Our Care for the Poor Mirrors Christ’s LoveRead Time 9 min

On Oct. 4, Pope Leo XIV signed his first apostolic exhortation, “Dilexi Te,” and released it on Oct. 9. The English translation of the words dilexi te is “I have loved you” — a phrase taken from the Book of Revelation.

In Revelation 3:8-9, we read the words, “You have but little strength,” yet “I have loved you.” Pope Leo’s “Dilexi Te” is an exhortation on the Church’s care for the poor.

The origins of this document are found in the writings of Pope Francis. In the last months of his life, Pope Francis began writing a document on the care for the poor as essential to the Church’s mission. Pope Leo, who succeeded Pope Francis after his death, was pleased to make this apostolic exhortation his own, adding his own reflections on the Church’s relationship to the poor and issuing it at the beginning of his own pontificate.

Pope Leo reminds us in this document that when Pope Francis was elected pope, he chose the name Francis in honor of St. Francis of Assisi after a cardinal friend of his embraced him and told him, “Do not forget the poor.” Care for the poor was, of course, a deep concern of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis’ great conversion took place when he embraced a leper, and in that moment realized that in the person of that leper, Christ was embracing him.

Pope Leo explains in “Dilexi Te” that the choice to serve the poor can be a source of extraordinary renewal for Church and society, if only we can set aside our self-centeredness and open our ears to the cry of the poor. He notes that on the suffering faces of the poor, we see the suffering of Christ himself.

Commitment to the poor must be accompanied by a change in mentality. The Holy Father states that it is important for all of us to understand that poverty happens not by chance, fate or choice. People are not poor because they deserve to be, as sometimes the wisdom of the world would lead us to believe. We as Christians must reread the Gospel to help us to understand that the poor should never be neglected if the Church is to bear the fruits of the Gospel in this world.

Pope Leo writes that the poverty of Jesus the Messiah was a radical poverty, which was grounded in his mission to reveal God’s love to us. Poverty marked every aspect of his life. He was born in a humble stable in Bethlehem. He and his family fled to Egypt to save him from King Herod’s wrath. When the Holy Family returned to their home in Nazareth, Jesus grew up there and earned his living as a carpenter, living by the work of his hands.

Then, in the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus announced his mission as that of bringing good news to the poor. He became an itinerant preacher and healer, and he told the people, “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God,” as we read in Luke 6:20.

Pope Leo states that Jesus experienced his greatest poverty when he was rejected by the leaders of his time. He died as an outcast, crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem.

During the time of his earthly ministry, the primacy of Jesus’ teaching of love for God was always complemented by his teaching of love for neighbor. These are distinct and yet inseparable forms of love. Love for one’s neighbor is always a reflection of divine charity.

The Holy Father makes it abundantly clear in “Dilexi Te” that caring for the poor is not an afterthought for the Church. It is essential to the mission of the Church and to our self-understanding as members of the Body of Christ. When one member suffers, we all suffer. In Church history, stories of faithful individuals and communities who imitated Christ by serving the needs of the poor of this world abound.

Pope Leo reminds us that Pope Francis, in his Encyclical Letter, “Fratelli Tutti,” used the parable of the Good Samaritan as an instrument for our self-reflection. There are various characters in the story — the victim of the robbers, the priest and the Levite who avoid the victim and ignore his plight and the Good Samaritan, the foreigner who goes out of his way to treat the victim’s wounds, paying an innkeeper to care for him until his return from his journey.

Pope Francis posed this question: When it comes to the poor and suffering of this world, which of the characters in the parable of the Good Samaritan do you identify with? His point was that the temptation to simply ignore the needs of the poor is great, and that it requires a heart open to compassion and mercy to act as the Good Samaritan did.

Pope Leo concludes his apostolic exhortation with these words: “A Church that sets no limits to love, that knows no enemies to fight but only men and women to love, is the Church that the world needs today. Through your work, your efforts to change unjust social structures or your simple, heartfelt gesture of closeness and support, the poor will come to realize that Jesus’ words are addressed personally to each of them: ‘I have loved you.’”

The apostolic exhortation, “Dilexi Te” invites us to examine our stance toward the poor and to transform our attitude of indifference to one of love, care and action. As Christians, love for God is at one with love for the poor.