Today’s Word:
“O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you” (Psalm 102:2)
On This Date…
On March 24, 1980, Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated while celebrating Mass in a cancer hospital where he lived; he was 63 years of age, archbishop for just three years, and a voice for the poor and victims of violence. He had said, “If I am killed, I shall arise in the Salvadoran people.” On February 3, 2015 Pope Francis declared Archbishop Romero a martyr; he will be beatified in San Salvador on May 23, 2015.
On March 24, 1985, Abbot Norbert Calmels, O.Praem., died in Paris of cancer at age 76. He was Abbot General of the Norbertine Order from 1962 to 1982, and was at Daylesford Abbey for the abbatial blessing of Abbot Neitzel in 1971. During the last hours of his life, strengthened by the Sacrament of the Sick, he had “a childlike look of wonder turned toward the invisible.”
At Kenosis today Mr. Gabriel prayed, “O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you”. Archbishop Romero and Abbot Calmels were models of such prayer.
– Father McLaughlin