Any “good Christian” will have been taught about their unity with God, how they are sons and daughters, princesses and princes in the family of the great King. Until one has experienced that unity, however, such talk sounds like easy piety at best, if not mere abstraction. The Eucharist is calling us to an experience of Divine Union. As with all of life however, distracted, divided hearts can lead us to miss God right under our noses (or on our tongues). Contemplative practice is, in essence, the practice of unity. In practices like Centering Prayer, we gather all the disparate pieces of ourselves as best we can, surrendering them to God to heal what must be healed, and to swallow up anything that is not true to our divine identity in God’s mercy. This is why there is need for practice in contemplative living – because we are so scattered within ourselves that it takes real commitment to give our whole selves to God. Yet, as we find the courage to offer all our “pieces” to God again and again, and as we allow God to build us back together on the very foundation of Divine Love, changes are inevitable. Perhaps we find fresh joy in simple things, or maybe stressors aren’t as stressful, or maybe hope long laying dormant starts to come back to life. Each person’s experience of unity will be unique, but we will then know God through our experience – the only way to really know God.