The Violence of Love; The Pastoral Wisdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero
San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1988. Octavo (8 inches tall), original textured white paper wrappers. Plough Book Service sticker inside front wrapper, very gentle bumping and creasing to wrappers, else about Fine. Item #1465
"THE VIOLENCE WE PREACH IS NOT THE VIOLENCE OF THE SWORD, THE VIOLENCE OF HATRED. IT IS THE VIOLENCE OF LOVE, OF BROTHERHOOD, THE VIOLENCE THAT WILLS TO BEAT WEAPONS INTO SICKLES FOR WORK"
Early printing of these selections from the homilies, letters, and interviews of Oscar Romero—a popular edition and a fine introduction to the pastoral wisdom of a Saint. Illustrated with two photographs of the martyred Archbishop of San Salvador: a fine frontispiece portrait along with a smaller image on the front wrapper of Romero surrounded with people (as usual).
Emerging as "a voice for the voiceless," Romero demanded peace and a preferential option for the poor while cautioning against despair: "The Beatitudes are not something we can understand fully, and that is why there are young people especially who think that the love of the Beatitudes is not about a better world and who opt for violence, for guerilla war, for revolution." (January 29, 1978). With a chronological focus on just three years, the text is divided into nine sections: I. A Pilgrim Church (March 1977) to IX. Good News to the Poor (March 1980). In March 1980, Romero was shot and killed while saying Mass—"the first bishop slain at the altar since Thomas Becket in the twelfth century" (Robert Ellsberg). With a brief Preface and Translator's Note by the editor, James Brockman, S.J., and a short Foreword by Henri J.M. Nouwen: "Oscar Romero does not speak from a distance. He does not hide his fears, his brokenness, his hesitations. There is a warmth in his words that opens my heart to listen. It is as if he puts his arm around my shoulder and slowly walks with me." Saint Oscar Romero was canonized by Pope Francis in October 2018. Ellsberg. All Saints.
Price: $30.00