REDISCOVERING OUR ONENESS

   Our faith tells us that we are one family under God.  But our churches remain divided as the ecumenical spirit wanes.  And sadly, the heavily politicized Evangelical churches blatantly defy the oneness given to us by God.

   Our American founders dreamed of one nation under God.  But the Declaration of Independence excluded the slaves from enjoying their inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  And racism continues to poison our nation.  Our Constitution begins, "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..."  But under President Trump we are a very sorely divided nation.  Our national motto, "E Pluribus Unum," is losing its meaning.

   Our economic system divides us into the very rich and the many poor, sick, vulnerable and outcast.

   The great philosophies of both East and West have been abandoned by most schools

    Yet, there is hope.  It is coming from today's science.  An increasing number of physicists are offering a radically new view of the oneness that is the universe, the world and all of us on earth.

   Here I will repeat a little story that I told in a previous post.  Two young fish were swimming along a stream when an old fish came swimming toward them.  As the old fish was passing them, he said, "The water's fine today, isn't it?"   The young fish did not respond.  When the old fish had swum past them, one of them turned to the other and asked, "What's water?"  They didn't know the world they were living in.

   The physicists I am referring to are saying that the universe/world we live in is not made of material but is all non-material energy.  The universe, they explain, is made of atoms.  Until recently we thought that the atoms were made of material nuclei and electrons that scientists saw as little balls of matter.  Now they say that the nuclei and the electrons are actually little non-material waves in non-material energy fields.  The atom has no physical dimensions!  So the universe is made of non-material energy that has no physical dimensions.  

   (Our brain turns the non-material universe into a three dimensional, "physical" world but that's another story.) 

   Also, these physicists say that the non-material energy that the universe and we are  made of is living, intelligent consciousness.  To go back to our little story of the fish, the "water" we are swimming in is an ocean of universal, living, intelligent consciousness.

   Every galaxy, every star, planet, rock, plant, animals and person arises as an individual expression of one, living, intelligent, universal consciousness.

   So at one point in our history we were all one, same reality.  If we trace ourselves  back to our original reality, each of us is an individual expression of the one, basic living, intelligent consciousness that is the universe.

    Today, to many of us, especially the young, science is more respected than religion.  And more respected than philosophy, which also tells us of our basic oneness in terms of essence, i.e., we are all human.  So I wonder if today's science can do what our politics, education and mainstream religions are not doing.

   God can now be described as Eternal/Infinite Living, Intelligent, Divine Consciousness, who is Love.  The universe can be described as the space/time, finite, created image of Eternal/Infinite Living, Intelligent, Divine Consciousness/Love.    

   Genesis tells us that God created the universe and then entered into it, filling it with divine presence.  (Gen. 1:1-3)    The God-filled universe  is the living, evolving Christ Reality.  As Teilhard de Chardin said, "Cosmogenesis is Christogenesis."  

   Jesus was a 1st century Jewish male who at his conception became the universal, God-filled Christ Reality.  He was both human and Divine.  He is God's living, intelligent, conscious Reality/Love overflowing into the world. 

   In and through Jesus, we work to build the Kingdom of God on earth that Jesus prayed for, "Thy Kingdom come...one earth..."  In Jesus' power and love, we evolve, slow step by slow step, toward the full meaning of our lives, which is global wholeness in love.    

   Thanks to the new insights of today's science we have a contemporary and very persuasive way to renew our understanding and our faith in God and in Jesus the Christ, so we can renew and reinvigorate our lives and the world in the Oneness and Wholeness  of Love that God created us to be.   

   

         

CHRISTMAS: A DOUBLE BIRTHDAY

   Christmas, of course, is the celebration of the birth of Jesus, 2000 years ago.  But if we are to understand and appreciate the wonder that is Christmas, we must also celebrate the birth of Christ, who was born 13.8 billion years ago.  For at Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ.

   Genesis tells us that at the beginning of creation the universe was in a state of chaos.  And then "a mighty wind swept over the waters," bringing calm and order to the chaos.  (Gen. 1:1-2).  We understand the mighty wind to be the Spirit of God.  From the first moment of creation, God was present in the universe.

    In the Hebrew mentality in which Genesis was written, we could say that God became present in the universe by anointing it.  The universe became "the anointed one."  The Hebrew name for "the anointed one" is Messiah.  The English translation of "Messiah" is Christ, or the Christ Reality.  The universe with God present in it is the Christ Reality.

    The Christ Reality, or simply, Christ, was born 13.8 billion years ago along with the creation of the universe.  God's living, conscious, intelligent, self-giving loving presence in the world/universe makes the world/universe the Christ Reality. 

   Christ is all in all.  (Col. 3:11).  Every galaxy, star, planet, all water, soil, rock, insect, plant, bird, animal and person lives in the God-present, Christ-ed universe.  God is present in everything and everyone.  Theologian-scientist Teilhard de Chardin said that we live in, "The Divine Milieu." 

   Note:  God's universal presence in the universe is not Pantheism, which makes the universe God.  It is panentheism:  God is present in the entire universe, which makes the universe the Christ Reality. 

   "Unto you is born a Savior who is Christ the Lord."  (Cf. Lk. 2:11).  When Jesus was born
2000 years ago, the Christ that he was, was already 13.8 billion years old.  The amazing, joyful wonder of Christmas is that Jesus was the living, conscious, intelligent, loving, universal Christ Reality in the form of a first century, Jewish man.

   The word, "Catholic" means "universal."  Our Catholic faith in Jesus the Christ opens us beyond the Jewish faith to a global, universal faith, from within which we look back to the Jews as our beloved elder brothers and sisters in faith.  

   Jesus the Christ moves us through the dualistic thinking that occurs naturally to us, e.g., I am me and not you.  I am White and not Black, or Brown, or Yellow.  I am a Catholic, not a Protestant, or Jew, or Muslim, or Hindu, etc., to unitive thinking that arises from a global, universal faith.  In and through Jesus, the Christ, we open our consciousness to embrace the entire world in love.  "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal. 3:28).  Christ is all in all. (Col. 3:11). 

   Also, as Jesus did, we turn believing into acting, and we reach out, as effectively as we can, to all other in love.   

   Being the global, universal Christ, Jesus knows no boundaries or restrictions of love for the world and everything and everyone in it.  So as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ, we should make a new effort to open our eyes, minds and hearts and extend ourselves in good will and love to everything and  everyone, without exception.

   We are not naive.  We know that some people will reject us.  Some will hate us and even want to kill us.  Nevertheless, we should offer to join with everyone of good will, whether people of faith or of no faith, to work together to build up the Reign of Love in the world, especially in the form of order, justice, peace, joy of life, and gratitude, and with a special option for the poor, sick, vulnerable and outcast.  This year we can especially note that the political and corporate culture contradicts Christmas very deeply.

    As we gather up love of all others in Jesus the Christ, we offer that love to God, The Father, through Christ, in the Spirit of joyful gratitude and worship.  With Christ and through him we joyfully proclaim, "Peace on earth, good will to all."

   And to all, a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!