I regularly read the front page of the morning paper, and recently noted headlines and articles titled: “The Economic Division of the Haves and Have Nots,”  “The Battle by Syrian Christians to fight the oppression of ISIS,” and “The Race Discord in US Cities,” etc. On the surface there is not a lot of union in our “front page/soundbite” world. Nonetheless God has given us the challenge to become more as One, as His Divine Trinity is One. The Lord invites us to aspire to live as one, in this contemporary world we have created as one. So, can we pretend to solve all the economic, religious, racial, political, legal and financial divisions within our daily world by some kind of magic wand?

Certainly not. Perhaps one of the first steps any of us can take is to acknowledge that we need God’s life and love to animate this process of unity. We don’t have all the answers and need his divine inspiration to listen carefully to opposing points of view, and even to respect the right to have such opposing points of view.

I pray today to acknowledge God, and then ask for God’s assistance to aspire to the solidarity he invites me to be a part of.

—Bill Burke serves as a Regional Director in the Advancement office of the Chicago-Detroit and Wisconsin provinces of the Society of Jesus. Bill and his wife, Colleen, have two daughters.