Resucitaré

I walked up to him and something brought me to my knees. I'm not Catholic, I'm not a kneeler, but there I was kneeling and praying. The woman next to me had a towel to dry her tears. The man on my other side seemed so relieved to be there, it was as if you could feel the heaviness of his life melting away. There were children running around one of the columns in the crypt. There were tourists taking photos.

I was touching the wooden sculpture of Oscar Romero. The beautiful harmonies of the singers whirled around me. I closed my eyes and I felt Romero's presence - calling for peace and healing. I felt the suffering of this country and their longing to thrive. Tears welled up in my eyes.

We all need to be healed. And then healed again. Perhaps there is no true healing - only moving forward. With hope.

We first arrived at the huge mass in the beautiful cathedral. But we were in the wrong place. We headed downstairs, to the crypt where Romero was buried. A smaller group of 100 people were gathered. There were people in jeans, people in dresses. There was a quote on the pulpit from Monsenor Romero. "If I die, I will return in the spirit of my people".

Various women read from the bible, about loaves and fishes and how we must share with each other to survive. Songs were sung. A sermon was preached by a priest who has been moved twice to different churches because he was "too political". 

In the middle of the service I saw a simple elderly woman in a little white dress. She was moving slowly towards Romero's sculpture with a bouquet of flowers. She arrived at the place where he is buried and paused for a moment. A holy moment.

Being at that mass was one of the first times I have felt church community, and God's presence in a holy place. We are not evangelical, nor are we Catholic, so our church is the greenness of our backyard.

It made me miss having a church, a spiritual home. But for now I will find it in my hammock, in the sunrise, in the smiles of the children we serve.

"Let us not forgot; we are a pilgrim children, subject to misunderstanding, to persecution, but a church that walks serene, because it bears the force of love."

-Oscar Romero