When we enter into the depths of prayer, we find an inner realm in which we experience our oneness with all others who are following Christ, and deeper still, a oneness with all human beings, and finally, a oneness with all life. In this spiritual ‘web’ of unity and interconnectedness, we can experience true com-passion (suffering with) for all people, as we intimately share in their experience of being.

Racism, like other -isms (sexism, classism, etc.), is a state of the heart. It is a bitter fruit of the human condition—the lost awareness of our own divine nature. When we have forgotten that we bear the image and likeness of God, imago dei, we simultaneously become unable to see both our own divine life and the divine image present in others.