“We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that”  

Words of wisdom from “The Romero Prayer,” from a priest inspired by the witness of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who was murdered 43 years ago today. In the 1970s, in the face of government injustice and violence, Romero led the church and everyday people into the public square with moral courage. He paid the price, shot to death inside a church while he celebrated holy communion. Declared a saint by the Catholic Church in 2018, Romero’s memorial day is March 24, the anniversary of his death. 

In the face of great challenges in our world today, may the closing words of the Romero Prayer speak to us.

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. 
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.

See the full prayer here, a video of the prayer set to music from Taize, and a moving video of Romero speaking here. For an excellent biography, see Óscar Romero’s Theological Vision: Liberation and the Transfiguration of the Poor by Edgardo Colón Emeric.

Chris Rice directs the Mennonite Central Committee United Nations Office in New York City. His new book is From Pandemic to Renewal: Practices for a World Shaken by Crisis. This article first appeared in Global Briefing Bulletin, published by the MCC UN Office.