We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.
Oscar RomeroRead
Who knows if the one whose hands are bloodied with Father Grande's murder, or the one who shot Father Navarro, if those who have killed, who have tortured, who have done so much evil, are listening to me? Listen, there in your criminal hideout, perhaps already repentant, you too are called to forgiveness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote calls for forgiveness even towards those who have committed grave crimes, suggesting that every person has the capacity for repentance.
Oscar Romero's quote addresses those who have committed heinous acts, emphasizing the importance of forgiveness and the possibility of redemption. It reflects on the moral responsibility of perpetrators of violence and encourages them to listen and reflect on their actions from a place of accountability and the hope that they might seek forgiveness, regardless of the severity of their crimes.
Themes
ForgivenessRedemptionViolenceRepentanceMorality
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of forgiveness in healing a community.
More from Oscar Romero
All quotes βBeautiful is the moment in which we understand that we are no more than an instrument of God; we live only as long as God wants us to live; we can only do as much as God makes us able to do; we are only as intelligent as God would have us be.
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A Christian's authenticity is show in difficult hours it is in difficult hours that the church grows in authenticity. Blest be God for this difficult hour in our archdiocese. Let us be worthy of it.
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The church would betray its own love for God and its fidelity to the gospel if it stopped being . . . a defender of the rights 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.
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