Genesis, Chapter
35, Verse 7
When her labor was most intense, the
midwife said to her, “Do not fear,
for now you have another son.”
Rachel was the one love of Jacob (Israel). Due to her father,
Lot’s, tricks on Jacob, he was forced to work for her for over 14 years to take
Rachel, whom he dearly loved, as his bride. Rachel was barren and died in child
birth with her two sons Joseph and Benjamin. She was not afraid because after
her long suffering with barrenness at last she had given birth to two healthy
sons; a dying wish. Life at times can be hard. God does not promise us perfect
happiness in this life; for we are made for heaven and eternal happiness with
Him. We are to do our best, but when our best is not sufficient; surrender it
to Him. We must be humble; trusting
with great confidence in Him that we may do His will in good seasons and bad.
Pray that we may not forget this truth and complain as the Israelites did in
the desert to such an extent that Moses cried out to God,
“Where can I get meat to give to all these people? For they are crying to me,
‘Give us meat for our food.’ I cannot carry this entire
people by myself, for they are too heavy for me. If this
is the way you will deal with me, then please do me the favor of killing me at
once, so that I need no longer face my distress.” (Nm 11:13-15)
Moses was despondent
here yet he did not give up; he gave it up. When things get tough; trust in Him.
Knowing that, “One does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes
forth from the mouth of God.” (Mt. 4:4) In retrospect when we are despondent
let us remember to go to the great Mother of God, Mary for truly on the day of
Christ’s death in some respects she died too-yet she did not fear for “now she had another son”
reflecting her spiritual adoption of all of mankind.
Martin Luther King, Jr. [1]
According to John McCain
a person or nations character determines its destiny. McCain points out in his
book Character is Destiny the person who most exemplifies the characteristic of
fairness is that of Martin Luther King, Jr.
John says of King:
From a
jail cell he wrote a letter that is one of the most celebrated documents in
American history, and summoned his country to the cause of justice. “My Dear Fellow Clergymen,” it
began. Recognizing that his correspondents were “men of genuine good will and
your criticisms sincerely set forth,” he promised to respond in patient and
reasonable terms. They were reasonable terms, and undeniably fair, but patient
they were not.
We have
waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. . .
. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, “Wait.” But
when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and
drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled
policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you
see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an
airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly
find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to
your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that
has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes
when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous
clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her
beginning to distort her personality by developing unconscious bitterness
toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son
who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when
you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night
in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept
you; when you are
humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”;
when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however
old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are
never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted
by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance,
never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and
outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of
“nobodiness” then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There
comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing
to be plunged into the abyss of despair.
America still struggles internally and externally to arrive at the place
Dr. King had summoned us to, that exalted place that had been the highest
ambition of our Founding Fathers and the highest value we recommend to the rest
of the world; the place where all people are recognized as equal, and endowed
by their Creator with inalienable rights. African Americans recognize the debt
they owe Dr. King’s courage, wisdom, and unshakable sense of fairness. But
Americans of European descent owe him a greater one. At the cost of his life,
he helped save us from a terrible disgrace, the betrayal of our country, and
the principles that have ennobled our history. And that is a debt we must
happily bear forever.
Martin
Luther King Facts & Quotes[2]
·
Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1964. He was 35 years old, which made him the youngest Peace
Prize winner at that time.
·
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., August 28, 1963.
·
Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?'- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
·
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
·
Hate is too great a burden to bear.- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Top Events and Things to Do
·
Visit thekingcenter.org
to find out about local events and ways you can help promote unity, justice,
and fight racism.
·
Become a mentor to an underprivileged person in your community through
Big Brothers, or another similar organization.
·
Donate to the United Negro College Fund or other charities
that promote college degree attainment by minorities.
·
Watch a movie about MLK. Some popular films include: Our Friend Martin
(1999), Selma(2014) and The Witness (2008)
Let us this day offer prayers for
Martin Luther King, Jr. and the suffering souls in purgatory.
Council of Trent-January
13, 1547[3]
If anyone says that after the reception of the grace of
justification the guilt is so remitted and the debt of eternal punishment so
blotted out to every repentant sinner that no debt of temporal punishment
remains to be discharged, either in this world or in Purgatory, before the
gates of Heaven can be opened, let him be anathema.
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