My practice of Catholicism has a singular purpose: praying, more and better. In my pursuit of that purpose, I have several values - one of those values is that my faith be collaborative, and not confrontational. God is in everyone, and is revealed to me uniquely in every person I meet. So I cannot pray more and better without continually learning how to better know and love those around me. If the people in my life ever feel rejected, or judged, or misunderstood because of my faith, I know I'm not on the path towards praying more and better.

There are LOTS of people, both religious and non-religious, who just don't operate this way. The very fact of having a faith can be interpreted by others as confrontational. Justifiably, many people assume that anyone self-describing as religious is judging them in some way. Why is that a justifiable assumption? Because many people who self-describe as religious are incredibly judgy. Making my faith and unifying (and not an othering) force is something that takes work, and gets tiring. And it's discouraging, because often you try your best and it still doesn't work.

This encyclical felt like a cool glass of refreshing water, to rejuvenate that work. It felt like a de-emphasizing of the divisive cultural particulars that surround a given day, story, or situation, and reminder to focus on the basics: God loves us, and we are meant to contemplate that love and share it.

I wouldn't necessarily describe it as accessible; it felt extremely Catholic, and a little slow at times. But the focus was clear: love one another. And sometimes that's all you need to hear. I'll end with a quote, which could have been written either by Pope Francis or by Thomas Merton:

"We see, then, that in the heart of each person there is a mysterious connection between self-knowledge and openness to others, between the encounter with one's personal uniqueness and the willingness to give oneself to others. We become ourselves only to the extent that we acquire the ability to acknowledge others, while only those who can acknowledge and accept themselves are then able to encounter others."