“There can be no freedom as long as there is sin in the heart. What’s the use of changing structures? What’s the use of violence and armed force if the motivation is hatred and the purpose is to buttress those in power or else to overthrow them and then create new tyrannies? What we seek in Christ is true freedom, the freedom that transforms the heart, the freedom the risen Christ announces to us today, “Seek what is above”

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Gospel of St Luke…In this text Jesus says something that many may be shocked at….”Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”…Wait a second…Is this Jesus talking?…..The Truth is a powerful thing!…When it is heard it causes people to question themselves and if an individual is not willing to change…They can and will violently reject it…This is why Jesus was crucified…And this is why the Truth is rejected today….Far too many people love the idea of “Hippie Jesus”….Who did not challenge the world to change…That is not who Jesus was…..If we as Catholics do not challenge the world’s views…You can guarantee one thing…We are not following the Lord

“For upright is the word of the LORD, and all his works are trustworthy. He loves justice and right; of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full”

St Oscar Romero spent just three years as Archbishop of San Salvador in El Salvador, but by the time he was murdered in 1980 he had become a shepherd to all the people of his country…This is what he once said in a Radio Sermon on January 14, 1979: “That is what the church wants: to disturb people’s consciences and to provoke a crisis in their lives. A church that does not provoke crisis, a gospel that does not disturb, a word of God that does not rankle, a word of God that does not touch the concrete sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed—what kind of gospel is that? Just nice, pious considerations that bother nobody—that’s the way many people would like our preaching to be. Those preachers who avoid every thorny subject so as not to bother anyone or cause conflict and difficulty shed no light on the reality in which they live.”……Like Jesus, Oscar Romero was killed for speaking the Truth…..He stood in the midst of chaos as his country was tearing itself apart…How does one stand firm amidst such a situation?….By grounding one self in God’s grace….If you will remember, all the original 12 disciples ran away when Jesus was crucified…Only the youngest one, St John remained at the foot of the Cross with Our Lady and John was not killed probably because he was too young and thought to be “harmless”….If we are not firmly grounded in daily prayer, weekly fasting and living a Sacramental life…We too will run away!!!!…..St Paul tells us very clearly….”That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”…..As Catholics if we do not allow our voices to be heard…To speak the Truth…More importantly to live the Truth…We are deceiving ourselves in thinking we are following the Carpenter from Nazareth….There is no “sitting on the fence”….We must choose a side!…Jesus had enemies…And so will we if we embrace the Truth.

“Remember that I told you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you”

St Luke today reveals a side of Jesus that many choose to over look…Its human nature to want to be “liked”…To “go along to get along”…..This was not who Jesus was nor can it be our way as Catholics today….Oscar Romero before he was killed was a quiet academic man…His country of El Salvador was “on fire” about to enter a civil war…..He was chosen as Archbishop because people “thought” that he was a “safe choice” and would not make “waves”….Then God stepped in!…..Oscar Romero’s friend was murdered…His friend’s name was Fr Rutilio Grande García……Fr Rutilio was a man of the people, who defended the poor…When Fr Rutilio was murdered something in Oscar Romero “snapped”…He became the voice of the people like Fr Rutilio…He became fearless…He stood up for the voiceless and powerless.…And like Jesus he was murdered too…However, to this very day…Oscar Romero is remembered as a saint…To this day he inspires people and nations who are being persecuted as El Salvador once was…And to this day…Oscar Romero reigns in heaven with the Carpenter from Nazareth, who taught him what it meant to be a Catholic man

“There can be no freedom as long as there is sin in the heart. What’s the use of changing structures? What’s the use of violence and armed force if the motivation is hatred and the purpose is to buttress those in power or else to overthrow them and then create new tyrannies? What we seek in Christ is true freedom, the freedom that transforms the heart, the freedom the risen Christ announces to us today, “Seek what is above”