Archbishop Romero’s Diary-1979

[💠🎋Lanina🎋💠]

Wednesday, February 28

It is Ash Wednesday and the principal event, in terms of liturgy, was the beginning of Lent at seven-thirty p.m. in the Coraz6n de Maria Church. The vicariate of this residential zone of San Salvador had invited me to celebrate the beginning of Lent with them, and I took advantage of the occasion to invite the whole archdiocese and give a diocesan character to the ceremony. This helped to fill the church completely, and the participation of the people added to the fervor. All the priests of the vicariate concelebrated.

The ceremony of penitential ashes turned out to be very impressive, the people of that neighborhood receiving the testimony of true humility and human equality of the ashes and the sense of penitence along with humble people from the villages. A general absolution with the appropriate cautions and a homily that reminded them of the sense of conversion to which the Church calls us-all this contributed to a fervent Lenten beginning. I hope, with the grace of God, that this will result in great blessings for the entire archdiocese.

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March 1979

Thursday, March 1

In the morning, a great deal of activity and many visits at the chancery. One of the most interesting was that by a group of pastoral workers who prepare people for Baptism who are coming to work with the catechumens[111] that already exist among us.

In the afternoon, celebration of the traditional Holy Hour at the Divine Providence Hospital.

I had dinner with Bishop Rivera, with whom I talked mainly about our life as bishops in El Salvador and about the Puebla meeting. We also talked about the visit to San Miguel that will take place soon, on March 10, when all the bishops will take the Puebla document to Our Lady of Peace. We agreed that we should provide a united front while, at the same time, expressing our disagreement with the anomalies of the Bishops' Conference.

I had a conversation with Dr. Semsch that was very helpful for me psychologically. At night, a meeting with the young business leader, Mr. Muyshondt, to plan the meeting that will take place tomorrow at his house in Colonia San Benito.

111 Candidates for Baptism.

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[💠🎋Lanina🎋💠]

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