Not a Church That Talks About Love — But One That Looks Like It
A reflection on Acts, Revelation, John’s Gospel, and Pope Leo XIV’s urgent call to recover the Church’s mission of visible love.
Something Real Is Beginning
This week, something real is beginning in the visible life of the Church.
The new Pope — Leo the Fourteenth — has stepped forward. Not to reinvent the Gospel. Not to modernize it for comfort. But to call us back to who we are meant to be:
A Church that listens deeply.
That walks with the poor.
That thinks clearly.
That speaks truth in love.
And that lets grace — not fear — be the power that renews the world.
His voice doesn’t compete with the Gospel — it echoes it. And this Sunday’s readings could not be more aligned.
Love That Returns to Hard Places
(Acts 14:21–27)
Paul and Barnabas do something almost illogical. They return to the very cities where they were rejected, mistreated, and nearly killed. Why?
Not to retaliate.
Not to count numbers.
But to strengthen the believers, raise new leaders, and proclaim:
“It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22)
They didn’t preach comfort.
They preached the Cross.
Pope Leo XIV isn’t offering a frictionless Church. Neither does Scripture. The kind of love that can renew a broken world must be stronger than sentiment. It must return to hard places. Listen again. Rebuild again. Choose hope — even when the ground is shaking.
Not Escape, but Renewal
(Revelation 21:1–5)
John doesn’t see the faithful escaping the world. He sees something more demanding and more beautiful:
“A new heaven and a new earth… the holy city… coming down out of heaven from God.” (Rev 21:1–2)
And the voice from the throne proclaims:
“Behold, I make all things new.” (Rev 21:5)
This isn’t fantasy. It’s not utopia. It’s the heart of our faith.
God is not watching history from above — He’s descending into it.
Every time we wipe away a tear, give voice to the poor, fight injustice, or build real communion — we are co-laborers in this divine renewal.
That’s why Pope Leo is urging us to put conscience and science into dialogue, to resist the fog of fake news and ideological noise, and to recover a Church where truth walks hand-in-hand with mercy — never separated.
The World Will Know
(John 13:31–35)
And then comes the Gospel.
The room is heavy with betrayal. Judas has already walked out. The darkness is close. And yet Jesus, instead of lashing out, offers this:
“Now is the Son of Man glorified… I give you a new commandment: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” (John 13:31, 34)
Here it is.
This is how the world will know that the Church is truly Christ’s Body — not by buildings, branding, or doctrinal debates thrown like stones —
But by how much we resemble that kind of love.
Not Theoretical. Not Optional.
A love that washes feet in a world obsessed with stepping over others.
A love that listens to the cry of the poor — not as a cause to pity, but as persons to defend.
A love that breaks through sanitized charity and dares to stand with those left outside the gates.
A love that refuses to weaponize theology to exclude, and instead turns dogma into welcome, discipline into mercy, and law into healing.
A love that says, with clarity: “You are not invisible. You are not a burden. You are my brother. You are my sister. And I will walk with you.”
When the world looks at the Church, it should not first see an institution or a slogan.
It should see a communion where love becomes visible.
Where the hungry are heard.
Where the forgotten are remembered.
Where families are healed.
Where truth speaks humbly.
And where people can finally breathe.
What’s at Stake
That’s what Paul and Barnabas endured hardship for.
That’s what Revelation dares us to believe.
That’s what Jesus commands — not suggests.
And that is exactly what Pope Leo XIV is asking us to recover:
Not a Church that talks about love.
A Church that looks like it.
A Church that sounds like hope to the poor.
So let’s begin again.
Not from fear.
But from faith.
