A Prayer of Oscar Romero

 

Curated from Bread for the World

This poem was composed by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw in November, 1979.
It draws inspiration from St Oscar Romero and now known as A Prayer of Oscar Romero.

A PRAYER OF OSCAR ROMERO

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything,
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders;
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future that is not our own.

Amen.

Campfire Bread Twists - Happy Feast Day

 

As a boy, when I was a scout, we enjoyed a very simple bread by making a dough from flour and water which we twisted around a stick and baked over the embers of our campfire. The important thing about bread, any bread, is not that you spend hours contemplating it, analysing it, trying to understand it, but that we eat it. It's a comfort food that relieves our hunger pangs and nourishes us, giving us strength to carry on our day or enjoy a night's sleep. This experience is always made so much more enjoyable when we eat as a family or group of friends.

Just as our camp fare has three elements, wheat, water and fire, together making one bread, so the Blessed Trinity has three Persons, together making one God; but the important thing about our God is not that we spend hours analysing and contemplating how the Blessed Trinity is constituted, but that we be nourished by the empowering love of our Father and the Christ-Son poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

On this Feast of the Most Holy Trinity may we all be so nourished among our families and friends.

Terry

Launching our North of 60 Project

Our Newmarket Conference is excited to tell you that we are launching a new project that will provide assistance to our neighbours in need in Sanirajak, Nunavut. To find out more, please watch this seven minute video.