Ave Explores Series | The Saints | Week 3

My Friendship with St. Oscar Romero

by Vanesa Zuleta-Goldberg

I grew up with a great disliking for the saints. I had my reasons—all the saints I learned about in Sunday school were quiet and seemed to know how to say all the right things to God; they were presented to us as absolutely perfect; and of course, most shared with us were white.

My first real encounter coming to terms with my dislike for the saints occurred in college when I stumbled upon the writings of St. Oscar Romero. I had heard of Romero a bit here and there growing up, but all I knew was that he was a saint and that immediately placed him in the “he is probably perfect” box in my brain. One day I was scrolling through Facebook where someone shared a caption that highlighted parts of Romero’s work, The Violence of Love. I was completely thrown off by the title, and in reading the quote, soon found myself on Google searching for Romero.

His life is one of the things I believe the Holy Spirit put in my way to radicalize me to live a life centered on mercy and social justice. My friendship with Romeo was short-lived, though. I found myself intrigued with his work and his life but I soon got caught up in other things that seemed more down-to-earth and that had a greater effect on my life at the moment. I said farewell to Romero and moved on my journey, still hesitant when fellow Catholics would bring up the saints.

Romero was not done with our friendship, however. We reconnected two years later and this second encounter changed my outlook on the saints. I was working on my graduate thesis on Hispanic youth in the Church and had an awakening. I finally began to wrestle both with the racism I had experienced in my life and the lack of caring for social justice that the Church around me seemed to embody. My research led me once more to the writings of Romero and I realized that he was not this perfect person I had imagined him to be. His struggles mirrored my own struggles and his love for his people in El Salvador mirrored my love for the Hispanic community. His heart for social justice catapulted me into what has become a lifetime commitment to serving the Body of Christ through Catholic social justice, uplifting the dignity of the oppressed and marginalized. My radicalized heart for social justice was brought into fruition because of this friendship that I suddenly had with a priest I had never met. It was part of my conversion in seeing the saints as my friends who also loved the Body of Christ.

I slowly began to realize the humanity that each of the saints embody and I realized that they were flesh and soul like me: They, too, struggled and had moments of pain. They, too, rejoiced on their good days and maybe had days when they just wanted to stay in bed.

My newfound friendship with Romero taught me three things: As a Latina, I was created in the image and likeness of God; social justice was at the heart of the Gospel that changed my life; and sainthood does not equal perfection. Sainthood equals mercy, compassion, and forgiveness despite failure. Sainthood equals the fullness of life that in which God yearns for each of us to participate.

Let us never get caught up in a routine of perfection, but rather one of holiness that seeks to love as Christ did and to remember that the saint's journey with us daily as we discover our own path to sainthood.

Download this article as a PDF here.

 

Vanesa Zuleta-Goldberg is the director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries and Pastoral Juvenil for the Diocese of Las Cruces.

 

 

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