A man of God, Mgr Roméro is considered as the voice of the poor, of minorities, victims of the oppressing power. The people canonised him and that is why he is for many today ‘Saint Roméro of America’.

Around 60 of us had come together at Palermo in Bogota to commemorate the death 34 years ago of Monsignor Roméro of El Salvador. The group included many who participate in the “little houses of the Bible” (people who get together to read the Bible in relation to their life and their environment)

In this celebration I found several symbols full of colour, life and simplicity.

• The dinner prepared uniquely by the men in the group (a role which in our male chauvinist society is reserved to women)

• People very engaged in the cause of Jesus. Assuming different roles in the Church, they promote the church base communities (CBCs), they are district leaders, house wives. They are men and women who have understood that the “Word of God is alive and efficacious”, and that it can transform their lives into a way of fulfilment and humanisation.

• It is in the spirit of the « little houses of the Bible » that the anniversary of Mgr Roméro is celebrated every year. It is a remembrance of the defence of the voiceless, it is being alongside those whom today’s society of consummation and particular interests wants to silence and make disappear.

Mgr Romero, a month before his death, said : « If they kill me, I will be resurrected in my people »; and it is that that one feels so much in El Salvador as in many other parts of the world. The spirit of this radical saint did not die with him, and it is still alive in the people who live for the service of justice, of truth and of the dignity of every person.

In this celebration one can also make the parellel between the first anniversary of the service of Pope Francis, the so-called “springtime of the Church” and the prediction of Mgr Roméro.

Those present at this event would agree on the richness of the sharing, the variety of opinions which helped us to have a critical take on what we are living in this moment, to situate ourselves with regard to this life and to discover that God comes to meet us at the very heart of our lives both personal and corporate (R.L. # 7) and that we can also help others to discover and follow Him.

The prediction of Mgr Romero, his radical options and the present-day pastoral approach of Pope Francis, are they not an inspiration for our options as Daughters of Jesus?

Hna. Viviana Carolina Forero Angulo, H. J.