St. Oscar Romero’s words still speak to us and the challenges we face today. Here are seven more key quotes from The Violence of Love:

Loving others demands building a just society:

“A civilization of love that did not demand justice of people would not be a true civilization…It is a caricature of love to try to cover over with alms what is lacking in justice, to patch over with an appearance of benevolence when social justice is missing. True love begins by demanding what is just in the relations of those who love.”

Society collapses without trust, where lies, distortions, and disinformation are rampant:

“A civilization where trust of one to another is lost, where there is so much lying and no truth, has no foundation of love. There can’t be love where there is falsehood.”

God does not want us to live under power-hungry dictators:

“When someone makes power an absolute and an idol and turns against God‘s laws, against human rights, violating the people’s rights, then we cannot say that such authority comes from God.”

Freedom of speech is integral to freedom and the common good:

“To resort to physical force – not to speak of brute force – in order to silence the expression of thought is the sign of reversion to an age of cave dwellers.”

True progress allows each person to flourish as a whole person:

“The human progress that Christ wants to promote is that of whole persons in their transcendent dimension and their historical dimension, in their spiritual dimension and their bodily dimension.”

Materialism and greed must not obscure human dignity:

“Let us not tire of denouncing the idolatry of wealth, which makes human greatness consist in having and forgets that true greatness is in being. One’s value is not in what one has, but in what one is.”

Our faith demands care for poor. It is not optional. It is not separate from following Christ:

“The Christian who does not want to live this commitment of solidarity with the poor is not worthy to be called Christian.”