If “uniformity” is not realistic or even desirable in the church, then what? If texts remain the same but interpretation is never finished, what is reliable? The unifier is this staggering story of redemption the church has to tell and the implication of hope for each person and for every person and all people it inspires. It is the community of believers who reliably repeat day after day, week after week and year after year, the remembrance of past redemption and hold onto the promise of continuing redemption that makes it possible to hope that “salvation is nearer than when we first became believers.” This envelops and supersedes every other matter and can turn the differences and diversity into a strength!
(In order to avoid losing your place on this page when viewing a
different link, I would suggest that you right click on that link
with your mouse and select “open in a new tab”. Then, when you have
finished reading that link, close the tab and you will return to
where you left off on this page. FWIW!)
Our reading from Matthew’s gospel today calls us to a harsh and dreadful love, one that speaks words we would rather not speak and hears words we would rather not hear.
Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador from 1977 to 1980, knew this harsh and dreadful love. He had the unenviable task of preaching to his people in a time when longstanding structural violence was breaking into outright civil war.
(Resources listed here reference more than one reading and are normally shorter than the resources listed under the individual texts above. If you are looking to link the readings, check these resources.)
(In order to avoid losing your place on this page when viewing a
different link, I would suggest that you right click on that link
with your mouse and select “open in a new tab”. Then, when you have
finished reading that link, close the tab and you will return to
where you left off on this page. FWIW!)
(In order to avoid losing your place on this page when viewing a
different link, I would suggest that you right click on that link
with your mouse and select “open in a new tab”. Then, when you have
finished reading that link, close the tab and you will return to
where you left off on this page. FWIW!)
