Witnesses to Unity. Day 8: Howard Thurman

An Octave of Prayers for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Welcome to Day Eight of a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, brought to you by three Catholic spirituality centers. We invite you to pray with us as we post short prayers and reflections based the witness of eight ecumenical leaders, one for each of the eight days.

The spirituality centers are the Marillac Center in Leavenworth, Kansas, the Sophia Center in Atchison, Kansas and Precious Blood Renewal Center in Liberty, Missouri.

We encourage you to share these prayers with members of your family and circle of acquaintances, including those who belong to another faith tradition.

Together, let us pray. (pause)

A reading from Psalm 85: 8-14

The Lord promises peace to his people, his faithful servants — but let them not turn to folly.

Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.

Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.

 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.

The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest.

 Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.

Howard Washington Thurman (Nov. 18, 1899 – April 10, 1981) was an American author, philosopher, theologian, Christian mystic, educator, and civil rights leader. As a prominent religious figure, he played a leading role in many social justice movements and organizations of the 20th century. Thurman’s theology of radical nonviolence influenced and shaped a generation of civil rights activists, and he was a key mentor to leaders within the civil rights movement, including Martin Luther King Jr.

Howard Thurman On Unity:

Inward Journey: There is a profound ground of unity that is more pertinent and authentic than all the unilateral dimensions of our lives. This a man discovers when he is able to keep open the door of his heart. This is one’s ultimate responsibility, and it is not dependent upon whether the heart of another is kept open for him. Here is a mystery: If sweeping through the door of my heart there moves continually a genuine love for you, it by-passes all your hate and all your indifference and gets through to you at your center. You are powerless to do anything about it. You may keep alive in devious ways the fires of your bitter heart, but they cannot get through to me. Underneath the surface of all the tension, something else is at work. It is utterly impossible for you to keep another from loving you.

Wherever man has the scent of the eternal unity in his spirit, he hunts for it in his home, in his work, among his friends, in his pleasures and in all the levels of his function. It is my simple faith that this is the kind of universe that sustains that kind of adventure. And what we are fumbling towards now … tomorrow will be the way of life for everybody!

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

For this is why we were born: Men, all men, belong to each other, and he who shuts himself away diminishes himself, and he who shuts another away from him destroys himself.

Community cannot for long feed on itself; it can only flourish with the coming of others from beyond, their unknown and undiscovered brothers.

Take a minute of silence now and reflect:

• For love and peace to be a reality, there needs to be concrete actions. How will you make them real?
• How do you embody signs of God’s loving presence in the world today?

Then pray:

Open unto me, light for my darkness, Open unto me, courage for my fear

Open unto me, hope for my despair, Open unto me, peace for my turmoil

Open unto me, joy for my sorrow, Open unto me, strength for my weakness

Open unto me, wisdom for my confusion, Open unto me, forgiveness for my sins

Open unto me, tenderness for my toughness, Open unto me, love for my hates

Open unto me, Thy Self for myself,

Lord, Lord, open unto me!

­“Lord, Lord, Open Unto Me” by Howard Thurman

Learn more about Howard Thurman. Watch the film, “Back Against the Wall” by Journey Films.

Thank you for praying with us across the miles during this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. May you be strengthened to continue to reach across artificial borders, taking one brick at a time out of the wall that separates us.

All of the prayers in this series can be found here: Witnesses to Unity: Prayers for Christian Unity.

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Watch our introductory video

Learn more about these Catholic Spirituality Centers:

The Marillac Center, the retreat and spirituality center of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, in Leavenworth, Kansas.

The Sophia Center is a ministry of the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas.

Precious Blood Renewal Center, in Liberty, Missouri, is a ministry of the United States Province of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, a Catholic religious order.

Photo credit: Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives NMAH.AC.0618.S04.01

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