John Menadue

OSCAR ROMERO. Advent readings from a modern martyr.

He sent the rich away empty handed.

The person who feels the emptiness of hunger for God is the opposite of the self-sufficient person. In this sense, rich means the proud, rich means even the poor who have no property but who think they need nothing, not even God. This is the wealth that is abominable in God’s eyes, what the humble but forceful Virgin speaks of: “He sent away empty-handed the rich” those who think they have everything “and filled with good things the hungry” those who have need of God. (Luke 1:53.) December 3, 1978

Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador (1977-1980). He was murdered because he spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations and torture while he was celebrating the Eucharist in a Catholic hospital on March 24, 1980. He was proclaimed a saint by Pope Francis in Rome on October 14, 2018

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John Menadue

John Menadue is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations. He was formerly Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.

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