By Colleen Rowan Growing up in Maryland in the 1950s and 1960s, Bishop Mark Brennan witnessed the injustice of segregation. He recalled that in his youth, he saw black children bussed out of their neighborhood, passed by his own all white school, to an all black school. He remembered knowing that they could not go to the beaches and parks that his family could go to. As a junior in college, Bishop Brennan had the honor of hearing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., speak in person. The bishop shared these memories in his homily for a special Mass he celebrated honoring King’s legacy on Jan. 18. King “was a profit that we needed in the middle of the last century, and who we still need now,” the bishop said at the Mass, which was celebrated on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Wheeling. The Mass was livestreamed on the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston’s Facebook page and was followed by the praying of the rosary for peace and healing in the nation. The bishop recalled, in his homily, watching along with the rest of the nation King’s speech on television. And it was four years later as a junior in college that he heard King in person, quoting the prophet Amos: “Let justice roll like water and righteousness, like an everlasting stream.” “He remains, for me, a profit for our times,” Bishop Brennan said. The scriptural reading for the day, the bishop noted, spoke of love. “Jesus who loves us to the end calls us his friends, not slaves. He urges us to imitate his love, ‘This I command you, love one another as I have loved you.’” He noted that St. Paul says, “Nothing else, not great faith or the courage to die for Christ, or generosity to the poor can count before God if we reject his commandment to love him wholeheartedly and love our neighbor as ourselves.” Love is the greatest good, Bishop Brennan said, the only one that endures. King advocated for justice, but some see a conflict between justice and love, the bishop said. They think Paul’s words “love is patient, love is kind. It does not seek its own interests. It does not brood over injuries…” foster passivity and resignation in the face of injustice. They believe, he continued, that Jesus’s counsel to turn the other cheek is a surrender to injustice. “Is there a conflict between justice and love?” the bishop asked. “Consider that Paul also says, ‘Love does not rejoice over wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.’ This same Paul labored to bring Jews and Gentiles together under the banner of Christ, the truth of all humanity that God had revealed to him.” St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Galatians, the bishop said, “There is neither Jew or Greek, nor slave, nor free person, not male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” St. Paul strove to overcome the natural differences that people converted into barriers, Bishop Brennan said; and stressed that, “Faith in Jesus Christ should demolish walls.” As for Jesus’s words about turning the other cheek, Bishop Brennan said, he opposed the continuation and escalation of violence. The bishop then noted the recent writings in the Intelligencer of Wheeling Pastor Darrell Cummings quoting King: “Returning violence for violence, multiplies violence and a deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.” Bishop Brennan said that when Jesus was struck by a guard during his interrogation by Annas, the high priest, the Lord turns to the guard and says, “If I have spoken wrongly testify to the wrong, but if I have spoken rightly why do you strike me?” “Jesus did not strike the man back, but he did not let the injustice go unchallenged,” Bishop Bennan said. “There is no conflict between justice and love. Love respects the other person and opposes behavior that injures and holds him back. Love opposes. It does not foster injustice.” King thought that too, Bishop Brennan said, pointing to King’s letter from the Birmingham, Ala., jail: “I have tried to stand between these two forces saying that we need emulate neither the do nothingism of the complacent or the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is a more excellent way of love, a nonviolent protest.” King conceived his doctrine of nonviolent resistance to evil as a form of love and at its center, the principle of love, Bishop Brennan said. The faithful should also remember that when St. Paul speaks of the superiority of love, he is not disdaining the other gifts of the Holy Spirit, the bishop said. Just after his words on love, St. Paul says, “Pursue love, but strive eagerly for the spiritual gifts above all that you may prophesy which is to speak the truth that comes from God.” “Martin Luther King was a profit that we needed in the middle of the last century and who we still need now,” Bishop Brennan said. “His doctrine of nonviolent protest and action against injustice is thoroughly Christian and should be used in confronting today’s evils including the vestiges of racial inequality, the sin of nativism by which the native born hold back those who choose to come here, and the terrible injustice of abortion which deprives unborn children of their lives. Whether that injustice comes from an individual or a group or a government, it should be resisted.” King’s inclusive vision would lead him today to fight against all forms of injustice but to do it without resorting to violence, the bishop said. “Those who choose the path of violence dishonor the legacy of a man we honor today,” Bishop Brennan said. “The command to love one another cannot be fulfilled if we are content to let injustices pile up and do nothing about them. We Americans, especially those of us, who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ must not be passive in the face of evil. To the extent of our abilities and opportunities, singly and together, we’re challenged by our faith and by a genuine patriotism to work for a more just and fraternal society.” The bishop then pointed to King’s words in closing his letter from the Birmingham jail. Words, the bishop said, that apply to all forms of unjust structures and unloving behavior. The following are King’s words in closing that lettter: “Let us hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away, the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not-too-distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.” In closing his homily, Bishop Brennan said, “My brothers and sisters, with God’s help, we can make Dr. King’s tomorrow our today.” Following the Mass, all gathered in the cathedral and watching the livestream prayed the rosary lead by Gretchen Wilson, a member of St. Michael Parish in Wheeling. “We pray this rosary for peace and unity with the Joyful Mysteries,” said Wilson, who then prayed the Prayer for Peace and Unity by St. Pope John Paul II. Before beginning the rosary, Wilson said: “With this holy rosary, we beseach our Heavenly Father through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, for the gift of peace and unity in our world.” The Catholic Spirit Photo In this screen shot from the livestream of Mass celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Wheeling Jan. 18, Bishop Mark Brennan (right) welcomes all. Concelebrat-ing is Father Martin Smay, vice rector of the cathedral (left). Deacon Doug Breiding, serves as deacon of the word (center).