Violence of Love

The Violence of Love by Oscar Romero, compiled and translated by James R Brockman, SJ, 206 pages

 

In 1977, Ven Oscar Romero became the Archbishop of San Salvador.  Initially, his appointment was welcomed by the Salvadoran oligarchy, but after the assassination of his friend Fr Rutilio Grande he became a dynamic voice for change in a country divided by massive economic inequality and bloody civil war.  As a result, he was assassinated by a paramilitary death squad while saying Mass in 1980.

 

The Violence of Love is a selection from Romero's writings and sermons, edited in such a way as to turn them into a sort of poetry.  Although it is not difficult to imagine this approach decontextualizing and deforming a body of work into something unrecognizable, that is not the case here.  Especially interesting is that the selections, although divided into chapters with thematic titles, are nonetheless arranged in strict chronological order.  This allows the reader to grasp both the development and the continuity in Romero's teaching from his installation as Archbishop to the sermon he gave immediately prior to his assassination.  It is unfortunate that there is nothing here from the first sixty years of his life, as opposed to the last three, but since this is not a biography the flaw is forgivable.

 

Fr Brockman concentrates the wisdom and power of Romero's teaching, neglecting neither his love of God nor his love of neighbor, resulting in a work that is simultaneously enlightening and inspiring.