Rev. King was an 'apostle of hope,' says San Diego cardinal

SAN DIEGO (OSV News) -- The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was an "apostle of hope," Cardinal Robert W. McElroy said in his homily at a Mass to commemorate the slain civil rights leader's call to service.

"What sustained Martin Luther King?" he asked. "How did he get through all of those challenges?"

It wasn't just because Rev. King was a gifted orator or because he was a leader at the right time when the country was more open to the civil rights movement.

"It was because Martin Luther King had a conviction of hope. He was enmeshed in Christian hope that was at the core of his view," Cardinal McElroy said.

He celebrated the Sunday Gospel Mass Jan. 19 at Christ the King Church on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The annual federal holiday is observed on the third Monday of January, which this year was Jan. 20.

The Mass was one of the last public ones celebrated by Cardinal McElroy in the Diocese of San Diego. On Jan. 6, Pope Francis appointed him to succeed Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory, who is retiring as archbishop of Washington. The San Diego prelate will be moving to the District of Columbia area in March.

In his homily Jan. 19, the cardinal focused on hope, which is the theme of the Jubilee Year the Catholic Church is observing in 2025.

Everything Rev. King spoke about reflected God's hope, the cardinal continued. "He placed his trust in the Lord, not in himself and not in the outcomes that would come down the road, but in the sense that God was traveling with him in the pilgrimage he was on."

The cardinal celebrated the annual Mass at a parish near downtown San Diego that once had a thriving African American community. By the 1980s, the makeup of the surrounding neighborhood began to change and today the parish mostly serves Spanish-speaking Latino families.

Still, African American Catholics converge on the church on Sunday mornings for a traditional Gospel Mass.The parish is led by an African American priest, Father Tommie "TJ" Jennings, who himself grew up in the segregated South.

The cardinal said that the movement Rev. King led sought to renew society and the nation, "and bring us all a sense of hope."

"Hope is a great healer because many of the divisions within our country come when we become small, when we do not have hope, when we become so centered on ourselves and our needs and we shut out the suffering ones. Hope allows us to see us and others as God sees us, with God's vision."

He said the Jubilee Year, observed by the church every 25 years, is rooted in ancient Jewish tradition of setting aside a time to renew everything. This is important because it's so easy to lose sight of what is important amid day-to-day activities, he added.

"This year of Jubilee is a call for us to renew ourselves and our church and our world in the light of hope."

Hope is not the idea that everything always comes out right, he said. "That is not Christian hope, that is merely optimism."

"Christian hope is the conviction that in the times of our lives when we need God most, when the suffering is very difficult for us, or for those who we love very much, that in those moments, God stands with us. … He will never abandon us."

He called on all faithful to be "apostles of hope."

"God calls us to renew ourselves, and the society in which we live," he said but cautioned that it would not be easy.

"But it is so critical for our family life, for everyone. We must place our trust in God and proclaim that and live that," he said.

The Diocesan Commission for African American Catholics organized the Mass at the parish, which they are working to revitalize for the community. The parish's multicultural Gospel Choir accompanied the liturgy, which often had Massgoers clapping their hands to upbeat rhythms.

The Knights of Peter Claver and Ladies Auxiliary, Courts No. 371 and 384, were present. At the end of the Mass, two of their members gave the cardinal a stole adorned with their insignias.

Afterward, members of the commission and Knights and Ladies hosted a reception for the cardinal in the parish hall, complete with a cake that had his photo on it.