Oscar Romero realized that his final days were approaching, that the assassination attempts were strengthening, and that he would soon leave this earth to be with God as a martyr. In those final days, Oscar told a journalist this, “Martyrdom is a grace I don’t believe I am worthy of. But if God accepts the sacrifice of my life, may my blood be a seed of liberty and the sign that hope will soon become a reality.”

We read that the threats to Romero’s life had grown so much that he began sleeping in a room behind the chapel. “Four days before he was killed he named additional priest voters so that there would be a quorum to elect a successor in case of his death.”

I am amazed with the strength that Romero had to still offer mass even though he was warned that he would surely be killed. Then we get these last words, “You have just heard in Christ’s Gospel that one must not love oneself so much as to avoid getting involved in the risks of life that history demands of us, and that those who fend off danger will lose their lives. But whoever out of love for Christ gives themselves to the service of others will live, like the grain of wheat that dies, but only apparently. If it did not die, it would remain alone…Only in dying does it produce the harvest.”

Whew! Growing up in rural Indiana, I certainly hear and understand what Romero is saying about the harvest and the need for it to die, but wow! The image above has the quote that I need to add to my office as a reminder to always be a voice for the voiceless when I do have the privilege to have a voice. Just like Romero fought the injustices in El Salvador all the way to the end of his life – I don’t know that I can give up my life like that, but I can certainly give way to the disenfranchised, the marginalized if you will so that their voices might be heard – and if that is through my microphone then so be it.