" . . . Easter is a shout of victory. No one can extinguish that life which Christ revived. Not even death and hatred against him and against his Church will be able to overcome him. He is the victor!
. . . . The Church preaches your liberation just as we studied it today in the Holy Bible. A liberation that holds, above all, respect for human dignity, the salvation of the common good of all people, and the transcendence that looks above all else to God, and from God alone derives its hope and its strength. Let us now proclaim our faith in this truth."
The words above are from Archbishop Oscar Romero's last homily in San Salvador cathedral on March 23, 1980. The next day while he was celebrating Mass, he was shot by a gunman.
He also said:
He also said:
"The church would betray its own love for God and its fidelity to the gospel if it stopped being . . . a defender of the nights of the poor . . . a humanizer of every legitimate struggle to achieve a more just society . . . that prepares the way for the true reign of God in history."
and
"I don't believe in death without resurrection. They can kill me, but they cannot kill the voice of justice. If they kill me, I will rise again in the Salvadoran people . . . ."
Learn more about Oscar Romero at the Claretian's Salt of the Earth website, which has a webpage for the Remembrance of Archbishop Oscar Romero.
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