“Transcendence means looking toward the eternal, toward God, toward the divine. Only when the material things of the world and the wealth of the earth are viewed in relation to God who created them do they have any meaning. When we view the riches and the goods of the earth without taking God into account, all things are vanity. That is what the Council says in a succinct phrase from the Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: ‘Without the Creator, the creature would disappear’.… Things have no meaning in themselves; they have only that autonomy of which the Council speaks. That is, things have their being, their beauty, their own value because God has given it to them. In this sense, things recover their full beauty when they are viewed with that transcendence, with that orientation, with that basic perspective toward God. Then they are no longer vanity but have their proper beauty even while mindful that that they are receiving it all from God….
“The mission of the church, as clearly stated by the Council, is not social or political or economic; it is a religious mission (GS 42). The mission of the church is to give a religious, transcendent dimension to politics and to all earthly affairs. That is why the church feels intimately connected to the things of this world: she knows how to unite them with the will of the Creator. When people subordinate these created realities to sin, then the church must denounce this. That is not how God wants things to be used. Greed is not the law of earthly things. Nor is it selfishness. Things are not possessed only to make a few people happy. The will of God, who has created all things for the happiness and welfare of all persons, demands that we in the church give these things a transcendent meaning, their true meaning according to God’s will.
“This is, then, the mission of the church in today’s world: urging people to view with transcendence their own attitudes and all the political, economic, and social realities of earth. Temporal duties, human rights, everything belonging to the earth—all of these are of great interest to the church, not because they are the goals of her mission but because her mission is precisely to give them a transcendent meaning and to orient people’s hearts toward God. Once converted to God, these hearts will create a better world, a world more in conformity with the will of God, a world in which we feel we are brothers and sisters, all with a sense of transcendence toward the Creator….
“Life and the things life gives us have no meaning in themselves. They are emptiness, they dissipate, they become diluted as long as we do not see their origin, which is God who gives them their being, their beauty, and their consistency. If God gives beauty and consistency to the earthly things we possess, then we cannot use them without having our eyes set on God in order to ask him how he wants us to use them. Let us not forget God, and let us not forget that one day we will have to give an accounting. Our attitude with regard to the things of earth will receive a response from God, either a reward or a punishment. Let earthly things be used the way God wants them to be used and not in any other way.
“In fulfilling this obligation the church suffers persecution and incomprehension, but the church cannot speak in any other way. She is bound to disturb those who want to rest on the laurels of their goods, their triumphs, and their power. The church must remind them, ‘Senseless ones, do you not know that you must give an account to God for these things? Have you forgotten that things have their reason for being, their existence, their consistency, their value, their beauty only because God is giving these qualities? So use them as God intended them to be used, with a sense of transcendence.’” (July 31, 1977)
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“The church is a lamp that must shed light, and therefore it must involve itself in concrete realities in order to enlighten those who are pilgrims on this earth. This is the church’s job; without leaving her proper sphere, she undertakes the difficult task of shedding light on our realities. The church defends the right of association, and she promotes the dynamic activity of raising consciousness and organizing the common people to bring about peace and justice. From her vision of the Gospel, the church supports the same just objectives that the people’s organizations seek, but she also denounces the injustices and the acts of violence committed by the organizations. That’s why the church cannot be identified with any organization, not even with those that call themselves and feel themselves to be Christian…
“We encourage the organized forces to struggle with honor and to use legitimate means of pressure. Never place your trust in violence. Never allow your just demands to be poisoned with ideologies of violence. The church, sisters and brothers, is a lamp in the night; not only does she shed light on these present social problems, but she also illumines the moral intimacy of matrimony, the moral intimacy of the source of life. The church is also against abortion and against all immorality. She is against vice and everything that is darkness, everything that leads people along paths of perdition. The lamp of the transfigured Christ desires to transfigure our people!
“And so Christ turns to us, and I make bold to interpret his words this morning. In thefirst place he turns to the people, to those who suffer, to those who bear the cross of tribulation, and he tells them, «Become worthy of God’s love». The church is with the poor not just because they’re poor. The poor also must be called to account when they claim only their rights and aren’t mindful of their duties; the poor must try to develop themselves, get an education, and work to succeed. Poverty is not just a matter of lacking things; it means having a spirit open to receiving everything from God.
