Homily for Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday (April 27, 2014)
Canonization of Pope John XXIII and Pope John-Paul II
“How could a Christian become Pope?” The question was asked by a cleaning lady in
a Roman hotel during the Papacy of John XXIII. We know about it from the rather
astonished non-Catholic writer who was asked the question. For the cleaning lady,
it seemed obvious that anyone who became head of the Roman Catholic Church
needed to be ambitious, a careerist who made all sorts of compromises in reaching
the top, someone who had to travel far from the simple vocation of a disciple of
Jesus. How could a Christian become Pope or stay a Christian if one was Pope?
Think of just a few of the titles that cover over any simplicity in the Papal identity:
Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Sovereign
Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, Sovereign of
the Vatican City State. And so on. Is “Saint” but one more title that recognizes
another status and other accomplishments? Certainly the two Popes who were
canonized today had great achievements.
Although John XXIII was expected by those who elected him to have an
uneventful and short Papacy, it was this old man who summoned the Vatican
Council and called for a new Springtime for the Church, a spiritual Season that is still
unfolding. For those of us old enough to remember him, John’s public impact was
very similar to that of Pope Francis today: a different, humble spirit in the Papacy.
And John Paul II ‘s far lengthier Papacy certainly had achievements, one of his
greatest being his contribution to the collapse of Communism. Many political
commentators emphasize the importance of his 1979 visit to Poland during which a
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full one third of all Polish people came out to see him. The effect was electric: after
35 years of Communist oppression and psychological depression, the people
realized that they were stronger than the State. These two Popes have received the
title of “Saint” today—and in recent centuries there are very few Popes who have
been named saints-- not because of their great deeds, however, but rather because
through their way of living people like you and me could encounter the Holy, could
meet God. And despite the dramatic differences between the two men, they
preached a similar spiritual message for how God could be discovered, how God
finds us. Theeir lives had a very simple sermon for us: “Don’t be afraid!” In his
opening speech to the Council, Saint John XXIII warned us, in these words, about
“those prophets of doom, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of
the world were at hand.” In the 1979 visit to his homeland, Saint John Paul II calmly
told the enormous crowds: “Do not fear!”
That absence of fear is featured in our first reading—the disciples are able to
share their property and possessions with one another according to each person’s
need because they do not fear one another. Their security is rooted in the
community to which they belong, to whom they love and not in what they own. In
contrast, isn’t it precisely the crippling effect of fear that is operating in our Gospel
story today? Thomas the doubter is afraid to believe! He would rather lose a living
Jesus of Nazareth than give up his doubts. It is ironic that today’s Gospel opens with
the claim that the disciples were behind locked doors out of fear of the Jews because
our two new Saints were the great architects of Christianity’s new relationship to
Jews who are not to be feared but embraced as our elder brothers and sisters. When
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John XXIII was a Papal diplomat, he saved thousands of Jewish lives during World
War II. As Pope, he set in action the process that would lead to the adoption by the
Vatican Council of a new theology of Judaism. John Paul II then put into practice this
new theology by such acts as visiting the Synagogue in Rome, mourning at the death
camp in Auschwitz and praying at Judaism’s holiest place in Jerusalem. Enemies
have become brothers and sisters. That is a living sign of God’s presence.
How could a Christian become a Pope? This is also a question for us in a more
personal way: How can you and I live as Christians in the positions we have? How
can a Christian live as a college student? With all the opportunities for the selfseeking and self-indulgence that college life provides? How can a Christian become
a businessman or businesswoman today with the blatant injustices that permeate
our economic system? How may a Christian preserve a spiritual freedom in
beginning a family with all the demands that children place upon parents? How
could a Christian become a professor in our current academic culture, with its stress
on narrow careerism and individual self-importance? Brothers and sisters, these
(college student, business person, parent, professor) these are not easier vocations
or less daunting tasks than those that challenged Saints John XXIII and John Paul II.
And we need not be less courageous or less Christian than they were because we too
have heard Jesus’s personal promise to each of us: “Do not be afraid! I am with you.”
James Bernauer, S.J.
Church of St. Ignatius Loyola
Boston College
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