A midnight prayer service in honor of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday
University of Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C. delivered the following opening and closing prayers Monday (Jan. 18) at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Vigil Prayer Service, part of the University’s Walk the Walk Week events.
Opening Prayer
Lord God, You led your chosen people from slavery in Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land.
We ask you to lead us, this Notre Dame community, from any enslavement to hatred, ignorance, fear, racism, injustice or anything else that prevents us from being the community of love and respect that you want us to be.
We remember with gratitude today the witness of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and we ask that we have the courage and determination to follow his example in battling injustice and living the Gospel of love.
Help us, Lord, to make ever more the community you want us to be.
Grant all this through Christ our Lord,
Amen
Closing Prayer
Let us pray.
Lord our God, see how oppression and violence are our sad inheritance, one generation to the next.
We look for you where the lowly are raised up, where the mighty are brought down.
We find you there in your servants, and we give you thanks this day for your preacher and witness, Martin Luther King Jr.
Fill us with your spirit: where our human community is divided by racism, torn by repression, saddened by fear and ignorance, may we give ourselves to your work of healing.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.
(All) Amen.