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.
Women are often meeker in meetings and afraid to ask for raises and promotions. I've told countless female colleagues to stop apologizing when they ask for more. It's not personal, it's business.
Leaders donβt complain about whatβs not working. Leaders celebrate what is working and work to amplify it.
I only met Margaret Thatcher twice. The thing that I thought about meeting her was how extraordinarily intelligent she was. You really had to be on your game otherwise she'd make mincemeat of you.
I don't want to see the military falling. I want to see the military rising to dignified heights of professionalism and true patriotism.
In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war.
There's no other job in public life that is like chairman of the Fed.
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