Thursday of the
Fifth Week of Easter
(Acts 15:7-21; John 15:9-11)
For the last two years a great debate has been conducted
within the Church. Pope Francis had made
it known that he was considering a change in the policy of prohibiting all
divorced and remarried people from receiving Communion. Several cardinals reacted with a letter
reminding the pope that the prohibition of divorce came from Jesus
himself. As intense as this controversy became,
it was likely not nearly as passionate as the one of which the first reading
today gives account.
It is easy to imagine the polemics of the different
sides. Paul and Barnabas come to
Jerusalem asking why pagan Greeks need to adopt Jewish customs in order to be
part of the Church. After all, they
would explain, it is the cross of Jesus that brings salvation. Furthermore, they would add, expecting circumcision
is not practical, much less considerate.
Then the other side weighs in: because Jews are God’s “chosen people,” one
must first join this larger group before being adopted into God’s family. Besides, they surely add, how could one enjoy
table fellowship with people who ate the flesh of pigs, apparently the most
unclean animal?
The decision of the apostles to accept pagan Greeks into
the Church two thousand years ago underlies our presence at mass. Similarly Pope Francis made a momentous
decision three weeks ago in his apostolic exhortation The Joy of Love. He upheld
the long-standing tradition of the Church forbidding divorce, but he also
called for deeper discernment regarding the relationship of married people. Actually the pope is calling all of us to a
closer relationship with God through a more loving care for one another. Christian spouses especially have the
vocation to love so that they may become for all as well as for each other the
door to God.
