Love One Another
We have bid farewell to a beloved pope and welcomed a new one. Filled with hope for the future and gratitude for the past, I share with you a brief reflection on what Pope Francis has meant to me, now that the dust has settled.
“Love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love one another.”
—Jesus, John 13:34
What does this love look like? We are called to love – to see love and be love – to recognize it, to embody it, and to make it visible in a world often marked by loneliness and longing. Jesus gave us the clearest example: a love that is compassionate, merciful, sacrificial, nonviolent, inclusive, and humble. He is my model, my measure, and my hope – to be love, to be present, moment by moment.
Throughout my journey, others have illuminated this path of love for me. My mémère, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Gandhi, St. Francis, and Pope Francis have each shown what love in action looks like.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God…
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”—St. John, 1 John 4:7-8
Pope Francis, in particular, lived as a witness to love’s primacy. Before doctrine or judgment, he showed us mercy, kindness, nonviolence, compassion, inclusivity, simplicity, humility, hope, and joy. He helped us see the Church as alive and relevant, a beacon shining in our time. In him, I found a light and a shepherd – a leader willing to meet us in our brokenness, to walk with us in our mess, a shepherd who truly “smelled like the sheep.”
His passing leaves an emptiness, a silence. Yet more enduring is the legacy he leaves: a summons to become love in the world. To love one another – just as we have been loved.
Peace,
Joseph Krans, Executive Director
Genesis Spiritual Life & Conference Center
