Sainthood is a Journey of Hope

By Br. Anthony Kote-Witah, OFM Cap

We are so delighted to have another added two new born saints (SS. Paul VI and Romero) to the Church and we are privileged now to invoke their prevailing intercessions.

Pope Saint Paul VI (1897-1978) became pope of the Roman Catholic Church in 1963. He reigned during the great change, following the Second Vatican Council., canonized October 14, 2018.

Saint Paul VI presented an inspirational value on evangelization to empower the community of believers and leaned and lived on Christ’s mutual love of hope. Saint Paul VI encourages us in our witness to emulate Christ who proclaims salvation of God’s never-ending gift of freedom. The tangible Good News here is the liberation from oppression of the evil one and sin and to embrace God’s love because God is love. St. Paul VI emphasized that evangelization summoned us to be reunited together anew with Christ, the Lord of freedom.

Saint Paul VI also informed that the tendency of evangelization is to submerge us into inner transformation. Evangelization impels us to strive for conversion, restoration and reunification with Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit in our baptismal identity.

For St. Paul VI, evangelization invites and encourages us to the renewal of humanity. Evangelization activity strengthens our faithfulness in witnessing God’s love. So we are also called to share the true Gospel message with our neighbors and the larger community. It is our responsibility to reach out with the Good News of Christ to non-Christian religions, non-believers and the fallen away included. Evangelization reflects our vocation of hope when we witness Christ in our engagement activities.

So the value and activities of evangelization should enable us to commonly enrich each other with God’s abiding relationship. Evangelization would be impossible without the action of the Holy Spirit. Therefore witnessing Christ’s life is a fitting objective of evangelizing.

Saint Oscar Romero, archbishop of San Salvador (1917-1980) was also canonized Oct. 14, 2018.  Unlike St Paul VI, St. Oscar protested against the dictatorship in El Salvador. He advocated in defense of the poor that were defenseless victims of persistent violence in El Salvador. Like Jesus and Martin Luther King Jr, Romero affirmed his keenness as a paschal sacrificial victim for the “redemption and resurrection” of El Salvador.

Saint Oscar Romero indicated that the state of grace that the church proclaims is not hostility. It isn’t travelling to heaven and being engulfed with an eternal embrace and overlooking the earthly problems faced by the poor daily.  Rather, it is the conviction and conversion of human hearts. It is stepping into the shoes of the poor in advocating for their rights. It is embracing their daily crosses with them so as to restore their identity as beloved children of God, like us. St. Romero emphases that we are called to reestablish hope of the marginalized and ensure that they are useful and valuable. St. Oscar said: "Each one of you has to be God’s microphone [witness] to be a messenger, and prophet." Therefore we are all summoned to advocate for the poor so to reinstate peace. How so? Peace is not an invention of violence, torture or fear. Rather, peace reflects generous support for one another’s uprightness.

The violence St. Romero preached is not the violence of the sword or the violence of hatred. Rather, it is the violence of immeasurable love. In our journey of hope, let’s preach the violence of unconditional love, which flows from the cross of Calvary.  May we share hope by witnessing Christ in our engagement activities to promote evangelization and advocating for the rights of the impoverished. 

See also:
St. Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi (December 8, 1975)
St. Oscar A. Romero, The Violence of Love