Pope Leo XIV begins his apostolic exhortation “Dilexi Te” (“I Have Loved You”) by quoting these words the risen Lord speaks to the early Christian community. These were very vulnerable people, whom the world treated with violence and contempt as they had no influence or resources.
In reality, the pope is reintroducing us to Jesus and what it means to be his disciples and answer his call to follow him. “The Gospel shows us that poverty marked every aspect of Jesus’ life. From the moment he entered the world, Jesus knew the bitter experience of rejection,” Pope Leo writes (19). We cannot claim to know him if we do not know him in the poor. “Love for the Lord, then, is one with love for the poor. The same Jesus who tells us, ‘The poor you will always have with you (Mt 26:11),’ also promises the disciples: ‘I am with you always (Mt 28:20)’” (5).
In other words, the pope is saying that Christian holiness cannot be understood apart from a lively promotion and recognition of the dignity of each human being (cf. 106). The Gospels make clear that the call to discipleship is more than having a personal relationship with the Lord. It involves something greater, seeking “the Kingdom of God” (cf. Lk 4:43), advancing a society of universal fraternity, justice, peace and dignity. Our life and preaching as disciples are meant to have an effect on society, for we are called to seek God’s Kingdom [cf. 105].
This will require an ongoing spiritual conversion for each of us, in which we are called to grow in “the intensity of the love of God and neighbor, zeal for justice and peace, the Gospel meaning of the poor and of poverty.” It is a conversion that allows us to recognize that “the poor are not a sociological category, but the very ‘flesh’ of Christ.” The pope continues: “It is not enough to profess the doctrine of God’s Incarnation in general terms. To enter truly into this great mystery, we need to understand clearly that the Lord took on a flesh that hungers and thirsts, and experiences infirmity and imprisonment” (110).
This spiritual conversion is “required of everyone, and especially of pastors and those in positions of responsibility. The concern for the purity of the faith demands giving the answer of effective witness in the service of one’s neighbor, the poor and the oppressed in particular, in an integral theological fashion” (98).
The Holy Father makes clear that “caring for the poor is part of the Church’s great Tradition, a beacon as it were of evangelical light to illumine the hearts and guide the decisions of Christians in every age.” Simply put, “love for the poor — whatever the form their poverty may take — is the evangelical hallmark of a Church faithful to the heart of God” (103).
For this reason, the church has a preferential option for the poor, those who are excluded, marginalized and, like the early Christian community the risen Lord address in the Book of Revelation, those who lack resources, who have no power or influence.
Who are the poor? Pope Leo cites a 1984 document of the European Community, which declared that “‘the poor’ shall be taken to mean persons, families and groups of persons whose resources (material, cultural and social) are so limited as to exclude them from the minimum acceptable way of life in the Member States in which they live.”
The church’s agenda in caring for the poor can be summed up in four words: welcome, protect, promote and integrate. These four verbs “describe the Church’s mission to all those living in the existential peripheries, who need to be welcomed, protected, promoted and integrated” (97). The aim is to promote the human flourishing of each person, which we as a community do in our many organized works of charity such as Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services, and other organizations, through our vast network of educational and health care institutions, through our parish outreach programs such as food pantries, through the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, in our care for people with disabilities such as Misericordia, in the work aimed at integrating youth, such as Mercy Home and Maryville Academy and so much more.
Yet, each of us as disciples of Jesus are called to know him by drawing close to the poor, which allows us to appreciate them “in their goodness, in their experience of life, in their culture, and in their ways of living the faith. … Only on the basis of this real and sincere closeness can we properly accompany the poor on their path of liberation.” At the same time, in getting to know them we allow ourselves to be evangelized, the pope observes. In knowing them we come to appreciate “the mysterious wisdom which God wishes to share with us through them.
Growing up in precarious circumstances, learning to survive in the most adverse conditions, trusting in God with the assurance that no one else takes them seriously, and helping one another in the darkest moments, the poor have learned many things that they keep hidden in their hearts. Those of us who have not had similar experiences of living this way certainly have much to gain from the source of wisdom that is the experience of the poor. Only by relating our complaints to their sufferings and privations can we experience a reproof that can challenge us to simplify our lives” (102).
I encourage you to slowly read this beautiful first letter of Pope Leo and discuss it with your family, friends and parishioners so that each of us may grow as disciples of Jesus. Beyond having a personal relationship with Jesus, the Holy Father commissions us to carry on his mission of proclaiming and promoting the coming of God’s Kingdom in which each human person is treated with dignity and given the capacity to flourish as God always intended.