We Are All in this Together

We are all in this together! We truly are. We were made by our God, for our God; and for each other. We are all “the Body of Christ”.

There is song that we sing in our Catholic tradition, “One Bread, One Body”. That is us! We are “Gentile or Jew, Woman or Man, Servant of Free; NO MORE!”

I recently finished a book by Robert Barron, “Catholicism, A Journey to the Heart of the Catholic Faith”. I have much to learn and this book was, on many levels, beyond my depth at this point in my Faith journey. A story from the book stood out for me very poignantly though. Father Barron recounts the extraordinary experience encountered by Thomas Merton. Merton was an American Catholic writer and mystic. He was a poet, social activist and student of Comparative Religion. He spent and lived many years of his life in solitude and contemplation, residing in a hermitage in Kentucky.

One day, Merton found himself in Louisville, Kentucky, on a trip conducting some business. As he stood at the intersection of two street corners, looking about at all the people going about their day, he was filled with a sudden and overwhelming realization that he loved them all. He loved every single one of them. These people, although strangers, were his, and he was theirs, and he realized that we cannot be alien from one another.

I believe that there is a deep essence in the core of us all. We have an essence that searches for this unity with all of God’s creation. It is a yearning that leads many of us toward very self-destructive paths. I have been down some of these paths myself, and know the emptiness and loneliness they lead to. They are the paths that lead us toward attachments to the things of this world, and not toward the one true virtue that will last for all of eternity: LOVE.

God knows how easy it is for us to be directed down these dangerous paths. That is why he gave us so many gifts. He gave us Sacraments, and rituals; a Tradition and the Mass. These are gifts that have withstood the test of time and history for over 2000 years. These gifts are encounters with Christ that will lead us to unity and oneness with him, each other, and all of his creation.

Engage and respond to these gifts. They will lead you into this One Body. “because we though many, throughout the Earth, we are one body in this one Lord.”

We Are All in this Together

We are all in this together! We truly are. We were made by our God, for our God; and for each other. We are all “the Body of Christ”.

There is song that we sing in our Catholic Tradition, “One Bread, One Body”. That is us! We are “Gentile or Jew, Woman or Man, Servant of Free; NO MORE!”

I recently finished a book by Robert Barron, “Catholicism, A Journey to the Heart of the Catholic Faith”. I have much to learn, this book was on many levels, beyond my depth at this point in my Faith journey. A story from the book stood out for me very poignantly though. Father Barron recounts the extraordinary experience encountered by Thomas Merton. Merton was an American Catholic writer and mystic. He was a poet, social activist and student of Comparative Religion. He spent and lived many years of his life in solitude and contemplation, residing in a hermitage in Kentucky.

One day, Merton found himself in Louisville, Kentucky, on a trip conducting some business. As he stood at the intersection of two street corners, looking about at all the people going about their day, he was filled with a sudden and overwhelming realization that he loved them all. He loved every single one of them. These people, although strangers, were his; and he was theirs; and he realized that we cannot be alien from one another.

I believe that there is a deep essence in the core of us all. We have an essence that searches for this unity with all of God’s creation. It is a yearning that leads many of us toward very self-destructive paths. I have been down some of these paths myself, and know the emptiness and loneliness they lead to. They are the paths that lead us toward attachments to the things of this world, and not toward the one true virtue that will last for all of eternity: LOVE.

God knows how easy it is for us to be directed down these dangerous paths. That is why he gave us so many gifts. He gave us Sacraments, and rituals; a Tradition and the Mass. These are gifts that have withstood the test of time and history for over 2000 years. These gifts are encounters with Christ that will lead us to unity and oneness with Him, each other, and all of His creation.

Engage and respond to these gifts. They will lead you into this One Body. “because we, though many, throughout the Earth, we are one body in this one Lord.”