The following was written by the martyred Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, and published in The Violence of Love: The Pastoral Wisdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero, edited by James R. Brockman.

Let us not forget:
we are a pilgrim church,
subject to misunderstanding,
to persecution,
but a church that walks serene,
because it bears the force of love.

We will be firm in defending our rights--
but with a great love in our hearts,
because when we defend ourselves with love
we are also seeking sinners' conversion.
That is the Christian's vengeance.

Let us not tire of preaching love;
it is the force that will overcome the world.
Let us not tire of preaching love.
Though we see that waves of violence succeed in drowning the fire of Christian love,
love must win out; it is the only thing that can.

For the church, the many abuses of human life, liberty and dignity
are a heartfelt suffering.
The church, entrusted with the earth's glory,
believes that in each person is the Creator's image
and that everyone who tramples it offends God.
As holy defender of God's rights and of his images,
the church must cry out.
It takes as spittle in its face,
as lashes on its back,
as the cross in its passion,
all that human beings suffer,
even though they be unbelievers.
They suffer as God's images.
There is no split between the human and God's image.
Whoever tortures a human being,
whoever abuses a human being,
whoever outrages a human being
abuses God's image,
and the church takes as its own that cross,
that martyrdom.

We should not wonder that a church has a great deal of cross to bear.
Otherwise, it will not have much resurrection.
An accommodating church,
a church that seeks prestige
without the pain of the cross,
is not the authentic church of Jesus Christ.

Everyone who struggles for justice,
everyone who makes just claims in unjust surroundings
is working for God's reign,
even though not a Christian.
The church does not comprise all of God's reign;
God's reign goes beyond the church's boundaries.

The church values everything that is in tune with its struggle to set up God's reign.
A church that tries only to keep itself pure and uncontaminated
would not be a church of God's service to people.
The authentic church is one that does not mind
conversing with prostitutes and publicans and sinners,
as Christ did--
and with Marxists and those of various political movements--
in order to bring them salvation's true message.