The Daily Prayer
SATURDAY, January 18, 2020
In 1893 Lorrin Thurston, the grandson of Christian missionaries, convinced US President Benjamin Harrison of the urgent need to annex Hawaii in order to protect American lives and property. When US troops arrived on Hawaiian soil, Queen Liliuokalani surrendered her throne to prevent bloodshed. One hundred years later, US President Bill Clinton apologized to Native Hawaiians, calling the overthrow of Hawaii’s monarchy an illegal act.
Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, wrote, “We want no revolution; we want the brotherhood of men. We want men to love one another. We want all men to have what is sufficient for their needs. But when we meet people who deny Christ in His poor, we feel, ‘Here are the atheists.’ They turned first from Christ crucified because He was a poor worker, buffeted and spat upon and beaten. And now—strange thought—the devil has so maneuvered that the people turn from Him because those who profess Him are clothed in soft raiment and sit at well-spread tables and deny the poor.”
Holy Spirit, guide us in the imprint of Christ’s footsteps to pursue justice, counting our neighbors’ welfare to be as important as our own. Amen.
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