“I also want to tell those who have abundant goods to learn to share. On this morning that anticipates the morning of the final judgment, our Divine Redeemer still holds out to us the opportunity: ‘Whatever you’ve done for them, you’ve done for me’ (Matt 25:40). This is not a request for alms; it’s a demand for social justice.…
“As for the political parties, the professional organizations, the cooperatives, the people’s movements—this morning the Lord wants to inspire in you the mystique of his divine transfiguration in order to transfigure you as well, not by organized force and not by futile methods or mystiques of violence, but with a truly authentic liberation. Keep in mind the spectacle we behold this morning: people who believe, people who hope in God. Let us not despise this religious sense of our people. Let us not import forces from outside, where they know nothing of the marvels of El Salvador. Let us know how to find in the soul of our own people the power that Christ is giving them for their own redemption.
“To those who bear on their hands or in their consciences the burden of bloodshed, of assaults, of victims (whether innocent or guilty, they are victims with human dignity), I say this: be converted! You cannot find God on those paths of torture and brutality. God is found on the paths of justice, conversion, and truth.
“To those who have received the tremendous charge of governing, I remind you in the name of Jesus Christ how urgent it is to find solutions and pass just laws for the sake of that vast majority of people who have pressing problems of livelihood, of land, of wages. For Christians the good of everyone, the common good, has to be an impulse like charity. Keep in mind that all the people desire the right to participate because everyone can contribute something to the common good of the nation. Now more than ever a strong authority is needed; it should not be authority that unifies mechanically or despotically but a moral force based on the freedom and responsibility of all. Strength is needed to bring all the diverse forces together for the welfare of the country despite their differences of opinion and even hostility toward one another. Give people the opportunity to organize. Repeal the unjust laws. Grant amnesty to those who have broken laws that do not serve the common good. Stop intimidating the people, especially those in the countryside. Either set free or prosecute in the courts those who have been disappeared or unjustly jailed. Allow the return to the country of those who have been expelled or kept from returning for political reasons.
“Finally, dear sisters and brothers, the voice of Christ becomes more intimate for those of us who form his church. I’ve made it clear that the people of God, those who will one day be the holy people of the Most High, are not the same as the non-religious groups that the church sometimes helps. They are a people close to Christ; we could almost say they are Christ’s clothing. We are his bishops, his priests, his religious, his catechists, and his communities; we are nourished by the word of God and try to follow the Lord closely. For us more than anyone else the word of Christ becomes a command so that we truly become a church that shines like a lamp in the night, a church that is not confused with other lights but always gives forth the pure light of Christ. The church, sisters and brothers, reveals the transfigured Christ. In a word, dear sisters and brothers, Salvadorans and foreigners, we are all God’s people. Let us create in the midst of the Salvadoran nation a people of God that is truly the church of the Divine Savior.” (August 6, 1978).
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“The feast of the Divine Savior of the World bestows a transcendent meaning on all of our efforts to apply the spirit of Puebla to the archdiocese. Through his transfiguration Christ is telling us that this is our goal: to become new, transfigured men and women, clothed in God, people of whom God can say, ‘My beloved child with whom I am well pleased’ (Mark 9:7). In the first reading Daniel saw the figure of a man surrounded by the glory of God (Dan 7:13). Scripture scholars say that this figure is the glorified Christ, surrounded by all those who are saved. This is the transfiguration we long for: a church that will be glorified but that never loses sight of her exalted destiny while still on pilgrimage.
“And the second thing we want to say today is that each one of us, according to his or her own vocation, should accept this challenge that the Divine Savior of the world presents to our people. All of us who are church should be more identified as church within our particular charisms, within our own congregations, within our personal vocations as married or single, rich or poor, professional or laborer. Let us incarnate Christ’s challenge to us so that each one of us collaborates fully in the transfiguration of our homeland.” (August 6, 1979).
