August 4

Today started off with a little rund up and down the stairs of the old orphanage where we are staying. After breakfast, we had a brief, but wonderful devotion by pastor Brian. He was talking about Oscar Romero's martyrdom (what Oscar himself considered less than martyrdom), or his suffering if you will. Brian related this to a scripture reading: in Matthew 16, when Jesus asks "But who do you say that I am?" and Peter replies "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Brian explained that we often end the scripture reading here, with Peter's correct reply. However, after this, Jesus speaks about his death and Peter cries out against what Jesus says he will endure. Jesus responds by saying "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." Brian indicated that this is the worst insult that Jesus could have given him. I think I have interpreted this Jesus' anger to be the result of Peter's questioning God's will, but Brian added more. He said that Jesus' response was directed at Peter because he questioned suffering and its necessity. He added that suffering is an integral part of our Christian walk. This really made me think because I have never suffered for my faith! I've been comfortable my entire life and I wonder what God thinks of this. So many people gave up their lives to fight for social justice. Oscar Romero was shot while performing Holy Communion, because he spoke out against social injustices and against the violence of the government. In the late 70's, the USA started to give $$ to the El Salvadorean government for military initiatives. Basically, the USA was providing the weapons to kill the poor. Miguel told us:
many people ask, "why was it a matter of church
vs. government? The church shouldn't have anything
against the law..." The reality is that the government
was fighting against the poor, and the church took the
side of the poor.
Today we visited a church where many people were shot after running inside during a protest that became violent. The front doors of this church used to be decorated with colourful stained glass, but today the detail is filled in with clear glass and the bullet holes remain, so that no one will foget what happened there.
After this, we went to the cathedral where Oscar often preached, and is buried downstairs. We saw many people asking for intercession by his tomb. We then travelled to the hospital grounds where Romero lived. Once he was elected Arch Bishop, the people tried and tried to get him to live somewhere fancy. He insisted that he live with the people . Likewise, when the government would offer him protection, he would respond with a request to protect the PEOPLE. Ironically, it was a government soldier that shot Romero in 1980 in the chapel, on the grounds where he lived. For a short while, he lived in a house on the grounds, which the patients and others build as a surprise for his birthday.
After visiting the hospital grounds, we went to a famous chicken place for lunch, and then to the market. After that, we visited a park with a huge wall in it. Here, all the names of the known homocides as well as the disappearances (30 000 out of the 70 000 that died) were written. The wall was resurrected in 2005, but unfortunately the names are already starting to wear off. We saw Miguel's brother's name, Oscar Romero's name, and thousands of others. 1979 and 1980 had the most names, as the war began in 1979. I feel so fortunate to have seen everything that I did today!!