Thomas Merton notes how Gandhi when about discovering his "right mind."
In rediscovering India and his own "right mind"... He was...identifying himself fully with the Indian people, that is to say not the Westernized upper classes nor with the Brahmin caste, but rather with the starving masses and in particular with the outcaste "untouchable," or Harijan.
Sounds a bit like Jesus going among the least, the lowest, the left-out. If we are to become familiar with all the people it must be with all the people. If we are to look out for the welfare of all the people it must be the welfare of all the people. I cannot imagine making such connections. It is too easy for me to stay within my comfortable existence and not have to really meet up with the real situations in which many (too many) people live. And yet, what Gandhi gained was what all of us have the opportunity to gain. Not merely a sense of compassion for the other, but rather a transformation of other into brother/sister. That, is an amazing journey that cannot be cut short. It is also a journey that we wake to each day. Therefore, we are never given the opportunity to say we have failed at being a part of such a community. Rather, we are being handed new opportunities to make those connections again today. It may mean we listen to people to whom we would not usually listen and we may exchange ideas with those outside of our usual routine.
Connection: Let's be surprised by what we may learn within this day...and who will be our teachers.
You, O Light, awaken us bring us into the experience of you love even when we do not expect to be touch and moved by such a power. Grand us the wisdom to see how your love for the world makes itself manifest to us within this day. Amen.
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