麻豆约拍

Good morning. 聽聽Very few people are able to transcend the boundaries of faiths and cultures with a consistent message of peace. So when Mahatma Gandhi was killed by an assassin鈥檚 bullet on this day in 1948, his loss was felt deeply across the world.

It was as a lawyer in South Africa that he first sought to champion the cause of civil rights, before returning to his native India in 1915.聽 He believed, 鈥淢y life is my message鈥�, as he challenged injustice with non-violent disobedience, campaigning against unjust laws, upholding the cause of women鈥檚 rights and denouncing the conditions that the poorest people of the lowest social caste had to endure.聽

In 1930, British laws forced Indians to buy salt from approved suppliers, rather than simply gathering it from natural the salt-beds at the coast; Gandhi鈥檚 response was to lead a 200 mile walk of protest to the sea, with an initial handful of followers swelling to tens of thousands, as he defied threats of violence and eventual imprisonment.

But there was a further, almost spiritual dimension to Gandhi鈥檚 protests, when he took prayer and fasting, the traditional weapons of the soul, and used them to make his case for change; the iron fist of unjust law and discrimination seemed powerless when it was challenged by a softly spoken man with horn rimmed spectacles, with a dhoti, the traditional Hindu garment, knotted at his waist.

Gandhi was wise enough to say, 鈥淵ou must be the change you wish to see in the world鈥�, challenging us that simply wanting things to be different isn鈥檛 enough; it requires the best intentions to be turned into action鈥�and his example has inspired people of all faiths and none, in countless parts of the world, to use peaceful protest to make changes for the better in their society;

So Lord of all love, lead us on the path of peace and help us to do all we can to be the change we wish to see in our world.聽 Amen.