One of the things St. Ignatius of Loyola challenges us to do is to reflect upon some of the prayers that we have prayed since we were children. These prayers often become rote, and we are called to enter more deeply into them and become more aware of the richness of what we are praying.
Years ago, my family visited the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. When we first walked in, at the end of the hallway in front of us a massive wall displayed a photograph of President Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Over his shoulder, with unlined brow and the softest of smiles, was the man without whom this legislation would not have happened: the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.