Reality Check

This past Monday, we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is famous today.  He gave this speech fifty-five years ago, in the summer of 1963.  King’s inspiration was the plight of African Americans, and his motivation was the burgeoning civil rights movement.

His words continue to resonate with Americans even today.  “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.  It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.”

I see it as no coincidence that Martin Luther King Jr. Day fell right in the middle of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18th-25th).  King’s message was that all people should be treated as worthy of respect and dignity.  No one race should be seen as superior or inferior to another.  Similarly, it would be beneficial to all Christian denominations to see themselves in unity with each other rather than in opposition to one another.  The world would be a better place if we worked together rather than against one another.  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website states:  “By annually observing the WPCU [Week of Prayer for Christian Unity], Christians move toward the fulfillment of Jesus' prayer at the Last Supper ‘that they all may be one.’  (cf. John 17:21)”

At the same time, it is sobering to see where we are today, observe the progress that has been made in the last fifty-five years, and wonder what more we could and should be doing to promote unity, both among Christian faiths and among cultures.  It’s a reality check for us today to think about how the actions of one man, Martin Luther King Jr., fanned the flames of a social justice movement.  The actions of one person can have far-reaching impact.  What impact are we making in our daily lives?