The martyred minister, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., believed in peaceful and non-violent protest.
The success of the Montgomery bus boycott launched this mentor into the national spotlight.
Earlier today, in a Clinton Township library, another iconic woman, Rosa Parks, came to mind.
A man in the library approached a young woman who, allegedly sat in the chair where he left a bag on the floor.
"That's my chair you're in," he yelled.
"No one was in this chair and I'm not moving," she firmly stated with calm.
Directly across from her, I smiled at her for her courage.
"You reminded me of Rosa Parks who would not give up her seat to a white man on a bus,"
I told her.
She smiled and continued to read.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1964, King, said:
"Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars; I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."
A Benediction Prayer by King:
"And now unto him who is able to keep us from falling and lift us from the dark valley of despair to the mountains of hope, from the midnight of desperation to the daybreak of joy, to him be power and authority, for ever and ever. Amen."
As the Rev. Ed Rowe in his downtown Detroit church always asks me when I see him, and I recall as we remember Dr. King Monday:
"Whatever happened to social justice in the Catholic Church?"
What happened?
No comments:
Post a Comment