Sixth Sunday of Easter

Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 21, 2006

“In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.” (Acts 10) "... not that we have loved God, but that he loved us." (I John 4: 7-10) "It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you." (John 15:9-17)

The disciples had their first disagreement over who should be eligible to be called followers of Jesus. Should it be only for observant Jews, or for non-Jews (i.e., everyone else) as well? Peter, after prayer and reflection during this time of conflict and confusion is led to the conclusion we read here. "God shows no partiality.". Jesus' words and life are for all humankind. God's benevolence and favor are available for everyone. This issue of whether divine life is "just for us" or universally available regardless of the form it takes is still present in our own time. It seems that the teachings of many great religious figures get distorted by our need to possess and control them for ourselves only. This is a kind of spiritual and religious tribalism: only our own words and rituals count for anything. We will torture, kill and consign you to hell if you do not accept this.

We would like to believe that we are especially chosen to spread the truth. We are, and we are not. One good way of assessing whether we are fooling ourselves is to ask how certain we are about the rightness of our cause. Certitude is a strange phenomenon. The stronger it is, the less likely it is to be close to the truth. There are always many more questions than answers. Another personal spiritual self evaluation might be to observe how much and how many we exclude from our ideas about who God is choosing. As we mature in the faith and the spiritual life we become more open to the many ways which God chooses people, and the many forms of truth. The way of the world and the flesh is to become less so.

Jesus expresses a fundamental spiritual truth: God chooses us. Our decisions are secondary to that choice. Our Catholic tradition has reflected on this issue many times. During the 16th and 17th centuries for example, we argued about whether true spirituality was a matter of exercising free will and ascetical practices or of waiting for God's initiative constitute the true spiritual way. Which comes first, our choice or God's? What we came to was: the Spirit moves, we respond. We would like to think that our efforts and sacrifices bring us closer to God. Only God brings us to God. I am reminded of this every time I must, because of my total physical dependence on others, wait for them to take the initiative to provide even the simplest needs, like the placement of my head, hands and arms. All I can do is smile and acknowledge that I am OK. Surely this is a metaphor for our total dependence on God's initiative in the deepest recesses of our souls. The only adequate response is gratitude.