Notre Dame held a candlelight prayer service on Monday, Jan. 26, as part of its 11th annual "Walk the Walk Week," a week-long series of University, department and student-sponsored events designed to renew the University's commitment to Notre Dame's beloved community.
Before the prayer service, University President Fr. Bob Dowd walked around the main floor, greeting members of the Notre Dame community. One student, Naysa Villa, told The Observer she was honored to have a moment with Fr. Dowd and explained why she was at the event.
“Being from a minority group in my community, I think it is important to advocate for equality and justice in the world, so I am here to be a part of that change,” she said.
Dowd briefly stopped to speak with The Observer, directing attention to a statement he made at an earlier WTWW event, in which he highlighted the event's faith-based origin.
“Walk the Walk Week is very important in our community. It’s very much grounded in our Catholic mission to respect the God-given dignity of each and every human being and to build a strong sense of community, a community that’s not closed in on itself, but a community that’s turned out in surplus,” Dowd said.
About a hundred individuals were present beneath the dome on the main and second levels for the event, with a considerable number of Holy Cross brothers and priests in attendance.
Fr. Brian Ching, C.S.C., who serves as rector of the Basilica, opened the event, thanking those in attendance for joining to “honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luker King, one of the great civil rights leaders in the history of our nation and also a person who was deeply driven by his own faith and trust in the Lord.”
Dowd then stepped forward to lead a prayer, reminding individuals to be cautious with their candles and their neighbors’ hair, and the Notre Dame Fire Department remained present as a precautionary measure. After his remarks, junior Joshua Johnson read Luke 6:32-36 in English, and freshman Militza Algredo-Huerta read it in Spanish. These readings were followed by a song from the Voices of Faith Gospel Choir and by sophomore Mercy Makanjuola's reading of an excerpt from “From Every Form, 1967” by Dr. King.
Rev. Hugh R. Page, the University’s vice president for belonging, engagement and mission, offered the keynote address beginning with King’s approach to surrounding oneself in “an ethic of agape.” Pulling from the homily entitled “Loving Your Enemies,” written from a Georgia prison, Page offered reflections on how to love in a strife-ridden world. He emphasized a need for “forgiveness, not reducing enemies to the sum total of their actions and making every effort to foster friendship and understanding with those that oppose us.”
Love remained the focal point of his keynote address, with Page emphasizing the implications of love using King’s idea that “love was the gateway to full realization of our identity as God’s offspring.” He reminded attendees of how King was fascinated by the parable of the Jericho road, using it in two different homilies between July 1962 and March 1963.
“We have to look unflinchingly, critically, prayerfully and collectively at our current and emerging social and geopolitical realities. In a real sense, there are Jericho roads everywhere that require our interventions and the application of what Dr. King called ‘universal altruism’ in addressing their complexities,” Page said.
Following the keynote, Ching offered the following questions for attendees to ponder: “Lord, for what gifts do I thank you this night? Lord, how have I praised you this day? Lord, what are the ways that I have fallen short? Forgive me for them. Lord, show me the way that I might serve with a heart full of love for others.”
Sophomore Olivia Purcell offered prayers of the people with the response, “Unite Us in Your Love,” before Dowd led everyone in a prayer of “Our Father.” After a final closing prayer, the choir sang people out as they headed to place candles at the foot of the Sacred Heart of Jesus statue. In traditional Notre Dame fashion, students were asked to exit through the ground level, while other visitors were welcomed to exit through the main stairs.
