In Illo Uno, Unum

Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Eastertide

The past week has certainly been one of the most memorable for the Catholic Church in the United States as well as the entire Catholic Church throughout the world. We have a new Pope who has chosen to be known as Leo XIV. All of the various media have been telling us about this man, Robert Francis Prevost, born on the southside of Chicago and raised in the suburb of Dolton, just west of I 94 and directly south of the city limits of Chicago.

As I was preparing my homily for this Fourth Sunday of Easter, the readings seemed to lend themselves to what we might expect from this new leader of the Catholic Church. To illustrate what I mean, we need to look at the coat of arms and the episcopal motto that Fr. Prevost chose when he was told that he would be ordained a bishop. “In Illo Uno, Unum.” In the One, we are one. As a son of St. Augustine, he chose this phrase as his motto, taken from Saint Augustine’s Exposition on Psalm 127, where he explains that “although we Christians are many, in the one Christ we are one.”

In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear of the activity of Paul and Barnabas as they preach the Gospel in Antioch. Paul explains to the Jewish people of Antioch that because they have rejected the Gospel of Jesus, they would turn to the Gentiles. To justify this action, he quotes the Hebrew prophet Isaiah: “I have made you a light to the Gentiles, that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Paul and Barnabas were Jews. In fact, Paul brags about his pedigree in the Letter to the Philippians: “If anyone else thinks he can be confident in flesh, all the more can I. Circumcised on the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrew parentage, in observance of the law a Pharisee, in zeal I persecuted the church, in righteousness based on the law, I was blameless.” So, turning to the Gentiles goes against everything that Paul had come to believe. Nonetheless, through the preaching of Paul and his disciples, Gentiles came to put their faith in the Gospel. God was no longer simply the God of Israel. God was God for all people. In his Letter to the Ephesians, Paul declared that Jesus tore down the dividing wall of enmity between the Jews and Gentiles by dying on the cross for the sins of all men and women. Throughout his writings, Paul maintains that we are all one body with Jesus as our head. In chapter eleven of the Acts of the Apostles, we read: “It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.” They were no longer Jews and Gentiles; they were all Christians. “In illo uno, unum.”

In today’s reading from the Book of Revelation, John proclaims: “I had a vision of a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue.” John goes on to say that they are the ones who have survived the time of persecution and who have been led to the springs of life-giving water – every nation, race, people and tongue – “In illo uno, unum.”

In the a very short reading from the Gospel of John, we hear: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” Anyone who responds to the voice of Jesus is a part of his flock. We shall go one to live with our Shepherd forever. “In illo uno, unum.”

In his first homily which he preached to the Cardinals on the day after his election, Pope Leo stated: “As Pope Francis taught us so many times, we are called to bear witness to our joyful faith in Jesus the Savior. Therefore, it is essential that we too repeat, with Peter: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’ (Mt 16:16). It is essential to do this, first of all, in our personal relationship with the Lord, in our commitment to a daily journey of conversion. Then, to do so as a Church, experiencing together our fidelity to the Lord and bringing the Good News to all.” “In the One, we are one.”

Robert Francis Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV, spent much of his life as a missionary in Peru. He worked among the poor of the Diocese of Chiclayo and brought them together as a community of faith. Consequently, I am sure that while he is claimed as a son of Chicago, the people of Peru count him as one of their own. Through his ministry as Bishop of Rome, I am sure that he will come to be known as a leader who seeks to unite the peoples of the world, through their faith in Jesus Christ.