There was a sweet naivety to President Donald Trump’s comments about getting into heaven by forging peace in Ukraine, and a disarming humility. It was very un-Trump-like.
“If I can save 7,000 people a week from being killed … I want to try to get to heaven if possible, I’m hearing that I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole,” the president joked. “But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
Christian theologians have argued for centuries about whether good works guarantee entry into heaven, from giving simple alms to ending historically bloody conflicts. Generally speaking, Protestants believe that a person’s good deeds do not contribute to their salvation and that salvation is received by grace through faith in Jesus. Catholics (such as myself) believe that cooperation with God’s will through good works plays a role, though salvation remains a gift from God.
These answers seem disparate at first, but upon closer examination, there is actually more agreement than not between the camps. Of course, God has the authority and power to grant eternal life to whomever he pleases — on this, both Catholics and Protestants agree. The theological debate is important, and I fully believe the Catholic side reflects the full truth of the matter. But our human theological frameworks do not limit God’s power or his love.
The president’s remarks, however, reflect the Catholic sensibility that people participate in their salvation. In this view, people are meant to actively cooperate with God’s grace through faith and good works. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, born of infinite love and perfect obedience, is the unmerited gift that makes all our salvation possible. But man’s capacity to control his actions through free will (Sir 15:14: “God in the beginning created human beings and made them subject to their own free choice”) means we each have the choice to refuse this gift. People have the power to choose communion with God or to turn away from him.
It’s easy to see why God made it this way. Without the capacity to choose love, our affections would amount to something far less. We are free to reject love so that we might love at all.
This emphasis on real, chosen love — in Catholic thought, love means “to will the good of the other” — colors the Gospels.
In all three synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), an account of a scribe asking Jesus which is the greatest commandment of all appears. Jesus responds not with one commandment, but two, saying, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength,” and that “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The scribe then responds as any good student would, restating the lesson to demonstrate that it had been learned. Jesus approves, saying, “You are not far from the kingdom of Heaven.”
The president’s comments reflect that he, too, understands at least one of the two greatest commandments: to love your neighbor as yourself. His desire to bring peace to Ukraine, which would be a monumental act of mercy, demonstrates a true willingness for the good of the other, in this case, the well-being of millions of Russians and Ukrainians he’s never met.
A critic might argue that his desire for peace in Ukraine appears ultimately selfish because he is motivated by the prospect of eternal life. But countless other comments from Trump regarding the suffering of innocents in Ukraine and Gaza, as even some Trump critics have noted of late, indicate a true compassion.
Indeed, Trump seems to disdain war authentically. His works match his rhetoric in this regard.
But for Trump to fully walk the Christian path of sanctification in his desire for heaven, he might also turn his heart toward the other of the greatest commandments: loving God with all his strength. These pursuits are not in competition; rather, they perfect one another. And God, the same God who created Trump from nothing and spared his life in Butler, is truly deserving of love.
The prologue of the Catholic catechism states, God freely gave life to man “in an act of sheer goodness.” Indeed, not a single person in history earned their existence, but God gave it to them. That any of us is here at all is an unspeakable miracle. And through Jesus, God made a way for us to be perfectly reconciled with him and to share in his life eternally.
God pursues each of our hearts with fervent passion. He chases after us with the abandon of a shepherd rescuing his lost sheep; he runs out to greet us with the joy of a father seeing his lost son return home — he was lost, but now he is found, he cries upon seeing us approach in the distance!
Returning this love to God, dissolving into the mystery of his eternal love, is our ultimate calling, our final and most profound joy.
Many believe that the Lord spared Trump that day in Butler. If so, it was not only for the good works he might do, but more importantly, because he desires, above all else, to allow Trump to offer his heart to God, who desires to spend eternity in perfect communion with all his children.
BISHOP BARRON PRAISES TRUMP’S DESIRE TO GET TO HEAVEN
I pray that the president will fully surrender himself to love and friendship with God and his fellow man. If he does, he can be confident that God will prepare him for a great room in his eternal house.
A beautiful, big room, the best room. You’ve never seen anything like it.
