In today’s Gospel (John 13:34), we hear again the Lord’s enduring command-ment: “Even as I have loved you, so you must love one another.” These words, spoken on the eve of His Passion, form the very heart of Christian discipleship. This is not merely advice or encouragement—it is Christ’s legacy to us. It is the ultimate mark by which we are known as His: not through achievement or knowledge, but by love.
Jesus first loved us with a love that endured to the very end. He spoke these words in the shadow of betrayal and suffering, knowing that Judas had already resolved to hand Him over. The Upper Room was filled with tension and sorrow, yet Jesus affirmed His steadfast love for His disciples. He loved not because they were perfect, but because His love is perfect. “Not that we loved God, but that He loved us” (1 Jn 4:10). This is the foundation of our faith.
This truth reorients how we understand holiness. It is not earned through personal heroism or dramatic renunciations, but received in grace. Holiness begins when we allow God to love us—and allow that love to transform us. As the late Pope Francis once reminded us, true holiness is found “among the pots and pans”, in daily acts of service, patience, and compassion. The primacy belongs to God, not to our efforts.
This message resonates with particular power as the Church embraces a new successor of Peter. Habemus Papam! We have a pope: Pope Leo XIV. His first words to the Church and to the world were the words of the Risen Christ: “Peace be with you.” In doing so, Pope Leo aligned himself with the Lord who enters our fears and failures with peace, not condemnation.
Pope Leo XIV’s motto, “In Illo uno unum” (“In the One, we are one”), drawn from St Augustine, points us back to the unity that Christ’s love creates. Though many, we are one in the One. His papacy begins with a clear call: to rediscover our shared identity as beloved disciples, and to become agents of peace in a fragmented world.
To live this love means to serve and to give. Jesus washed feet, then carried the cross. He did not love from a distance—He drew close, touched the wounds of the world, and poured out His life. We are called to do the same. Love demands not just what we have, but who we are.
Are we willing to see Christ in the suffering? To touch the hands of the poor, to meet their eyes, to let our lives be broken and shared like Christ’s? Holiness does not consist in grand gestures, but in simple, daily love. Are you a worker? A parent? A leader? Then be holy by loving where you are. This is the Church’s mission under Pope Leo XIV: to live again the Gospel of love. Let us walk this path together—in the One, we are one.
Amen.
Father Josekutty Mathew CMF
