WRITTEN FOR JANUARY 13, 2021
REMEMBER is a wonderful word. Literally re-member, or put back together. When we talk about our grandparents, we say we remember them and what they did. Or in a time of prayer about them we re-member, put all of us back together again. This week we remember Martin Luther King, Jr. Friday the 15th is his day and though there will no doubt be a few celebrations here and there…we will re-member him in our prayers and we will remember what he did and what he said.
Fr. Donal Dorr, an Irish missionary priest, wrote several books over the years that concerned themselves with spirituality and justice. In his book of that name, 1984, he wrote this:
“People who do not have a simple and spontaneous trust in God are likely to take themselves and their own efforts too seriously. Their dedication to human liberation is liable to be too earnest, two blinkered, perhaps too self-righteous. Hence the importance of childlike prayer of petition. On the other hand, like many others who believe that God has called us to work for justice and human liberation, I am constantly dismayed that so many Christians use prayer as a substitute for action…prayer and action are not alternatives, they complement one another. It is very hard to find anybody who has a passionate commitment to both.”
Our brother, Dr. King, was a man of both spirituality and the quest for justice and he surrounded himself with colleagues who also wished to serve others. I think he was that passionate. His passion would have been duly directed at all those attempting to take over the Capitol. I think he would have wept as well as been angry that those who were attempting (though disagreeing) to do the business of America were shut down by rhetoric that threw more gasoline on a fire of violence. King taught that non-violence would ultimately win out. Let’s hope he was right, despite the violence of his own death April 4, 1968.
Many changes have been made in a short period of time. Power changing hands, folks changing seats, and the rest of us changing our minds. Be safe. Do pray. Do find ways to stand for justice.
BLESSINGS.
