Romero: 'a force for good in Americas and whole world' + text

l-r: Pat Gaffney with Archbishop Adams and Julian Filochowski after the Mass

Archbishop Oscar Romero was described as "a force for good in the Americas and in the whole world" by the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain at Saturday's Mass to mark the 101st anniversary of Romero's birth.

United States Archbishop Edward J Adams was speaking at St George's Cathedral, Southwark, at the service organised by the Archbishop Romero Trust in the lead-up to Romero's Canonisation in October. Bishop John Rawsthorne, a trustee of the Archbishop Romero Trust, concelebrated and it was attended by around 200 people, including representatives of Pax Christi, Westminster and Southwark J&P, Columban JPIC, and the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace.

"Romero was a good man and a good priest" continued Archbishop Adams "who was the Lord's voice and the Lord's instrument, who wanted nothing more than to serve God's people". He referred to Romero being in company with other bishop martyrs, and singled out John Fisher and Thomas Becket in Britain. As the Mass ended the concelebrants visited the Romero shrine in a side chapel, which contains the four-metre high Romero Cross, containing a fragment of Archbishop Romero's blood-stained alb and his zucchetto.

Stirring Justice and Peace hymns included Bernadette Farrell's 'God has chosen me', Chris Olding's 'God you raise up true disciples' and Marty Haugen's Mass of Creation was sung. The music leader was Fr Alan McLean of Southwark Archdiocese. There were bidding prayers for El Salvador and for trouble spots in Central America marred by violence. Also, prayers for the work of the Archbishop Romero Trust. The Mass concluded with a commitment by the congregation to "witness to the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the people of our time".

Archbishop Romero was assassinated by a sniper on 24 March 1980 while saying Mass in San Salvador. It happened one day after he gave a sermon calling on Salvadoran soldiers, as Christians, to obey God's higher order and to stop blindly following orders to kill and massacre fellow campesinos. About 80,000 people died and 12,000 disappeared during the war in the Central American nation.

Romero's beatification service in May 2015 drew 250,000 onto the streets of San Salvador. He will be canonised in Rome on 14 October. Julian Filochowski, chair of the UK-based Archbishop Romero Trust, will be amongst a large party from Britain attending the ceremony and he led a toast to Romero at the celebration afterwards.

Forthcoming Archbishop Romero events in Britain:

National Mass of Thanksgiving for the Canonisation of Archbishop Romero
Saturday, 3 November at 12.30pm, St George's Cathedral, Southwark
Principal celebrant: Archbishop Peter Smith; Homily: Archbishop Bernard Longley

Solemn Evensong in Thanksgiving for the Canonisation of Archbishop Romero
Saturday, 17 November at 3pm, Westminster Abbey
Address to be given by Cardinal Vincent Nichols

For more information see: www.romerotrust.org.uk

Read the full homily text below:

As the Representative of the Holy Father in this Country, I am happy to be here and to pray with you, as we remember the 101st Anniversary of the Birth of Blessed Oscar Romero.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord never abandons his people, especially in their suffering. He sees the malice of human beings, He hears the cries of pain of the men and women who endure that malice, and He doesn't fail to help them.

Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero Galdámez was the Lord's voice, the Lord's instrument, who strove to build peace with the power of love; who bore witness to God with his life, loyal to God and loyal to God's People, to the end.

This is the role of a good bishop, to bring God and His love to suffering humanity. The Lord granted to the Church in Central America, a bishop of this kind.

Óscar Arnulfo Romero Galdámez was a good man and a good priest, who loved God and who wanted nothing more than to serve God's People. In times that were difficult, Archbishop Romero was the one who led, defended and protected his fellow human beings, remaining faithful to the Lord, and faithful to the truth of His Gospel.

Archbishop Romero spoke out, even when it was difficult for him, making it clear that when justice and human dignity are threatened, the Gospel is threatened.

He denounced violence no matter from what side it was carried out, a violence that consumed his dear Country: he wept at so much bloodshed, so much hatred, so much cruelty. The extreme left and the extreme right, for different reasons, worked together for the destruction of a People. Bishop Romero, in the name of God, begged all parties to come to their senses, he begged them to change.

Oscar Romero was the voice of the Lord to all, but especially to those who in their agony cried out for help. And at the moment of his death, while he celebrated the Mass-the Mystery of Christ's saving death-he identified himself fully with the Holy One, the Lord who gave his life for his sheep.

Archbishop Romero is one of the number of martyrs of our time. But his death joins him with other bishops throughout history who gave their lives for speaking the truth. St. John Fisher comes immediately to mind, along with St. Thomas Becket in this Country. But there have been so many others. What happened to Romero links him to mankind's blood-stained history, from John the Baptist onward.

We give thanks to God because He granted to Father Oscar, Bishop and Martyr, the gift of seeing and hearing the suffering of his people. We give thanks to the God of mercy who touched the heart of this good priest, so that he could speak the truth and at the same time teach, inspire and console his people.

The voice of Bishop Oscar Romero continues to be heard today. He reminds us that the Church, all of us called together in the name of the Lord, is the family of God, in which there should be no division. He tells us that we must believe in God and above all live as Jesus taught us.

Our Father, Bishop Oscar Romero, invites us to love and not to hate. He tells us to renounce "the violence of the sword", but also the violence of the word. He invites us in a polarized world to live in a new way, where the force of love predominates over the love of force.

He tells us that the love that left Christ nailed to the Cross, can enable us to overcome selfishness, the selfishness that hides itself in an unwillingness to give to others.

Those who hold this holy man as a friend of faith, willingly invoke him as protector, find in him inspiration, ask his intercession and follow his example.

May Father Romero's martyrdom continue to be a force for good: in the Americas and in the whole world; and, how can we not say it, in that nation which bears the name of the divine Saviour of the world, El Salvador. Amen.