39 Years
Recently the Holy Father has cited Martin Luther King, the apostle of nonviolence, as one of the Martyrs of the 20th century. Here is a timely reflection on his life. (Ed)
From 1929 to 1968 is only 39 short years.
Too short to gather the fruits of your labor.
Too short to comfort your parents when your brother drowns.
Too short to comfort your father when mother dies.
Too short to see your children finish school.
Too short to ever enjoy grandchildren.
Too short to know retirement.
Thirty-nine years is just too short.
From 1929 to 1968 is only 39 short years,
yet it's too long to be crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.
Extract from a letter to Jim Forest from the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, dated February 21, 1966; the full text is published in The Hidden Ground of Love, edited by William Shannon; New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1985.
Molokai, known as the leper colony island of Hawaii, is located west of Maui, the island where I am presently stationed.
Sr. Helen Prejean, a nun in the United States, was asked by a death row prisoner to be his spiritual director. She said yes but never realized what anguish awaited her. Her story has appeared in the famous movie Dead Man Walking. Here she shares it with us.
Next year is the 20th anniversary of the death of Dorothy Day. One of the great ‘saints’ of the century. Dorothy lived voluntarily in the slums of New York and from there her light has shone out throughout the world.