MLK's Teachings Resonate Today

Jan. 18, 2026

On Jan. 19, the United States honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the civil rights movement that he was so instrumental in guiding and leading up until his death on April 4, 1968.
   
We live in an age of anger and hostility, with issues of race and war and radically different visions for the future of America, much as we were in the late 1960s. We need Martin’s teachings on nonviolence as much as we did in his lifetime. Certainly, there will be differences on many different issues, and many people are very passionate on some of those issues.

Martin Luther King, Jr. learned from the non-violence of Mahatma Ghandi, and his teaching on Satyagraha, or what was called Truth Force. He spoke of “militant non-violence” in which we stand up and fight for the truth and justice with the power of love. We Americans, in our own day, on whichever side we may be on, need to learn this.
—Fr. Mike Comer