FRIDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF EASTER
Feast of St. Isidore, bishop and doctor

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."

These words are burned into my soul as much as the Preamble to the Constitution, the first sentence of the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, or the Gettysburg Address.

Martin Luther King Jr. lived out the full meaning of his destiny. He said once, "If a man has not found something worth dying for, he is not fit to live." I had that quote on my personal letterhead for years.

Forty years ago today the 39 year old Martin Luther King Jr., the hope and dream of a generation, was brutally shot down and killed by an assassins bullet. We were all in shock; we could not believe this was happening. We had just a few years ago buried a president. We had lived through the WATTS riots and other race riots. We watched thousands of body bags returning from Vietnam. And now this. Why? Why? was what many of us asked over and over again. This couldn't be happening. Was he really gone?

As the old saying goes, you can kill the dreamer but you cannot kill the dream. The leader of the Civil Rights Movement was gone, but his dream was not dead. I must admit that many of us thought that the dream might be dead, but it wasn't. The dream was bigger than Martin. It was and is a dream born in the heart of God

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline...

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

No, a dream cannot be killed. Martin knew that his time was coming to an end, but the dream would live after him. We all watched that night that was to become his last night when he said:

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind.

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!

And so I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!

A dream cannot be killed.

Your miserable servant,
Brother Bubba

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