A Future Not Our Own

Oscar A. Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, in El Salvador, was assassinated on march 24, 1980, while celebrating Mass in a small chapel in a cancer hospital where he lived. He had always been close to his people, preached a prophetic gospel, denouncing the injustice in his country and supporting the development of popular and mass organizations. He became the voice of the Salvadoran people when all other channels of expression had been crushed by the repression.  A prayer was composed by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw for a celebration of departed priests that continues to be used on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Bishop Romero.  I think it is a powerful prayer as we start a new year.  It reminds us that we plant the seeds of future promise but our vision is limited and we cannot do everything but we can do something.

It helps now and then to step back and take a long view.

The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,

it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a 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 include everything.

This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one

day will grow. We water the seeds already planted

knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of

liberation in realizing this.

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 the Lord'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.

In 2018, may we be about planting seeds and laying foundations trusting that the Lord's grace will enter and do the rest.

Author Info: Peggy Roberts

Chaplain Peggy Roberts is Vice President of the Spiritual Life Department here at Beatitudes. Peggy was ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and has served in pastoral ministry as well as being a hospice chaplain.