Oscar Romero Quotes

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. – Oscar Romero

The church must suffer for speaking the truth, for pointing out sin, for uprooting sin. No one wants to have a sore spot touch, and therefore a society with so many sores twitches when someone has the courage to touch it and say: ‘You have to treat that. You have to get rid of that. Believe in Christ. Be converted.’ – Oscar Romero

I do not believe in death without resurrection. If they kill me, I will rise again in the Salvadoran people. – Oscar Romero

Justice is what the people want. Many people would never have fallen into the desperation and discontent that now afflicts us if our government had only given the people justice, protection from the rich against the rich, and taught the people to hope. – Oscar Romero

A church that doesn’t provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, a word of God that doesn’t touch the real sin of society in which it is being proclaimed – ?what gospel is that? – Oscar Romero

Those who have a voice must speak for those who are voiceless. – Oscar Romero

It is in living and dying for justice that we find life’s deepest meaning. – Oscar Romero

You cannot reap what you have not sown. How are we going to reap love in our country, if we only sow hate? – Oscar Romero

We have never preached violence, except the violence of love. – Oscar Romero

We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. – Oscar Romero

We must be ready to die for our ideals but never to kill for them. – Oscar Romero

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us. And the world will live as one. – Oscar Romero

A church that doesn’t provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, what gospel is that? – Oscar Romero

No one has learned the meaning of living until he has surrendered his ego to the service of his fellow men. – Oscar Romero

There is no dichotomy between man and God’s image. Whoever tortures a human being, whoever abuses a human being, whoever outrages a human being, abuses God’s image. – Oscar Romero

God takes the side of the poor. Who can challenge me to a duel to death? He has accomplices, since many of our brethren are being tortured. – Oscar Romero

Let us not tire of preaching love; it is the force that will overcome the world. – Oscar Romero

If the church were to abandon the poor and align itself with the powerful, it would lose its life-giving power. – Oscar Romero

Do you want to know if a church is alive? If it gives life to its people. If it calls them all to service. If it proclaims the word of God. – Oscar Romero

We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. – Oscar Romero

The holy law of God’s justice, which we never kept and never will fully keep, has been kept for us in this blessed sacrament, in Jesus. – Oscar Romero

The worship of the rich is nothing but empty flattery and a hypocritical act of self-aggrandizement. – Oscar Romero

When we abandon ourselves completely to Jesus, everything belongs to us, for everything is His, and Christ is God’s. – Oscar Romero

If Jesus came down and announced his kingdom of justice and love today, they would crucify him again. They would be haggling over the cost of the nails used to nail him to the cross. – Oscar Romero

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing this. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. – Oscar Romero

Peace is not just the absence of conflict; it is the presence of justice. – Oscar Romero

Those who have turned to Christ and said, ‘We want to share your life, we want to share your cross. We want to go wherever you go.’ – Oscar Romero

A church that does not provoke crisis, a gospel that does not disturb, a word of God that does not touch the screaming sin of this city where it is proclaimed, it is a deceiving gospel, it is an anti-gospel. – Oscar Romero

A spirituality that is only private and self-absorbed, one devoid of an authentic political and social consciousness, does little to halt the suicidal juggernaut of history. – Oscar Romero

There must be some hope for the future if our struggle has any meaning. – Oscar Romero

Peace is the fruit of love, a love that is also justice. – Oscar Romero

We would like the rich to consider themselves guardians of the poor, or at least trustees, so that the rich would consider themselves administrators of the goods that they possess and not owners. – Oscar Romero

Aspire not to have more, but to be more. – Oscar Romero

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing this. – Oscar Romero

God’s reign will come about not by a ‘magic wand,’ but by our dedication, commitment, and daily effort to change unjust structures and to build a more just and loving society. – Oscar Romero

How beautiful would it be if each of you confined yourself to essentials and nothing else! Your administration of temporal goods would be simple and very close to God’s heart. – Oscar Romero

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. – Oscar Romero

Human dignity can only be realized in the context of community. – Oscar Romero

If they kill me, I will resurrect in the Salvadoran people. – Oscar Romero

The behaviour of God is risky, because when Jesus becomes incarnate, He knows what comes next: the cross. – Oscar Romero

Christ will always speak to us when someone challenges us to a deeper faithfulness in our love, for only by giving our lives do we not lose them. – Oscar Romero

We suffer with those who have disappeared, those who are tortured, those who are imprisoned. We suffer those who are in hiding in the mountains, those who are forced to bear arms. – Oscar Romero

I am bound, as a pastor, by divine command to give my life for those whom I love, and that includes all Salvadorans, even those who are going to kill me. – Oscar Romero

In times of persecution, the post of honor is a prison cell. And to the jailers we never say: ‘Now you will pay for what you’ve done.’ Rather, we say: ‘May God have pity on your soul.’ – Oscar Romero

The holiness God asks of us is a holiness that takes flesh in a human being and is done in community. It is a holiness that takes up the cause of the poor and speaks the word of God fearlessly to those in power. – Oscar Romero

The Church wants its members to create justice, to make goodness human, to build a better land for every human being, and to speak about the kingdom of God. – Oscar Romero

Let’s not forget that hatred is the violence of the weak, it is abjection in revolt, it is the poison of revenge. And, from a deeper perspective, for the one who practices it, it is an offense against him/herself. – Oscar Romero

We cannot be temperamental and as unstable as the climate. We must be firm. The person who has braced himself in Christ must not change if there is comfort or affliction. – Oscar Romero

Hope is not something you just have due to other persons, in others. It is giving your self to something you decide to do, because deep down you believe that God is supporting you. – Oscar Romero

A church that doesn’t provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed—what gospel is that? – Oscar Romero