Sacred Oneness: A Call to Heal Divisions from Rev. Dr. Soni Cantrell-Smith

Science of Mind teaches that all life is one, a divine unity binds together every person, every event, every moment. In this understanding, separation is illusion; our thoughts, words and deeds are powerful, and what happens to one is part of what happens to all. Each life is sacred, and each act of violence wounds the whole.

Today, as we witness an alarming rise in gun violence in the United States, we see this oneness deeply violated. As of September 11, 2025, there have been 301 mass shootings in the U.S. In 2024, there were 503 mass shootings. It is difficult to understand this amount of violence. In Minnesota this year, two state legislators were assassinated in their homes: Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed, and Senator John Hoffman and his wife were wounded, targets of political violence that puncture the idea of safety in public service. 

Also in Minnesota, on August 27, 2025, two young children (ages eight and ten) were killed and dozens more injured in a school shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis, when a gunman opened fire during the morning Mass. 

Now, in another shocking act of political violence, Charlie Kirk, conservative activist, was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University. On the same day, in Evergreen, Colorado, a student shot two students, then himself. The two wounded students were hospitalized, one in critical condition.

We are living in a moment where isolated incidents no longer feel isolated. The oneness of life means that when politicians or public figures are shot, or children die during a school Mass, all of us are touched, all of us suffer in some way. Such events shake our sense of community and our spiritual peace.

From the teachings of Science of Mind, we are being called to more than grief or outrage. We are being called to raise our thoughts, to hold an inner vision of peace, justice and compassion. We are being invited to act from the realization that we are all in this together and that no one is free until we are all free. We are called to speak truth with kindness, to support measures that promote safety and dignity; to heal the divisions that let violence in. We must continue the struggle for justice, equity, inclusion and belonging if we truly envision a world that works for all. 

As Ernest Holmes said in a radio address on August 6, 1950, “But faith without works is dead. We should not only pray, we should act, each contributing the best they have to the common purpose, each willing to make any sacrifice necessary, not a sacrifice reluctantly made but as one who offers all that they have to give for two great purposes — one, in a certain sense, a selfish one, for we all desire self-preservation but the other in the greater sense that there can be no individual self-preservation without the preservation of all.”

Let us come together now, across differences of party, belief and religion, and pray for the United States and for all places in the world where political, cultural or religious strife is impacting lives. Pray for the children and for the wounded students, the families torn apart. 

Pray for our politicians and leaders, that they may find courage, wisdom and compassion; that they may put down weapons of division and instead collaborate for the good of the United States.

I pray we be moved by love. I pray we remember our oneness in every act, every word. I pray peace increases and violence is diminished. I pray we are rising now to the moment, united, compassionate and whole.

Standing with you in love,
Rev. Dr. Soni Cantrell-Smith
CSL Spiritual Leader