Editing Óscar Romero (section)

===Spiritual life===
[[File:Óscar Arnulfo Romero with Pope Paul VI (4).jpg|thumb|[[Pope Paul VI]] and Romero, 1978]]
[[File:Óscar Arnulfo Romero with Pope John Paul II (2).jpg|thumb|[[John Paul II]] and Romero, 1979]]

Romero noted in his diary on 4 February 1943: "In recent days the Lord has inspired in me a great desire for holiness. I have been thinking of how far a soul can ascend if it lets itself be possessed entirely by God." Commenting on this passage, James R. Brockman, Romero's biographer and author of ''Romero: A Life'', said that "All the evidence available indicates that he continued on his quest for holiness until the end of his life. But he also matured in that quest."<ref name="spirjourn">{{cite web |url=http://www.spiritualitytoday.org/spir2day/904242brock.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001120092900/http://www.spiritualitytoday.org/spir2day/904242brock.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 November 2000 |title=The Spiritual Journey of Oscar Romero |access-date=17 January 2008 |author=James Brockman, S.J. |work=Spirituality Today }}</ref>

According to Brockman, Romero's spiritual journey had some of these characteristics:

* love for the Church of Rome, shown by his episcopal motto, "to be of one mind with the Church," a phrase he took from [[Ignatius of Loyola|St. Ignatius]]' ''[[Spiritual Exercises]]'';
* a tendency to make a very deep [[examination of conscience]];
* an emphasis on sincere [[piety]];
* [[Mortification in Roman Catholic teaching|mortification]] and [[penance]] through his duties;
* providing protection for his [[chastity]];
* [[spiritual direction]];
* "being one with the Church incarnated in this people which stands in need of liberation";
* eagerness for contemplative prayer and finding God in others;
* fidelity to the [[will of God]];
* self-offering to [[Jesus Christ]].

Romero was a strong advocate of the spiritual charism of [[Opus Dei]]. He received weekly spiritual direction from a priest of the Opus Dei movement.<ref name="cruxnow.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/02/03/pope-declares-oscar-romero-hero-to-liberation-theology-a-martyr/|title=Pope declares Oscar Romero, hero to liberation theology, a martyr|date=3 February 2015|access-date=5 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204132413/http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/02/03/pope-declares-oscar-romero-hero-to-liberation-theology-a-martyr/|archive-date=4 February 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1975 he wrote in support of the cause of canonization of Opus Dei's founder, "Personally, I owe deep gratitude to the priests involved with the Work, to whom I have entrusted with much satisfaction the spiritual direction of my own life and that of other priests."<ref name="Opus Dei archives">{{cite web |url=http://www.opusdei.us/en-us/article/oscar-romero-and-st-josemaria/ |title=Opus Dei – Oscar Romero |access-date=15 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://gloria.tv/media/a8cg2iuDpt4|title=Archbishop Oscar Romero: Letter to the Pope on Escriva's death|date=5 February 2015}}</ref>