Oscar A. Romero (1917–1980)

From the first time I heard of Oscar Romero, he became a hero of mine. The Catholic Archbishop of El Salvador stood up to the powers of corrupt government and violent rebels and preached the radical Gospel of non-violence and enemy love. He was assassinated on March 24, 1980 while celebrating the Eucharist.

Here are some of his last words:

May this body that was immolated and this flesh that was sacrificed for humankind also nourish us so that we can give our bodies and our blood to

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suffering and pain, as Christ did, not for our own sake but to bring justice and peace to our people.

He knew exactly what he was doing and what would result from his choices.

This books offers a great introduction to Romero. It begins with a short biography and is followed by 9 chapters. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from his journal with details of some of the happenings and violence that impacted him and the Salvadorian people.

Here are the chapter titles:
1. The Creator
2. The Word Made Flesh
3. Redemption
4. The Call
5. The Way
6. The Church
7. The Kingdom
8. Liberation
9. All Things New

What the editor (and writer of the biography) did, and I didn't realize until I finished the book was that each chapter is a variety of selections from Romero's homilies chosen around the themes. All of the excerpts come from homilies spoken from 1977 until his death in 1980.

Here are a few of my favorite lines:
In addressing "those... responsible for so many injustices and so much violence, those who have caused weeping in so many homes, those who are stained with the blood of so many murders.... To all of them I say, 'Your crimes do not matter. They are ugly and horrible. You have violated the highest dignity of the human person. But God calls you and forgives you.'" This is why redemption is a scandal.

Conversion means asking at every moment: what does God want of my life?

This is what the church wants: to disturb people's consciences and to provoke a crisis in their lives. A church that does not provoke crisis, a gospel that does not disturb, a word of God that does not rankle, a word of God that does not touch the concrete sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed - what kind of gospel is that?

Since carrying out this mission cost Christ humiliation and the cross, the church also must be ready if necessary to suffer martyrdom, the cross, humiliation and persecution, as Christ did.

God wants to save us as a people. He does not want to save each of us in isolation.... What does it mean to be a people? A people is a community of persons in which everyone works together for the common good.

This is what the church is doing on earth: creating community.

The degree to which we approach the poor and how we approach the - whether with love or with scorn - determines how we approach God. What we do to the poor, we do also to God. The way we look at them is the way we look at God. God has so desired to be identified with them that the merits of each one of us and of our society will be measured by the way we treat the needy and the poor.

And finally - one of lines he spoke just before being assassinated: "We must not love our lives so much that we avoid taking the risks in life that history calls for."

Romero was a great man, worth listening to and learning from. show less

This slender book is powerful beyond its size, just as Oscar Romero, soon to be sainted, was powerful beyond his size. It is a collection of Romero's radio broadcasts and diaries.

As Romero writes, "...a saint is nothing else than the full realization of a life according to the design of God." Romero reached his own realization by preaching a gospel of peace, of justice in a society (El Salvador) that rejected him and his words, the words of Christ. He preached a gospel that would not just show more console but also discomfort, push people to examine their lives and the world around them and see if they were living in the true light of Christ or in their own selfishness.

At the same time as he spoke out for justice for the poor, he also rejected the more violent forms of liberation that some preached. Romero deeply believed in the God of peace and in transformation through love. He thought that the church was the community of people united in love and justice and that that peace could not be achieved by violence.

Oscar Romero is a hero of mine. I ask myself, could I speak out as he did, knowing I would probably be killed. Romero knew that was a likelihood and was assassinated on the altar during mass. I don't know if I could ever show that much courage but he did not start out that way. He began as a friend to the rich who became radicalized when he became archbishop and became alive to the suffering of the poor and witnessed many priests murdered for their alliance with the poor.

Romero's words are inspirational, especially for Catholics and other Christians who are open to examining their own hearts in the light of Christ's words. Are they--we--ready to be challenged to living a life that is love-based, not fearful or lusting after wealth or power?

