God is One: When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus seems to have replied with the Jewish prayer “Sh’ma Yis’ra’eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad.” Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! 30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength’ (Mk 12:29,30). In Hinduism, I have read that there is only one Supreme Para-Brahman and all the other deities are the forms and expansions of this Para-Brahman. The Shri Saint Gadge Baba, preached that divinity is extraordinary service to people. He worked, through social services, to guide the common man towards the ultimate goal of human life.

Pope Paul VI said in “Nostra Aetate”, Declaration On the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, 1965, “In our time, when day by day mankind is being drawn closer together, and the ties between different peoples are becoming stronger, the Church examines more closely her relationship to non-Christian religions. In her task of promoting unity and love among men, indeed among nations, she considers above all in this declaration what men have in common and what draws them to fellowship.”

As a catholic, I share my heritage with all those who work, through love and compassion and charity for our fellow humanity. Whether they acknowledge the God of Abraham or simply the Ubuntu that makes us all open to others and affirming of others, we are all a part of each other.