Reflection / Sean Gallagher

Kennedy’s call for prayer in Indy in 1968 remains relevant today

Many Hoosiers cast their ballots in this year’s general election in the weeks leading up to Election Day as part of the state’s early voting program.

I waited until Election Day itself, in part because there were often long lines at the limited early voting centers. So, I hoped that on Nov. 3, with many more polling places available, wait times would be much shorter.

And it turned out to be the case for me. In Marion County, where I live, voters could go to any polling place. I found one at the Kennedy-King Park Center, about a mile from the Archbishop Edward

T. O’Meara Catholic Center in Indianapolis where I work. So, during lunch, I went there and cast my ballot. I was in and out in eight minutes.

As I left, I was happy that I did my civic duty in such an efficient way. I may have chosen the Kennedy-King Park Center out of convenience. But God, in his providence, helped me see a greater meaning behind this choice.

The park was given that name because it was where Sen. Robert Kennedy gave a speech on April 4, 1968, following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., earlier that day in Memphis, Tenn.

Although it lasted only five minutes, it is considered one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century. And Kennedy’s words certainly seemed to have had an effect on Indianapolis. While dozens died in riots in cities across the country in response to King’s death, Indianapolis remained at peace.

With the social upheaval that our country has experienced this year, some of it inflamed by the contentious presidential election, Kennedy’s speech from 52 years ago remains profoundly relevant for us today.

I share for your consideration the conclusion of Kennedy’s speech:

“[S]ay a prayer for our own country, which all of us love—a prayer for understanding and compassion … .

“We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We’ve had difficult times in the past. We will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.

“But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of Black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings who abide in our land.

“And let’s dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

“Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.”

This call to prayer reaches out to us today, too.

Much human effort is needed to promote the common good. It seems that even more effort is needed to build up a consensus in our society about what the common good actually is.

But all of this human effort will be for naught if it does not flow from, is strengthened by and directed toward the grace of God. It is by his grace alone that we will “tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.”

So, I invite you to respond to Kennedy’s call to prayer for our country that was made in Indianapolis 52 years ago.

Our country has been upheld by prayer in the best of times in the past. In these challenging times that we face at present, the need for prayer is all the more necessary.
 

(Sean Gallagher is a columnist and reporter for The Criterion.) †