We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the importance of service and humility in leadership, emphasizing collective efforts towards a greater future.
Oscar Romero's quote reflects the idea that individuals in positions of leadership should prioritize their roles as servants and contributors to a larger vision rather than seeking power or glory. It suggests that true leadership is about working together for a future that may not directly benefit oneself, but serves a greater purpose and the community as a whole.
In practice
In a speech about community engagement, one might say, 'As Oscar Romero beautifully expressed, we are workers, not master builders, emphasizing the importance of service over power.'
Beautiful is the moment in which we understand that we are no more than an instrument of God; we live only as long as God wants us to live; we can only do as much as God makes us able to do; we are only as intelligent as God would have us be.
When the church hears the cry of the oppressed it cannot but denounce the social structures that give rise to and perpetuate the misery from which the cry arises.
Aspire not to have more, but to be more.
A Christian's authenticity is show in difficult hours it is in difficult hours that the church grows in authenticity. Blest be God for this difficult hour in our archdiocese. Let us be worthy of it.
The church would betray its own love for God and its fidelity to the gospel if it stopped being . . . a defender of the rights of the poor . . . a humanizer of every legitimate struggle to achieve a more just society . . . that prepares the way for the true reign of God in history.
It moves one's heart to think: Nine months before I was born there was a woman who loved me deeply. She did not know what I was going to be like, but she loved me because she carried me in her womb.
People talk about tactics, but when you look at it, tactics are just players. You change things so that the team can get the most out of the skills they have to offer, but you don't go any further than that.
You have to have a certain realism that government is a pretty blunt instrument and without the constant attention of highly qualified people with the right metrics, it will fall into not doing things very well.
The true leader must submerge himself in the fountain of the people.
In order to cultivate a set of leaders with legitimacy in the eyes of the citizenry, it is necessary that the path to leadership be visibly open to talented and qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity.
A great man left a watchword that we can well repeat: "There is no indispensable man"
For success of any mission, it is necessary to have creative leadership. Creative leadership is vital for government, non-governmental organisations as well as for industries.
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