The booklet that I use for daily reflections includes a “Blessed Among Us” page which is, often, but not always, about the official saint of the day. Today “The Martyrs of El Mazote” is featured with a brief account of the December 11-12, 1981 massacre by Salvadoran troops of over a thousand innocent people known to be non-partisan. The 80’s was an extremely violent period for the people of El Salvador. Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated March 24, 1980. On December 2, 1980, four churchwomen—Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, and lay missionary Jean Donovan—became victims of escalating violence toward church members who sided with the poor in El Salvador. For speaking the truth to power, the Jesuit Central American University was targeted in 1989 and on November 16 Jesuit priests Ignacio Ellacuria, Ignacio Martín, Segundo Montes, Juan Ramon Moreno, Juaquin Lopez y Lopez and Amando Lopez along with women on their staff, Elba Ramos and Celina Ramos were killed.
When each name is called, I ask myself, “Can I respond, “Presente”?
