As Jesus said, wisdom is proved by her children. The gospel is proved by the fruits of holiness and truth that it gives, not by the applause or the mockery resulting from the narrow and filtering minds of those who only want you to say what they want to hear.
Fr Ignatius was a missionary martyr. Missionary life is not something for somewhere else, for some other time, for some other people. It’s not a series of concepts and precepts. It’s about the true meaning of life itself and, for some, of death itself. The challenge is for you and for me. Am I prepared to stand up for Christ no matter how mocked or praised I am? Am I myself among those who filter the message of the truth to suit my own preferences? If San Salvador can be the holy ground of mission for Christ, why cannot the place where I, or you, live? And who are these missionaries to be? If not you, then who? If not here, then where? If not now, then when?"
"It was an experience I will never forget. I became sick at the sight of the carnage. There was something else, though. While I could feel the terror of the moment (I wondered if I myself might be shot, too, at some point in the ensuing days if a persecution of the Church was underway), I also felt something that I can only describe as holiness. Not holiness as a moral or spiritual state, but a holiness ‘out there’ in front of me, covering the slain and covering those of us there. If I can put it this way, it was an ‘objective’ holiness, something I touched as if touching the breeze or as if I were being touched by it. On reflection, I think it fair to say that we were touched by God in that horrible, terrifying place and time, because those who had been slain had been slain for putting the gospel into practice. They had quite simply imitated Christ the Lord to the end. I think it must have been how Mary and John, and the others, felt at the foot of the cross. A senseless, violent death, yet one which breathed forth the life-giving holiness of God. That ‘holiness out there’ remained present in the ensuing days. The funeral, with the six coffins side-by-side in the university chapel, only intensified the experience. Only God could bring something so holy out of something so horrible.
That moment had a profound impact on me and on my understanding of being a priest. Preaching the gospel can never be about kowtowing to ideological or political perspectives, or any other perspectives for that matter.
As Jesus said, wisdom is proved by her children. The gospel is proved by the fruits of holiness and truth that it gives, not by the applause or the mockery resulting from the narrow and filtering minds of those who only want you to say what they want to hear.
Fr Ignatius was a missionary martyr. Missionary life is not something for somewhere else, for some other time, for some other people. It’s not a series of concepts and precepts. It’s about the true meaning of life itself and, for some, of death itself. The challenge is for you and for me. Am I prepared to stand up for Christ no matter how mocked or praised I am? Am I myself among those who filter the message of the truth to suit my own preferences? If San Salvador can be the holy ground of mission for Christ, why cannot the place where I, or you, live? And who are these missionaries to be? If not you, then who? If not here, then where? If not now, then when?"
Comments
Post a Comment