Reflection on the Fourth Sunday of Easter

I have three experiences to bring to these readings about the contention among the disciples when Paul brought the Gospel to the Gentiles; about John’s vision of the chosen standing before God and God wiping every tear from their eye; and about the sheep hearing Jesus’ voice.

The Missouri General Assembly used to sponsor three weeks in the summer for rising high school juniors at the University of Missouri campus in Columbia. Every high school could nominate two students, and 500 were chosen. White, Black, cheerleaders, bookworms, urban, rural, Evangelical, Jewish, raised with no religion. They had courses and some evening talks to choose from. I was invited several years to give an evening talk on God and politics. I started by saying, “We all agree that God is not male or female. Right? Even though we usually talk about God as He. We are going to talk about how God is used in politics, and  just to give ourselves a chance to experience things differently, I’m going to talk about God as She.” 

Really, I didn’t have to say anything more. Everybody had an opinion. Maybe you couldn’t have that kind of discussion today – but even then, we were all talking from our hearts. One of the times, when it was over and we were eating ice cream cones, this girl came up to me and she said, “Sister, I understand how you say we need to build communities of love, but somebody has to judge those people over there and tell them they are wrong.” There was the crux of what underlay all of that night’s discussion and maybe all of the polarization we experience today. Somebody has to tell them they are wrong. That’s what the Jews wanted to tell Paul and Barnabas about preaching to the Gentiles.

Three weeks ago I had a dream. I was standing in front of God, and Donald Trump was standing next to me. He was shining through in a gold light and I understood that God loved him. I did not feel easy with myself when I woke up. I actually didn’t tell that dream to anybody until right now.

My third experience: This last week a writer in the National Catholic Reporter said the conclave would be brief because the cardinals love the Church and were seeking unity and many would quickly let go of their first choice as they experienced the movement of the whole.

Victor Frankl says it is our task to make meaning of our lives, and one of the great graces of offering a homily is that the readings of the day offer me an opportunity to bring them to bear on my experiences. It is no surprise the young girl wanted to judge the people who were outside her community any more than the disciples wanted to judge the Gentiles and maintain them as the other, not part of the community. We all want to make judgments. I want to judge Trump. I’d like to sit on my vision of him shining before God. But little as I like him, Donald Trump deserves the same respect as you or me or someone homeless or even drunk and stinking. Our own intrinsic worth dovetails with the basic human respect we give to Mr. Trump.

I’m very glad for the choice of Pope Leo XIV. I’m even more glad that the cardinals decided quickly and seem to share a vision of the Church. They seemed to hear the Good Shepherd calling them. Would I say that if I liked their choice less? I hope so but I don’t know.

The reading from Acts is a straightforward account but John’s two readings are both mystical and demanding. John offers us a vision of God’s love, and he nurtures our own experience of God as love. Dostoyevsky said that “love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.” Dorothy Day quoted that a lot and I think it is there in John – God wiping every tear from our eyes and holding us in God’s own hand.