Quotations about Oscar Romero
- "Individuals often become heroes because of the extraordinary courage
they demonstrate. An unyielding determination to do what is right, true,
and just became a guiding principle for Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero.
He demanded peace, a peace that could only be found in human rights and
assurances of basic dignities. He informed the world about all the people
who had been tortured, slaughtered, and of those who had "disappeared"
in his country, El Salvador. He told the truth, but like many great leaders
who have fought for truth, Romero was assassinated. A single bullet transformed
him into a martyr. His life was taken, but his voice could not be silenced.
Romero became a beacon of hope in a country ravaged by poverty, injustice,
and sorrow. As with many Central American countries, El Salvador was a
national security state, a country where the military is accountable to
no one and the people are defenseless against tyranny and oppression.
There was no peace. In the face of this injustice, Romero took it upon
himself to use the Church as a light of hope and to challenge the oppressors."
-- NAPF
- Oscar Romero
- "As Daniel Santiago writes regarding Romero in his book
The Harvest of Justice, "But hope is not resignation; it is a commitment
to continue to struggle even when things seem to warrant surrender, when
hope flares, it allows human beings to overcome monstrous difficulties.
It allows people to defy common sense and confound strategists. Hope experienced
in the extreme, like faith and love, is miraculous." -- "On
the Words of Oscar Romero"
Resources on Oscar Romero
The links
on Oscar Romero given above as well as several others can be found on
one of the pages of my Web site. Click
here to see this page.
Tim's El Salvador Blog: Top 10 Romero Quotes
Words of Oscar
Romero
- "Peace
is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous,
tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace
is generosity. It is right and it is duty." -- NAPF page on Oscar Romero
- We must not seek the child Jesus in the pretty figures of our Christmas cribs. We must seek him among the undernourished children who have gone to bed at night with nothing to eat, among the poor newsboys who will sleep covered with newspapers in doorways.
--Archbishop Oscar Romero, December 24, 1979
- If we are worth anything, it is not because we have more money or more talent, or more human qualities.
Insofar as we are worth anything, it is because we are grafted on to Christ's life, his cross and resurrection.
That is a person's measure. --Archibishop Oscar Romero, March 4 1979
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- In the
sermon just minutes before his death, Archbishop Romero reminded his congregation
of the parable of the wheat. "Those who surrender to the service of the
poor through love of Christ, will live like the grains of wheat that dies.
It only apparently dies. If it were not to die, it would remain a solitary
grain. The harvest comes because of the grain that dies We know that every
effort to improve society, above all when society is so full of injustice
and sin, is an effort that God blesses; that God wants; that God demands
of us". "I am bound, as a pastor, by divine command to give my life for
those whom I love, and that is all Salvadoreans, even those who are going
to kill me." These words appeared in a newspaper just two weeks before
Archbishop Romero was shot while celebrating Holy Communion in the hospital
which had been his home since his enthronement in 1977. -- Saint
Peter's Church - Oscar Romero
- " A church that suffers no persecution but enjoys the privileges
and support of the things of the earth - beware! - is not the true church
of Jesus Christ. A preaching that does not point out sin is not the preaching
of the gospel. A preaching that makes sinners feel good, so that they
are secured in their sinful state, betrays the gospel's call." (1/22/78)
-- Salt of the Earth's remembrance of Archbishop Oscar Romero
- "We
suffer with those who have disappeared, those who have had to flee their
homes, and those who have been tortured." -Oscar Romero (1977) -- Archbishop
Oscar Romero - Caracen
- On March
23, 1980, Archbishop Romero made the following appeal to the men of the
armed forces:
"Brothers, you came from our own people. You are killing your own brothers.
Any human order to kill must be subordinate to the law of God, which says,
'Thou shalt not kill'. No soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary
to the law of God. No one has to obey an immoral law. It is high time
you obeyed your consciences rather than sinful orders. The church cannot
remain silent before such an abomination. ...In the name of God, in the
name of this suffering people whose cry rises to heaven more loudly each
day, I implore you, I beg you, I order you: stop the repression"
The day following this speech, Archbishop Romero was murdered. -- Archbishop
Oscar Romero - Caracen
- "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." (8/6/78). -- The Church: Called to
Repentance, Called to Prophecy
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