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11.15.05  Tuesdays Reflection

Once every three months, I spend a Sunday at O'Hare Airport in Chicago. This

time I was delighted to see that the Chaplaincy weekly publication listed

Ignacio Illacuria and Companions among Wednesday's "saints."

On this day in 1989, they wrote, an elite "anti-terrorist" force notorious

for its record of human rights abuses murdered Fr. Ignacio Illacuria, rector

of the University of Central America in El Salvador, five Jesuit professors,

their housekeeper Elba Romos and her 16-year-old daughter, Celina. "Those

seeking a meaning for their deaths could look to the Latin American church's

option for the poor or to the Jesuits' commitment to social justice. Indeed,

they could look to the Sermon on the Mount," says Robert Ellsberg in his

book, ALL SAINTS. "But the immediate context was the fraticidal war in El

Salvador, which in November 1989 had reached a critical stage." Notable

Salvadoran martyrs we have written about in this column include Archbishop

Oscar Romero (3/24/80) and the Four American Churchwomen (12/2/80). Ellsberg

goes on to say that Fr. Segundo Montes, one of those murdered, has spoken

for all his brothers when he explained to an interviewer his decision to

remain in El Salvador: "This is my country and these people are my people

... The people need to have the church stay with them in these terrible

times - the rich as well as the poor. The rich need to hear from us, just as

do the poor. God's grace does not leave so neither can we."

I see these words seconded in Spirit and Lifestyle:

VMM missionaries are listeners. Our witness will be seen when God's Spirit

is so strong within us that it is visible in our lives and actions. . .

Christ's mission is now ours. It is a call to be wherever there is injustice

of any kind..

VMM missioner in El Salvador, Elly, is leading a delegation of 120 for the

25th anniversary of the four churchwomen's murder. Please keep her in your

prayers as well as all those who will be in El Salvador for this event. Let

us keep in our prayers as well all the Central Americans who were devastated

by Hurricane Stan. The latest letter from Elly and Marty in El Salvador and

Beth in Guatemala talked of the widespread damage done to communities who

were already among the poorest. Keep in your prayers as well Chris

Trebatoski, VMM board secretary/treasurer, who is sick. Thank you to those

who sent in their vote for a slate of new members to the board. There's

still time to send in your vote.

Cecily