Have mercy on me, O God, for they trample over me;
all day long they assault and oppress me.
My adversaries trample over me all the day long;
many are they that make proud war against me.
In the day of my fear I put my trust in you,
in God whose word I praise.
In God I trust, and will not fear,
for what can flesh do to me?
Psalm 56. 1-4
The psalms always speak to and from the heart, and so often from a place of bitter despair, as we have here. This could be the cry from any war-zone, so we think especially today of Ukraine, but it is also the cry of any human being who feels ‘besieged’ or oppressed and misunderstood in any way by others, or another. Yet even by the end of the first four verses, we have this steadfast declaration of trust in God. For with him, what do we have to fear? And I think of Paul’s great declaration to the Romans, which builds on this: Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8. 35, 37-39).
What powerful words for the day on which we remember the assassination, the martyrdom of Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, on 24 March 1980, while celebrating Mass. He had spoken out against the social injustice and violence which was rife in the country at the time. He knew all about that ‘day of fear’ and about ‘adversaries’ trampling over him ‘all the day long’, but his trust in God was absolute: for, after all, what could flesh do to him?
Peace is not the product of terror or fear.
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty.
St Oscar Romero
Revd Canon Joanna Abecassis
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