January 18, 2021
Today we commemorate, pray, and reflect on the legacy of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. King courageously stood up for an end to hatred and violence and offered hope and promise for all Americans. His life and ministry, especially salient during this time in history, continue to remind us and inspire us to live out our Mercy values of Human Dignity, Justice, and Service.
And so we pray an excerpt from Prayer for Peace by Pope Francis.
God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of [those] who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness.
Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words “division”, “hatred” and “war” be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be “brother” [and sister], and our way of life will always be that of. . . Peace!
Amen.
We thank you God for the gift of this day.
