The wreath, with a candle marking each week of the season, is a traditional symbol of the Advent. (CNS photo/Lisa A. Johnston, St. Louis Review)
One of the things we briefly talked about was a few lines from what is commonly known as the “Oscar Romero Prayer,” even though he didn’t write it. Check the endnotes at the link above:
This prayer was first presented by Cardinal Dearden in 1979 and quoted by Pope Francis in 2015. This reflection is an excerpt from a homily written for Cardinal Dearden by then-Fr. Ken Untener on the occasion of the Mass for Deceased Priests, October 25, 1979. Pope Francis quoted Cardinal Dearden in his remarks to the Roman Curia on December 21, 2015. Fr. Untener was named bishop of Saginaw, Michigan, in 1980.
The line that came up is this:
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
For me, it’s very freeing, perhaps even joyful, this particular sense of liberation. I, and we, do the best we can with the time, energy, and resources available to us, knowing that we can’t do it all – and that there is a broad Christian community who is also working very hard to build the reign of God on earth.
If you don’t know the whole prayer, please do take a moment to read it and pray it, perhaps even make it a daily part of your advent spirituality.
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