A Prophetic Bishops Speaks to his People: Volume 2 (Convivium Press)

A Prophetic Bishops Speaks to his People: Volume 2 is the second of six planned volumes in Convivium Press' ambitious project to publish all of Archbishop Oscar Romero's homilies. I am going to provide the same background information I provided in my review of the first volume.

Oscar Romero was born in 1917 and died in March of 1980 (three years before I was born). He was the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador and spoke bravely against social injustice, poverty, and other issues affecting people in his city. He died a martyr, being assassinated while offering Mass. Many people proclaim him a proponent of liberation theology (interpreting Scripture and the Christian faith through the experience of the poor), but according to Romero's biographer he was not interested in liberation theology.

Archbishop Oscar Romero is credited with delivering 193 homilies while he was Archbishop. They were broadcast on the radio for everyone to hear and later transcribed and published. Due to the nature of radio broadcasts, there are times that not all the words were intelligible or caught on the tape recording. A Prophetic Bishops Speaks to his People: Volume 2 contains 44 homilies, which span from November 27, 1977 (the First Sunday of Advent) to May 28, 1978 (Feast of Corpus Christi). Many of the homilies in this book were given on Sunday or major Feast days with a few exceptions. Also, unfortunately, the homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent is missing. Aside from that omission, I would like to tell you about some homilies that stood out to me.

For starters, I love a good homily on the First Sunday of Advent. It's a new year, a fresh start, and it's also a perfect time to reflect on the past year and set the stage for the coming year. Archbishop Romero accomplished all of that and tied it into the specific readings for that day beautifully. One of the more difficult homilies to read was the second one which was "To the Mothers, for their Disappeared Children." The readings for this Mass were carefully chosen to relate to this subject and Archbishop Romero's words in his homily had to be even more carefully chosen. It is a sensitive subject, which I can't even begin to imagine. However, he called the parents and the nation to peace and love and not to terrorism and retaliation. Those themes seem to be the common thread running through his words. The nation is in turmoil and there are horrible atrocities all around. However, we as God's people must not lose faith in Him or His Church. We must keep practicing what Jesus taught us and not become a people of violence and revenge. We must show love for our enemies and those who persecute us. We also must rely on God for judgment and not exact our own form of judgment. Like Volume 1, this is a series of powerful messages, and I look forward to continuing reading this series.

This book was provided to me for free by Convivium Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

A Prophetic Bishop Speaks to His People Volume 1 (Convivium Press)

Oscar Romero was born in 1917 and died in March of 1980 (three years before I was born). He was the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador and spoke bravely against social injustice, poverty, and other issues affecting people in his city. He died a martyr, being assassinated while offering Mass. Many people proclaim him a proponent of liberation theology (interpreting Scripture and the Christian faith through the experience of the poor), but according to Romero's biographer he was not interested in liberation theology. He was beatified on May 23, 2015 by Pope Francis.  Convivium Press has undertaken an ambitious project of publishing a six volume set of all his homilies, which are entitled A Prophetic Bishop Speaks to His People. Today, I am featuring Volume 1.

Archbishop Oscar Romero is credited with delivering 193 homilies while he was Archbishop. They were broadcast on the radio for everyone to hear and later transcribed and published. Due to the nature of radio broadcasts, there are times that not all the words were intelligible or caught on the tape recording. A Prophetic Bishop Speaks to His People Volume 1 contains 46 homilies, which span from March 14, 1977 to November 25, 1977. Many of the homilies in this book were given on Sunday, but sadly there are a couple of funeral Masses as well, which were given for assassinated priests.

Homily 28 was one of my favorite in this volume, as it discusses characteristics of the Church. Romero tells us that we must protect and defend the dignity of all human beings. He also tells us that our aim is not to turn our back on this world or worse, conform to this world, but instead we are called to transform the world and sanctify it. Romero also describes the Church using two words - missionary and pilgrim. We are called to be missionaries to the whole world by spreading the Gospel of Jesus, and we are on a pilgrimage to the heavenly Jerusalem. He also talks about the eschatological mission of the Church. Yes, we are called to help people and their physical needs down here, but it cannot stop there. We must point people to Heaven and instruct them that this world will one day pass, but there is an eternity one way or the other (Heaven or Hell), and that they will only find eternal happiness in Heaven.

Reading through these homilies, one can sense a great deal of wisdom in Romero's words. However, there is also great sadness in reading his words. It seems like every homily, he is discussing the assassinations and deaths of innocent priests and citizens. As indicated by the title of this series of books, one also sees a prophetic mission in his words. Romero was a lot like John the Baptist in that he had no fear in speaking out against what he knew in his heart was wrong. It ultimately cost them both their lives, and I believe they both knew that it would. The blood of the martyrs is indeed the seed of the Church, and because of Romero's death, reform eventually came in El Salvador. Three of the six volumes of his homilies have been published so far, and I can't wait to read more of them.

This book was provided to me for free by Convivium Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

The Art of Purifying the Heart (Convivium Press)

When requesting another book to review, I was also offered The Art of Purifying the Heart by Tomáš Špidlík. I admit that I was ignorant to who Špidlík was, but the book was endorsed by Fr. John Meyendorff, and that was enough for me to give it a chance. For those wondering like I was, Špidlík was a Jesuit priest who was made a Cardinal at the age of 83 by Pope John Paul II. Due to the age at which he was made a Cardinal, he never had voting rights, but he was Cardinal Deacon of Sant'Agata dei Goti Church in Rome. Cardinal Raymond Burke is now the Cardinal Deacon of that church.

The Art of Purifying the Heart is a brief (108 page) book that begins with an explanation of what evil is, It then moves on to the topics of temptation and sin. Next, we learn about vigilance and resisting temptation, discerning spirits, and the eight evil thoughts. Lastly, one learns about hesychasm and prayer of the heart. This last few chapters are probably unfamiliar to Western Christians/Roman Catholics, but to Eastern Christians, they will recognize these terms immediately.

The book is very carefully laid out and builds in a manner to help you grow in both prayer and your spiritual life. The book is simple and practical in its approach, but it presents Roman Catholics with a chance with a form of spirituality they might otherwise would not have been exposed to. As beautiful as the words in this book were, I encountered a bit of distractions due to some typos and the way some words were set apart. For example, instead of putting a word in bold, it would be surrounded by << >>. For that reason, I had to take away a star and only give this book 4 out of 5 stars. Try to get past these distractions though, and you will be richly rewarded.

This book was provided to me for free by Convivium Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!