“In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers.” – Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

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Listen to the PODCAST version of Today’s Contemplation by clicking HERE.

Listen to my song “All Are One” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

My albums and books Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart are available for purchase HERE. Also available on Amazon.

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John 17:22-23

Speaking to God, Jesus said, “I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.”

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Oneness.

You get the idea that this is important!

The oneness that Jesus sees is unfortunately not seen by many people nor is it understood.

Instead, many divide and separate.

They look at the world and judge who is in and who is out.

The person judging, of course, is always in.

This type of dualism is causing great harm.

It’s also delusional because we all are actually one.

There is one God in whom “we live and move and have our being” as St. Paul put it (Acts 17:28).

We all share in the beingness of God.

So does all of creation.

We’re all made of the same stuff.

It’s fear that separates: fear that we’ll be harmed; fear of dying.

But there is nothing to fear because God is love (1 John 4:8).

And no one truly dies because our souls are eternal.

In today’s scripture verse, Jesus speaks of us all being brought to perfection as one.

That’s what Love does!

Jesus said he wanted us to be one as he and God are one.

We need to start seeing the love of God in all people and in everything.

That spark of the Divine is in everything.

As Thomas Merton stated after having his mystical experience in downtown Louisville: “There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.”

If we truly saw this, truly believed this, there would be harmony instead of chaos.

Allow my words to open your heart.

It starts with you and me, right now, right here.

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Listen to the song of the day “All Are One” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Purchase my albums/CDs and books by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!