Saturday, March 24, 2007

Oscar Romero, murdered March 24, 1980

Icon by Robert Lentz

Almighty God, you called your servant Oscar Romero to be a voice for the voiceless poor, and to give his life as a seed of freedom and a sign of hope: Grant that, inspired by his sacrifice and the example of the martyrs of El Salvador, we may without fear or favor witness to your Word who abides, your Word who is Life, even Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be praise and glory now and for ever. Amen

"I do not believe in death without resurrection. If they kill me, I will be resurrected in the Salvadoran people."

"The world of the poor teaches us that liberation will arrive only when the poor are not simply on the receiving end of hand-outs from governments or from the churches, but when they themselves are the masters and protagonists of their own struggle for liberation."

“…he who is committed to the poor must share the same fate as the poor…to disappear, to be tortured…and to be found dead by the side of the road.”

Disappear
(of a person) go missing or (in coded political language) be killed: The family disappeared after being taken into custody.




Sr. Ita Ford, profiled earlier on this blog, read the last quote of Romero's at a retreat not long before she and her fellow nuns were murdered.

In 1977, the President of Georgetown University in the US, and the President of the Jesuit Conference in San Salvador awarded Archbishop Romero an honorary degree in solidarity with the suffering of the Salvadorans.

The link to purchase Oscar Romero's icon is below.

Link

1 comment:

Scott Starr said...

I like your blog sir. You and I appear to be much alike and fighting the same battles. I have also written about Oscar Romero and you can find my posts about it HERE, HERE and HERE.

Oscar Romero was a great man. I have been familiar with the story of his plight since I was a younger man in 1982. Hang in there brother and keep fighting the good fight.