Stuart Center

Today, April 3, is the 55th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's final speech, "I've been to the mountaintop," delivered at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee. He would be assassinated the very next day.

Take a moment and listen now:

Martin Luther King's Last Speech: I've Been to the Mountaintop "I've Been to the Mountaintop" is the last speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. King spoke on April 3, 1968, at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Chri...

February 8 is the Feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, patron saint of those who have been victimized by human trafficking and enslavement. Kidnapped and sold into slavery as a child in Sudan, St. Josephine Bakhita suffered tremendous cruelty at the hands of several enslavers before seizing her own freedom with the support of the Italian courts and Canossian Sisters, whom she had befriended while in Italy. She entered the Canossians in 1893 and spent the rest of her life in Italy, where she became widely known for her gentleness, hospitality and holiness. She was canonized in 2000.

We pray today for all who have been trafficked:
Their bodies abused, their agency stolen, their labor exploited,
Both those alive today, and those who inhabit our own history.
Let their cries rise to God who sees their suffering and comes to their aid.
May they know freedom and peace.

We pray for those who have committed the evil of human trafficking:
Those who have stolen, abused, and exploited others,
Both those alive today and those who inhabit our own history.
Let their crimes be spoken aloud to allow healing and restitution;
May they and their descendants work to repair the harm they have done,
To create conditions of freedom and peace.

We pray for our communities, our leaders, and ourselves:
Those who have the power to intervene, to stop this evil, to heal this harm.
Let us do the work of justice.
May we be the bearers of freedom and peace.

Amen.