For this week’s prayer, I invite you to stretch both your imagination and your heart.

Find a quiet, comfortable place, and sit in a way that will allow you to be still and at rest. Breathe gently and naturally, and notice your breath: the sounds it makes, the way your chest moves, the feel of the air in your nostrils and throat. Allow your awareness to connect with your bodyself at prayer and simply be present with God, body, mind, and spirit, for a few moments.

Now notice your surroundings, and especially any people nearby. Perhaps you see them; perhaps you hear them; perhaps you just know they are there. Without losing your connection with your own bodyself, allow your awareness to expand to include those around you—in the same room, the same building, the same neighborhood. Feel yourself present with God with all these others, also present with God.

After a few moments, expand your awareness again, north and south, east and west, to include people important to you who are at a distance. Feel that wider circle:  you, those nearby, those at a distance—all connected, all present with God. Rest with that awareness as long as you wish.

Throughout the week, pay attention to people in the news, locally, throughout our country, and throughout the world. As you repeat this prayer throughout the week, expand your circle to include the people you encounter through the news as well. Make a special effort to include those whom you are not naturally drawn to—those who seem most “other” to you. Feel the love of God pulsing through you, and through everyone else in the circle of your awareness.