June 1, Easter 7 (John 17:20-26)
The question of unity always raises another question: On whose terms?
I’ve always loved the idea of unity. That all may be one just as Jesus and the Father are one: this was my hope long before I even knew that Jesus ever prayed such a thing, as he does in this week’s gospel reading. A faint memory has me on a family trip to Disneyland, where I spent most of my time on the “It’s a Small World” ride. As we repeatedly toured the simulacra of nations where animatronic children sing the song on repeat, my mother apparently had to surrender whatever hope she had for some Disney fun of her own, for here she would be with me.
Truth is, I’ve always been hard to get along with. On another family trip a few years later, this one to Peru where my father had lived with his family when he was young, I tried to get a live plant through airport security. When a Peruvian official approached me to confiscate it, I held on tighter. My father, it’s said, began imagining the inside of a Peruvian jail cell.
The question of unity always comes attendant with the question, On whose terms?
