Romero

in class (impact of abuse) on friday night, we watched the film Romero (1989). i'd seen the film about a decade ago, and have studied enough about liberation theology and nonviolent action to remain familiar with the story line long after having forgotten the details of the film itself. it's based on the true story of archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated/martyred in El Salvador on march 24th, 1980.

according to the film's portrayal, Oscar Romero was an introverted, academic, catholic priest who - when promoted from bishop to archbishop - would have prefered to remain in a study with his books than dealing with the political, economic, and humanitarian crises occurring in El Salvador at the time. the upper class Salvadorans urge him to remain theirs, as the reigning political parties have tended to have the church's support (at least outwardly via those in leadership), yet he is drawn further and further into the plight of the poor as he encounters the violence and injustice they face each day.

in the midst of a movie filled with injustice, abject poverty, violence, greed, and oppression, one scene in particular has stuck with me over the past week or so:

the Salvadoran government has occupied a town and turned the church into a barracks for the soldiers who are now in charge of the town. as the soldiers have overtaken the church and are not permitting Mass, Romero goes to pick up the consecrated (blessed) hosts (communion bread) of the Eucharist, because they cannot be left in this place that is no longer a church. as he enters, an officer confronts him and does not let him pass towards the altar. when Romero makes to step past him, the officer fires his automatic weapon at the tabernacle (where the hosts are stored) and the crucifix. Romero, frightened by this encounter, leaves the building. as he's about to enter the car, he realizes that he cannot just leave. in Catholic theology, once the host has been consecrated, it is believed to become the body of Christ, and is treated with the utmost reverence and respect. therefore, this archbishop proves to those around him that he is a man of God because he cannot allow the body of Christ to lay on the floor, but instead risks his life to pick up the pieces of the hosts - the body of Christ - that have been shot and now lay on the floor. he enters the church, walks past the officer, and on his hands and knees, begins to pick up the pieces of the fallen hosts. the officer, to instill fear and prove that he is the one in control, begins firing just over Romero's head, filling the wall behind the altar with bullet holes. Romero flinches, but continues to gather the pieces from the ground. eventually, the soldier pushes him over, and walks him out of the church at gunpoint. Romero gets in his car and leaves the village. but, just as he has passed the town limits, he returns to the town, to the people, to the church once again. as he exits the car, he begins to put on his vestments. all the townspeople have watched this encounter transpire, and their eyes are transfixed as he dons his robe and alb. once again, he walks towards the church, this time though, all the townspeople and the local priests join him as he enters the church. faced with so many civilians and religious, the soldiers step aside, as Romero stakes a claim for the church as God's house, not a barracks.

what struck me so deeply about this scene, was watching Romero handle the Eucharist - believed to be the very body of Christ - with such reverence, care, and adoration, with bullets flying over his head. it was beautiful to see him care for Jesus's body in such a way. but greater still, was his return to the town. in that, it showed Romero realizing that more sacred than the bread - the hosts - as the body of Christ, was the fact that the very people themselves -the church - were the body of Christ. well, maybe he didn't see it as more sacred, but it took until that moment for him to don his vestments, so maybe he did. but it was a visible reminder of the biblical passages regarding the church as the body of Christ, as well as Jesus's words that "whatever you do unto the least of these, that you do unto me." each person who entered the church with Romero upon his final entrance, each represented Jesus, in the flesh - and all of them together, as the church, were the very body of Christ. so Romero went to the town to retrieve - save - the body of Christ in the Eucharist, but found that the body of Christ was greater than the consecrated hosts because it was the living, breathing, community of believers that surrounded him.

it was a truly beautiful scene. and, if seen with an awareness of Catholic theology, and thus what Romero would have been thinking upon seeing the Eucharistic hosts shot at and laying on the floor, it adds an entire other dimension to watch his conversion from seeing only the bread, to the people as well, and to move to a place of understanding that he could not abandon the living, breathing, communal body of Christ that lived in that town just as he had not been able to leave the Eucharistic hosts laying on the ground exposed.