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 →Beautiful 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.
Oscar RomeroRead
When the church hears the cry of the oppressed it cannot but denounce the social structures that give rise to and perpetuate the misery from which the cry arises.
Oscar RomeroRead
Aspire not to have more, but to be more.
Oscar RomeroRead
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.
Oscar RomeroRead
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.
Oscar RomeroRead
Similar quotes
Homophobia and the closet are allies. Like an unhealthy co-dependent relationship they need each other to survive. One plays the victim living in fear and shame while the other plays the persecutor policing what is ‘normal’. The only way to dismantle homophobia is for every gay man and lesbian in the world to come out and live authentic lives. Once they realise how normal we are and see themselves in us….the controversy is over.
Anthony Venn-BrownRead
These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.
Ronald ReaganRead
It takes courage to push yourself to places you have never been before... to test your limits... to break through barriers. And the day came when the risk it took to stay tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
Anais NinRead
People say to me all the time, 'You have no fear.' I tell them, 'No, that's not true. I'm scared all the time. You have to have fear in order to have courage. I'm a courageous person because I'm a scared person.'
Ronda RouseyRead
Always stand on principle even if you stand alone.
John AdamsRead
I do not accept being a prisoner of fear. Of Communism, of fascism. That, one can bear. But of one's fear. No. Never.
Adam MichnikRead