How to achieve unity?

[joshrp]

Hi,

I read part of Pope Benedict’s second volume of Jesus of Nazareth from the chapter on Jesus’s high priestly prayer. The part of the chapter at the end which I read was on His prayer that they may be one, or that we may be united with Him and the Father. I wanted to ask people what unity consists of? What is union with God and unity with each other, and how is this achieved? I guess this could have been asked in one of the apologetics sections of CAF, but I thought it was more of an evangelization or prayer oriented question than a theological one. Does anyone have any suggestions for media (books, websites, articles, magazines, TV programs, movies, speakers, authors, etc.) in addition to any links on Catholic Answers or other websites, that would help me in the subject of Divine Union, as well as unity amongst Christians, and all people in love of God and neighbor?

One of the explanations of the Trinity I have heard of described the Father as Oneness, the Son as Equality of Oneness, and the Holy Spirit as Union of Equality and Oneness, or something like that. I think I read this in the writings of Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa for the first time, but I might have also read it somewhere in St. Augustine’s writings or possible St. Thomas Aquinas, whom Nicholas of Cusa certainly studied in depth.

Does anyone know of any specific writings or audio or videos I can find easily on unity both of the Trinity, and between man and God? Also anything that will help me to evangelize others to help then follow the Holy Spirit into the only Holy Catholic and apostolic Church.

God bless you all
Joshua

 

[Jimdandy]

(CCC)946
After confessing “the holy catholic Church,” the Apostles’ Creed adds “the communion of saints.” In a certain sense this article is a further explanation of the preceding: "What is the Church if not the assembly of all the saints?"479 The communion of saints is the Church.

947
"Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others. . . . We must therefore believe that there exists a communion of goods in the Church. But the most important member is Christ, since he is the head. . . . Therefore, the riches of Christ are communicated to all the members, through the sacraments."480 "As this Church is governed by one and the same Spirit, all the goods she has received necessarily become a common fund."481

948
The term “communion of saints” therefore has two closely linked meanings: communion “in holy things (sancta)” and “among holy persons (sancti).”
Sancta sanctis! ("God's holy gifts for God's holy people") is proclaimed by the celebrant in most Eastern liturgies during the elevation of the holy Gifts before the distribution of communion. The faithful (sancti) are fed by Christ's holy body and blood (sancta) to grow in the communion of the Holy Spirit (koinonia) and to communicate it to the world.

 

[AlanFromWichita]

Unity is, was, and will be, forever.

We just don’t see it because we are trained in dualistic thinking from before we hear our first “NO!”

God isn’t “out there.” God’s creation was made out of God, so every atom and quark and group thereof in this universe are, in fact, God. It’s more than just a father-son relationship like we recognize on earth. It is a oneness in identity.

We all are one in spirit. I am no more or less God than you or Al Capone or the pope. Like it or not, Jesus was trying to get across to us that we, through Him, could hook up to God. So what happened was, when Jesus the man was put to death, He became pure spirit again, and from this form He spoke the Holy Spirit to descend. Well guess what, the spirit is in us, and there is only one spirit. Henceforth, we are just as connected as Jesus ever was.

So I am you and you are me and we are God and God is us, etc. That’s because at our essence, we all are made in the image of God and are thus all one, and one is all. Jesus included, as far as the world could detect, except to the extent that they learned to know Him through faith.

Here is an interesting video a facebook friend posted yesterday. It is neither Catholic nor Christian, but it draws off Christianity and other religions.

I recommend it because it could expand your mind, preparing new wineskins for the new wine you will be receiving soon. I think overall it gives us some idea of how incredibly mysterious God is. It is in four parts, total about 38 minutes.

Unity Consciousness, Part 1 of 4

Alan