Ministers of God, Ministers of the People: Testimonies of Faith from Nicaragua

Recently His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in his Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist as the 'mystery of liberation' and the 'food of love' reminds us the Holy Mother Church cannot 'stand in the sidelines in the struggle for justice.' Furthermore Our Holy Father writes: "We cannot remain passive before certain processes of globalization which not infrequently increase the gap between the rich and the poor worldwide. We must denounce those who squander the earth's riches, provoking inequalities that cry out to heaven (cf Jas 5:4)." "The Lord Jesus, the bread of eternal life spurs us to be mindful of the situations of extreme poverty in which a great part of humanity still lives: these are situations for which human beings bear a clear and disquieting responsibility." " . . .less than half of the huge sums spent worldwide on armaments would be more than sufficient to liberate the immense masses of the poor from destitution. This challenges the human conscience." "The food of truth demands that we denounce inhumane situations in which people starve to death because of injustice and exploitation, and it gives us renewed strength and courage to work tirelessly in the service of the civilization of love. From the beginnings, Christians were concerned to share their goods (cf. Acts 4:32) and to help the poor (cf. Rom. 15:26)." Therefore as Catholics it falls incumbenbt upon us to review our recent past and the courageous and orthodox work of our faithful and good Shepherds who lead the way prophetically in realizing this eschatalogical vision defined most recently by Our Holy Father in Sacramento de La Caridad: Sacramentum Caritatis as quoted above. We do well to revisit the biographies of such great churchmen as Mystic of liberation: A portrait of Pedro Casaldaliga and The impossible dream: The spirituality of Dom Helder Camara and of course Voice of the Voiceless: The Four Pastoral Letters and Other Statements or the beatified Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero. Here we have three in one, a book which introduces us to three good priests who gave their all, who put their lives on the line for their people of God, who placed their careers at risk in all areas, who received scorn and chastisement and scandal for their sacrifice for Christ and His Gospel, whose very lives became a sacrament of the scandal which is the Holy Cross. Please read this book once more to live their courageous witness for Christ and His Church in service to the poor and to peace and to justice, as Jesus commands us in Love. By this book we receive His strength and prophetic courage and his compassion and love. Read this book. Take and read and know what a fine Church we ever are. Strongly recommended for every Catholic to understand our Church and our role as Catholics in this world of sufering and injustice denounced by Our Holy Father in his Apostolic Exhortation, in which he compells us as communicants to serve the poor and their justice, God's justice, citing the Go