By Rita McInerney

Martin Luther King, Jr. did not permit evil to deter him in his journey, but rather taught the power of love, Archbishop Eugene A. Marino, S.S.J., told an overflow congregation at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Sunday, Jan. 15.

The afternoon liturgy at the historic downtown church was the sixth annual Mass in honor of the slain civil rights leader. It was the second at which the archbishop was the celebrant. In January, 1988, he came to celebrate the Mass as the guest of the archdiocesan Commission for Black Catholic Concerns. This year he came as “a true son of the city” and the shepherd of Catholics in North Georgia.

The stirring music for the celebration was by the combined choir of the commission’s member parishes.

Dr. King proved to blacks and whites, the archbishop said in his homily, that “it is the determination to love which lifts us above ourselves and makes us the exalted children of God, the Rock, the Church.”

“The doctrine of original sin reminds us that we are born into a world which often proves a natural habitat for greed, jealousy and destruction in all their ugly guises,” the archbishop said.

Part of Dr. King’s greatness, he continued, was that he did not permit such evidence of evil to deter him in his journey of hopes and dreams.

“He believed and taught the power of love, the power which defies all evil, even that most ultimate sin, despair before the promise of God. And he fought sin and evil, finding his strength in the beatitudes of the gospel which were written in his heart.”

The archbishop said Dr. King’s life “was anchored in the non-violent life lived by Jesus of Nazareth and similarly, his death was a self-abandonment into the truth of his life.” His last years were rich in prophetic utterance and sometimes righteous indignation, but he spoke with the conviction of an apostle, the archbishop continued.

“The mystery of death and resurrection was gratefully admitted and pondered by Martin in his speaking and his writing,” said the archbishop. “… The dream that was Dr. King’s becomes our dream and the fire of our lives. His words and wisdom become the enlightenment of our countenance and his quest ignites a reformation in our own times. The person who freely regards and accepts the lessons of his life must of necessity shed the withered and outdated prejudices of a former time and become clothed anew with the mystery of God’s love for life.”

Archbishop Marino concluded is homily by quoting from Dr. King’s writing on is own struggle:

“… Recognizing the necessity for suffering I have tried to make of it a virtue. If only to save myself from bitterness I have attempted to see my personal ordeals as an opportunity to transfigure myself and heal the people involved in the tragic situation which now obtains. I have lived these last few years with the conviction that unearned suffering is redemptive. There are some who still find the cross a stumbling block, other consider it foolishness but I am more convinced than ever before that it is the power of God unto social and individual salvation. So like the Apostle Paul I can now humbly yet proudly say, “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.”

In a prelude to the splendor of the liturgy, the sun emerged from behind heavy gray clouds and flooded through the Shrine’s stained glass windows. The hushed congregation relived memories as soft verses of the choir’s “We Shall Overcome” drifted through the crowded church through the closed doors to the vestibule.

The same singers, wearing robes of their parish choirs, led participants into the church. With the congregation joining in singing “Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory” the procession unfolded in a pageant: two liturgical dancers in red, green and black; bearers carrying aloft multi-colored banners of the commission and its member parishes; Knights and Ladies of St. Peter Claver in black and white , and finally, the robed altar servers, deacons, priests and archbishop.

Father Bruce Wilkinson, pastor of St. Anthony’s, Atlanta, was master of ceremony for the archbishop. Deacons on the altar were Joseph Barker and Vincent Bathea.

Among priest concelebrants were: Father John Adamski, pastor of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception; Father Joseph Aquino, M.S., pastor of Most Blessed Sacrament, Atlanta; Father Thomas Brislin, C.P., pastor of St. Paul of the Cross, Atlanta; Father Richard Wise, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul, Decatur, and Father Michael Woods, pastor of St. John the Evangelist, Hapeville. Other priests celebrated.

Lectors were Paula Broussard-Smith of St. Anthony’s, and Bettye Jennings, of St. John the Evangelist. Roland Gibson of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, was worship leader.

At the conclusion of the music-rich liturgy, the congregation joined the choir in singing “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” and “Let There Be Peace On Earth.”

Music coordinator and director was Alphonso Nuckles of St. Paul of the Cross. Other directors were Walter Boone, Sts. Peter and Paul; Dr. Edward Bridges, St. John the Evangelist, and Victoria Jackson, St. Anthony’s. Cantors were Michelle Todd, Michael Malcolm and Walter Boone.

Father Wilkinson is priest-secretary of the Commission of Black Catholic Concerns. Rhonywn Rogers is director of the archdiocesan Office for Black Catholics.

A reception followed the Mass.