"You pray for the hungry. And then you feed them. This is how prayers work" —Pope Francis.
None grasped this maxim of life than Francis even in his rarefied position of papacy. His cleansing of feet and gentle kisses are the ones that we will metaphorically reminisce with nostalgia in the distant future.
You needn't be a Catholic, Muslim, or an atheist to bow down and gently kiss the feet of another adult to prove your empathy. It's a gesture you can flash at a bare minimum of being human.
He knew in all his sermonised actions living for others is the nature of life, a way of interbeing just like trees bursting to fruition or flowers scenting their fragrance, not for themselves, but for us without conditions.
Francis may have been far from perfect in his own way and his own actions but in a world that incessantly boasts of power and wanting to accumulate more, with age-old problems, and in short supply of empathy, hospitality, tolerance, diversity, and no longer hides her fascism, he was rightly the placed bet to heal the maddening world.
With a heart of gold, Francis travelled to places other popes rarely set their foots. He took his compassionate care to refugee camps, flashed ready-made smile to prisoners, comforted war zone victims, remembered slum dwellers. By choosing a modest 2-bedroom apartment, washing the feet of 12 prisoners, Muslims and immigrants, driving a 1984 Renault, Francis light the way.
As his age-old memories resurrect and accolades pour enmase, Francis showed that those who stand tall should be the ones to bend to grant comfort to those who can't barely stand on their own.
Buriani Francis
Beautifully thought and said, Edwin. He didn't just sermonize, he lived the example. He will be missed, especially in times of increasing heavy-handed authoritarianism in the USA and elsewhere. His humbleness and gentleness was an antidote to the heartlessness and cruelty that some are showing.