Many people’s favorite part of the Santa Clara University is the Mission. Many people love the beautiful stained glass, mood lighting, beautiful gold trimmings, big statues of saints, and, most of all, the community that gathers there every week. I feel the same way. Our campus is very beautiful, but the Mission represents the heart and soul of our campus. It is a place to pray, to study, to reflect, to read, to think, to separate, to discern, to simply do anything you need. But, my favorite part of the Mission Church aren’t those beloved stained glass windows or the shiny statues, my favorite part of the Mission Church are the white crosses that stand about two and a half feet tall directly in front of this sacred place.

They represent everything that I believe Christians, Catholics, and the Jesuits stand for. They represent the unwavering love of God on this Earth. They represent the flickering and never dimming light of hope for the marginalized. They represent everything that Jesus calls Christians to sacrifice on a daily basis: yourself. But, I’m sure you’re wondering what these white crosses stand for. That’s what I’m here to tell you about today.

There are eight crosses split four and four in front of the Mission Saint Clare de Asis that proudly display the names of eight martyrs. These eight martyrs, six Jesuits and two women, are the Universidad de Centro America martyrs. On November 16, 1989, the Salvadoran government sent in special forces to eliminate the enemy: the Jesuits. The Jesuits in El Salvador, led by Oscar Romero, were educating the people to nonviolently fight against the powers that oppress, spreading love before hatred, showing peace rather than violence, and being the model Christian that Jesus would be proud to call one of his own. They were killed for being the presence of faith, hope, and love in a world that so desperately needed it. They were killed in the midst of a massive Civil War that dominated this tiny Latin American country for over a decade. The Jesuits took the side of the poor and the oppressed. They died by the side of the marginalized community that they stood hand-in-hand with for such a long time. They remain relatively obscure, but these crosses prevent them from ever being forgotten. Noam Chomsky once stated in a public address: “The disparity is so extraordinary that the very word dissident in Western languages refers to East Europeans; no one, except those few who have extricated themselves from the Western propaganda system, even uses the word dissident for people like the Central American Jesuit intellectuals who were assassinated in November 1989 by elite forces armed and trained by the US.”

May we remember the sacrifice of the courageous and loving individuals that fight a battle they never see end. May we remember the true call of Jesus to love without ever counting the cost. May we find an injustice that demands action and work to solve it. May we remember these eight martyrs, not for just one day a year, but every time we pass by the heart and soul of our campus: