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Martin Luther King - April 4, 1968: RIP Forty Years Later
4/2/08
Saturday, April 5, 2008
2:07:00 PM EDT
From time to time, I deviate from the focus of this website--Padre Martinez-- for either a personal item I wish to share or something of public interest or concern. The fortieth anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King is one of these occasions.
He was killed on Palm Sunday, April 4, 1968. when Christians all over the world were marking the beginning of Holy Week by celebrating the victorious entrance of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, where he was to be crucified and put to death before rising.
Dr. King indeed was not only a prophet in the likeness of Moses who led his people from slavery to freedom, but also powerfully denounced the evil of racism and war. As he began to successfully unify people of good will in this country and around the world to the cause of human rights based on innate human dignity, he finally began to get positive recognition. That came not only from church folks, but also from politicians. However, when he began to speak about peace regarding our involvement in Vietnam, he was told--mostly by the politicians--to be quiet, "keep out of foreign policy," and stick to race relations. He did not, and was killed.
I commend to your viewing this three-minute montage, a moving tribute to Martin Luther King by Robert Kennedy. Paste it in your browser, and GO.
http://www.theroot.com/id/45507? =1478267941
A great influence on my life, almost exactly one year before I was to be ordained a priest, was the Letter From A Birmingham Jail that Rev. Dr. King addressed to his fellow clergymen of all denominations.
http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
It deeply affected me, strongly influenced and inspired me. He wrote this letter on April 16, 1963 that was my parents' twenty-ninth wedding anniversary, six months before the Second Vatican Council opened, and seven months before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. It was also, ironically, the centennial of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
Dr. King's letter was a seminal moral and theological treatise on law, making keen distinctions between just and UNJUST laws. He quoted ancient Greek and contemporary Jewish philosophers as well as Protestant theologians and medieval Catholic saints such as Augustine and Thomas. In this letter, Rev. King prophetically articulated the case for civil disobedience against unjust laws such as those upholding segregationist policies.
One of my life's regrets is not to have personally met nor even seen Martin Luther King, although--while traveling through Oklahoma with some seminarian classmates--with intent interest, I did watch "live" his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the Washington Mall.
I salute this wise Christian clergyman, and consider him as one of this country's greatest men. Although he already had a good glimpse of the "mountain top," he got a better and lasting view when he entered eternal life forty years ago on April 4, 1968.
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2:07:00 PM EDT
Martin Luther King - April 4, 1968: RIP Forty Years Later
From time to time, I deviate from the focus of this website--Padre Martinez-- for either a personal item I wish to share or something of public interest or concern. The fortieth anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King is one of these occasions.
He was killed on Palm Sunday, April 4, 1968. when Christians all over the world were marking the beginning of Holy Week by celebrating the victorious entrance of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, where he was to be crucified and put to death before rising.
Dr. King indeed was not only a prophet in the likeness of Moses who led his people from slavery to freedom, but also powerfully denounced the evil of racism and war. As he began to successfully unify people of good will in this country and around the world to the cause of human rights based on innate human dignity, he finally began to get positive recognition. That came not only from church folks, but also from politicians. However, when he began to speak about peace regarding our involvement in Vietnam, he was told--mostly by the politicians--to be quiet, "keep out of foreign policy," and stick to race relations. He did not, and was killed.
I commend to your viewing this three-minute montage, a moving tribute to Martin Luther King by Robert Kennedy. Paste it in your browser, and GO.
http://www.theroot.com/id/45507? =1478267941
A great influence on my life, almost exactly one year before I was to be ordained a priest, was the Letter From A Birmingham Jail that Rev. Dr. King addressed to his fellow clergymen of all denominations.
http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
It deeply affected me, strongly influenced and inspired me. He wrote this letter on April 16, 1963 that was my parents' twenty-ninth wedding anniversary, six months before the Second Vatican Council opened, and seven months before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. It was also, ironically, the centennial of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
Dr. King's letter was a seminal moral and theological treatise on law, making keen distinctions between just and UNJUST laws. He quoted ancient Greek and contemporary Jewish philosophers as well as Protestant theologians and medieval Catholic saints such as Augustine and Thomas. In this letter, Rev. King prophetically articulated the case for civil disobedience against unjust laws such as those upholding segregationist policies.
One of my life's regrets is not to have personally met nor even seen Martin Luther King, although--while traveling through Oklahoma with some seminarian classmates--with intent interest, I did watch "live" his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the Washington Mall.
I salute this wise Christian clergyman, and consider him as one of this country's greatest men. Although he already had a good glimpse of the "mountain top," he got a better and lasting view when he entered eternal life forty years ago on April 4, 1968.
Written by juanrvi Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | digg this
