Valuing human rights

Daily Reading for March 24 • Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, 1980, and the Martyrs of El Salvador

A humble person is one who, like the humble Mary, says, “The Powerful One has done great things in me.” Each of us has an individual greatness. God would not be our author if we were something worthless. You and I and all of us are worth very much, because we are creatures of God, and God has prodigally given his wonderful gifts to every person. And so the church values human beings and contends for their rights, for their freedom, for their dignity. That is an authentic church endeavor. While human rights are violated, while there are arbitrary arrests, while there are tortures, the church considers itself persecuted, it feels troubled, because the church values human beings and cannot tolerate that an image of God be trampled by persons that become brutalized by trampling on others. The church wants to make that image beautiful. (September 4, 1977)

From The Violence of Love by Oscar Romero, Copyright 2007 by Plough Publishing House. Used with permission. An e-book found at http://www.plough.com/ebooks/pdfs/ViolenceOfLove.pdf

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