Love Thy Neighbor

I have struggled writing this entry, and it has taken me more than one draft to get the right words out. At the time of my first draft, the effects of the corona virus pandemic were just beginning to reach Ohio; schools closed, churches closed, my work even eventually closed. It seemed that these minor inconveniences were the only effect the pandemic would have on myself and my family; but soon the ground we were standing on seemed to crumble right underneath us. Both of my dad’s parents somehow contracted the virus, even though they had been abiding by the stay at home orders. The update I was writing in my first draft detailed how my grandma was quarantined and recovering at home while my grandpa was in a hospital a few hours away on a ventilator, but was doing okay.

I could not bring myself to finish that draft because a few days later, my aunt received a call in the middle of the night from the hospital to inform the family that Grandpa’s heart rate had drastically fallen and the doctors expected him to crash at anytime. He made it through that morning and kept hanging on; the following days were rather harrowing, a lump would form in my throat every time the phone rang because it could be THE call. Our families were able to video call into my grandpa’s room to tell him that we loved him, though we were unsure if he could even hear us through the sedation and his coughing and moaning.

But, by the end of that week, my grandpa was still here, still fighting through this awful virus. The doctors then decided to change course and take him out of sedation to see what would happen. The next day, which just happened to be Divine Mercy Sunday, the nurses told us they went into his room and he was sitting up in his bed praying a Hail Mary. Everyone, the doctors, nurses, our family, were just astounded; the doctors had all but given up on my grandpa, but God hadn’t! Now, at the time of this writing, Grandpa is in a nursing home a lot closer to home recovering until he gets a negative Covid test result, then he will be headed home after more than a month!

During those tumultuous days, I kept re-reading a few quotes I had highlighted from the book I had read for this post. I received the book, Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves by Jason Evert, from one of my high school classmates. He gave a talk several months ago, when you could still do such things ;), before he left for a seminary in Colorado. He talked of his love for Pope Saint John Paul II, and he gave out these books so we could discover this great modern-day saint as well.

Prior to reading this book, I did not know much about Pope John Paul II, I was only about ten years old at the time of his death. I was quite astounded reading about his upbringing and his journey to the papacy. By the time Karol was in his early twenties, he had already lost his mother, his only brother, and then his father. He had survived the Nazi occupation of Poland only to succumb to the rule of Communism. I was fascinated to learn that Karol was so well read on the principles of Marxism that the Communists deemed him a threat because he understood their system better than they did. But he only used his gift of intelligence to further God’s kingdom, not for any political ploys.

Karol loved spending time with young people; he was described as an “eternal teenager” by a fellow priest because he was “never happier than when working with young people” (86). He could listen for hours as teenagers or college students would tell him about issues they were facing or ask him questions. He ministered to them in such a way to help them find their answers. He once said that “the more the world deprives young people of what is true, good and beautiful, the more earnestly will they yearn for it” (92). His life work was to lead succeeding generations to the unwavering truth he had found himself: Jesus.

I found it interesting that as a priest, and even as a bishop and cardinal, Karol enjoyed taking groups of young people camping, hiking or skiing, as retreats to minister to them. So great was his love for skiing that, even as pope, he was spotted on the slopes on more than one occasion trying to ski incognito!

One of Pope Saint John Paul’s other loves as described by Evert is that of human love. Though the words that John Paul spoke are from a different time, I believe they are more than fitting to today’s world; “genuine love … is demanding. But it’s beauty lies precisely in the demands it makes” (99). Also, ” we must never forget that only when love between human beings is put to the test can its true value be seen” (105). I think we could all agree that during these Covid-anxiety induced days, we are all being put to the test. But, perhaps it is these very days that we will find precisely the love that the great pope was speaking of. Even after all of the turmoil of his youth, Karol, and later as Pope John Paul, displayed the love and mercy of Jesus Christ, even to people like his would-be assassin. We are still called, especially in trying times such as these, to do the same.

As I pondered these words these past few weeks, I began to see evidence of this love: people who did not personally know my grandpa were praying for his health, family meetings where individuals put their differences and opinions aside to come together for a common goal, even just a gesture as simple as sending a homemade meal. Now, these instances are all on the small scale of my family, my community, but examples like these are happening all over the world right now. Out of the love of our fellow neighbor, we are all putting differences aside and coming together to fight this invisible war. And God-willing, when this is finally over, I believe we will see the beauty of genuine love.

“Let us go forth full of trust in Christ. He will accompany us as we journey toward the goal that He alone knows” (210).