Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Mass 2022

Published: January 15, 2022

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor preached the following homily at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022.

Bishop Taylor

Although the visit of the Magi is the only event we usually call epiphany, there are, in fact, many epiphanies; many eye-opening experiences. The fathers of the Church speak of three epiphanies at the beginning of Jesus’ life and ministry: the visit of the magi two weeks ago, the baptism of the Lord last week and this week the wedding feast at Cana.

Together they reveal Jesus’ identity and destiny and what that means for us: 1.) that he is king and God yet will die for our salvation; 2.) that he is the second person of the Blessed Trinity in whom the Father is well pleased; and 3.) today changing water into abundant fine wine at Cana reveals the glorious beginning of the messianic age in Jesus.

You and I have experienced other epiphanies. One that I experienced occurred the summer I spent in Kenya in 1979: My surprise that Kenyans acted very differently from African Americans. This opened my eyes to racial expectations I was still carrying around inside me.

Also living in our area was a young, African American who had come to Africa to find his roots, but by the time I met him, he had realized that he had a lot more in common with me than he did with people who looked more like him physically but were completely different culturally.

And I had much more in common with him than with the Italian and Spanish priests I was with. We were both Americans!    

This epiphany helped me to begin to think differently, which is the purpose of any epiphany. Once the early Christians understood what John the Baptist meant when he called Jesus “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” they realized that to follow Jesus, you've got to begin to think and act differently, becoming ourselves an epiphany of Jesus’ ongoing reconciling presence in our world.

And as Catholics we are well positioned to do just that. For one thing, we Catholics expect people of different ethnicities to be able to worship together routinely without it being a big deal. We do not always live up to the best that is in us, but we do know that Jesus expects us to include everyone because we are a single family of believers. All are welcome!

Today Jesus is calling us to do everything we can to open the eyes and hearts of our badly divided nation. And the best way to do this is by putting people in touch with the human side of the issues we face, which is the approach that Dr. Martin Luther King took. It is one thing to talk about racism in the abstract, but quite another to go to the museum at Central High School and see photos of grim-faced teenagers enduring taunts as they tried to go to school, and photos of terrified adults being attacked by dogs in Selma.

By putting a human face on these events, these photos appeal to our hearts, which is where conversion occurs. The same is true for other issues we face. Take immigration — when you put a human face on what it is like to live as second-class residents in our country — something with which African Americans can identify — everything changes.

Teenagers unable to go to college or even get a job for lack of papers, living in fear of being deported to a country that many of those brought here as children can barely even remember. We all know what Jesus would say about this. And for that matter, Dr. King!

This human dimension is what is missing in our national discourse — hence the need to insist repeatedly that Black lives really do matter, because as a country we don’t act that way. Look at the glaring disparities in access to health care and medical outcomes, in education, in law enforcement, in employment and indeed almost every other area of life.

By putting a human face on these injustices and working to correct them, we can enable the teaching of Jesus — and Dr. King — to continue to make a difference today. This isn’t politics. This is an epiphany, the eye-opening Good News of Jesus Christ!