Romero

This week, March 24, is the 30th anniversary of the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador.

Here is a Lenten reflection from Romero:


Holy Week is a call to follow Christ's austerities,
the only legitimate violence,
the violence that he does to himself
and that he invites us to do to ourselves:
"Let those who would follow me deny themselves,"
be violent to themselves,
repress in themselves the outbursts of pride,
kill in their hearts the outbursts of greed,
of avarice, of conceit, of arrogance.
Let them kill it in their hearts.
This is what must be killed,
this is the violence that must be done,
so that out of it a new person may arise,
the only one who can build
a new civilization:
a civilization of love.

Monseñor Oscar Romero
March 19, 1978