"Them" & "Us"

"Holy Father, keep them in your Name, so that they may be one, just as we are one." - John 17:11

From the moment we learn to speak and build relationships as children, we learn that there are differences between "them" and "us." There are always people who are different… maybe different culture, religion, or even socio-economic class… and we build an imaginary wall that separates us. Without meaning to, we categorize people and we label them as better than or less than ourselves. As we grow older, those separations can be erased or new ones can come up. The point is that we are taught in church that we are one body, that we are all created as children of the One, True God, but we don't see most of our brothers and sisters the same way we see ourselves, our friends, and our closest family. Knowing the way the human heart works, on the night before He died, Jesus prayed to the Father that we, all of God's children, may be one. This means united to one another in love, not thinking ourselves any better than the other, but always giving up of ourselves for the well-being of our neighbor.

If we are to be one, as Jesus prayed that we would be, we have to start with the task of bringing down all prejudices, stereotypes, and pride that keep us from feeling unity with the poor we pass on the street or that person in church we don't like and whose hand we avoid shaking. Jesus can help us get there, but we have to begin the work in ourselves. Whenever we are tempted to look at people and think "those people" or feel any type of superiority or even inferiority to others, we need to examine ourselves and know that Jesus has some work to do there. Pray and ask the Lord where you have walls you need to bring down, and ask for ways that you can become one with those you don't want to be around.

Today's Prayer:
Jesus, You prayed that all of us may be one, as You and the Father are one… but our hearts are stubborn and we put up excuses to keep ourselves separated. In Your Name, help us to let go of all that holds us back and accept Your love so that we can share that love with others and actually be one. In Your Name we pray, amen