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It helps,
now and then,
to step back
and take the long view.
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The kingdom is not only beyond our
efforts,
it is 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 another 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 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 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 God'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 not our
own. Amen
Oscar Romero,
Archbishop of San Salvador,
Martyred on March 24, 1980 |
