The Long View

This weekend, I was attending an ecclesiastical council of one of our association students in discernment. It was a great occasion. In the bulletin was a prayer attributed to Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated while serving Mass in a small chapel in a cancer hospital. If you haven't seen the movie, "Romero," starring Raul Julia, I highly recommend it. Romero was made archbishop of El Salvador because he seemed so timid, so humble, he probably wouldn't cause waves. Were they in for a surprise. When Romero became archbishop, he witnessed the suffering and oppression of his people at the hands of a brutual government and became the tireless voice of justice on their behalf.

In any case, this prayer spoke to me that day, and speaks to all of us who often get frustrated when our efforts seem like a "drop in the bucket."

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
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.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
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.

Amen.