The command to love one another and the rationale for why we are called to love is quite clear, if we do not love, we do not know God (1 John 4:8). And yet, in today’s world it is painfully obvious that our world suffers greatly from a lack of love. It is precisely loving one another that we, as God’s human family as a collective whole, have struggled with. Whether it be geopolitics, religious expression, philosophical foundations, or differing identities of various kinds, so much has gotten in the way of our following through with Jesus’s command to love our neighbor as ourselves. In such circumstances how are we to proceed? Perhaps we begin with 1 John 4:9, Jesus was sent into the messiness and division of the world, “so that we might live through him”. Living through Jesus, who showed us how to love, is a way forward.  

—Carl Caceres, SJ, is a Midwest Province Jesuit working on a doctoral degree in higher education and doing spiritual direction at Loyola University.

We Pray to You, O Lord, 
Let us love with another 
As you called us to do 
Because love is from You 
and how we know You 

You revealed your love for us  
in so many ways, most profoundly  
through sending your Son into the world  
so that we might live through Him 

But this is what we often struggle with 
Give us the clarity of the necessity to love  
that John had 
And the courage to let You live in us  
And love others with your great love 

Amen    

—Carl Caceres, SJ