This is a book that should be read slowly and meditated upon. It is amazing that words of love could evoke enough rage to commit murder against the speaker. They are words that speak to the peaceful fight for justice and love, both as a society and as an individual. They call out to change the world and our own hearts. show less

Summary: Diary entries and radio broadcast homilies by the martyred Archbishop of El Salvador, capturing both the injustices that moved him and the gospel message of hope he proclaimed to the oppressed people that eventuated in his death.

Oscar Romero became the Archbishop of El Salvador in 1977, considered a "safe" choice who wouldn't rile the oligarchs--until one of his priests, Rutillo Grande was shot down by a gunman connected to an alliance of government and oligarchs who controlled the show more wealth of the country. When Romero went to the church where Grande's body lay, he spent time both in prayer and listening to stories of violence and exploitation of the people. From then on, he insisted that the rulers of El Salvador, many formally believers, rule with justice. On that day, he said, "There can be no true peace or love that is based on injustice or violence or intrigue."

This work, with a brief introduction to Romero's life, collects nine of his homilies, broadcast over the radio, and a number of his diary entries. The diary entries recount the many visits and meetings in which he comforted survivors of killings, and worked with those seeking justice. The homilies apply gospel teaching to how the church must live, resorting neither to violence nor secular liberation movements, nor allying with the powers that be. The church is called not simply to pray and bear it, but to speak on behalf of the powerless, to forthrightly expose injustice, and to be willing to walk the way of the cross in confronting injustice.

What surprised me was to find how deeply grounded in the gospel Romero's appeal was. He taught,

"For Christ does not suffer for his own faults; Christ made himself responsible for the sins of all of us. If you want to measure the gravity of your sins, simply look at Christ crucified..."

His message is a call to continuing conversion:

"Conversion means asking at every moment: what does God want of my life? If God wants the opposite of what I might fancy, then doing what God wants is conversion, and following my own desire is perversion."

While affirming the true liberating power of the gospel, he denies the power of secular liberation movements to free people:

"By his resurrection Christ offers all the liberators of the earth this challenge: 'You will not free people! The only liberation that endures is that which breaks the chains on the human heart, the chains of sin and selfishness.'"

He vigorously opposes any political captivity of the church:

"The Church is not on earth to gain privileges, to seek support in power and wealth, or to ingratiate herself with the mighty of the world."

The nine homilies in this collection cover the topics of "The Creator," "The Word Made Flesh," "Redemption," "The Call," "The Way," "The Church," "The Kingdom," "Liberation," and "All Things New." As I read these sermons and diary entries, they revealed a gospel that was not an opiate for those crying out "how long?" but a call to Christ-centered faith, to holiness in all of life, and a courageous refusal to allow authorities to cover oppression and violence and exploitation with a cloak of spiritual legitimacy. It makes me reflect on the sad state of political captivity of significant sectors of the American church while other brothers and sisters, as well as the creation itself, cry out "how long?" It challenges me as I read of the courage of the El Salvadoran priests and lay people who died violent deaths for what they stood.

The book closes with Romero at prayer at a funeral mass, on March 24, 1980, for one of the martyrs:

"May this body that was immolated and this flesh that was sacrificed for humankind also nourish us so that we can give our bodies and our blood to suffering and pain, as Christ did, not for our own sake but to bring justice and peace to our people. Let us therefore join closely together in faith and hope at this moment of prayer for Doña Sarita and ourselves."

Moments later Romero lay dead at the foot of the cross, slain by a gunman, who fired at him in this moment of prayer.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. show less

Not really a biography, but a collection of themes from his sermons so expertly arranged that I thought it was one sermon until partway through, when I realized the footnotes in the back referenced the variou source sermons along with the dates. Since we know he was murdered March 24, 1980, we can read into these gems of insight, humility and love as he grows and is increasingly aware that he is next on the hit list. Nonetheless, none the less, he continues to preach and invite us all to a show more change of heart. What courage! show less