"A FLAME OF LOVE IN EVERY HEART" - A REFLECTION ON POPE LEO'S 'DILEXI TE'

By Sean O'Leary

In Dilexi Te (“I Have Loved You”), proclaimed on October 9, 2025, Pope Leo XIV speaks powerfully, kindling in us a fire to love as Christ loves, not with mere sentiment, but with a fierce, quiet courage that seeks the face of God in the poor, the outcast and the forgotten. This apostolic exhortation is no mere document; it is a cry from the desert, calling us to awaken from the slumber of indifference and walk the narrow path of love. Rooted in the Gospel’s summons to love God wholly and our neighbour as ourselves, Dilexi Te unveils a true mystery: to love God is to embrace the broken, for in them Christ dwells, radiant and hidden.

The One Love, Burning in God

“We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). These words, resonant through Dilexi Te, echo in the soul like a bell struck in the night. Our love is not our own; it is a response, a trembling yes to the God who pours Himself out in love unceasing. Yet this love is no abstraction, it is flesh and blood, hunger and tears. To love God is to love the poor, for they are His heart in the world. St. Francis of Assisi, with his joyful poverty, and St. Teresa of Calcutta, whose hands cradled the dying stand as heavenly witnesses, teaching us that a single act of mercy, a shared crust, a moment of presence, is a liturgy of God’s eternal love. In these small gestures, the world is transfigured.

The Poor: Icons of the Hidden Christ

In a world drunk on wealth, Dilexi Te dares to call the poor the true treasure of the Church. They are not problems to be solved but icons of Christ, radiant in their wounds. The Pope’s voice, like a prophet’s, bids us turn from the idols of possession and see God in the faces of the hungry and displaced. This seeing demands a stripping of the heart, a letting go of our clinging to comfort, our complicity in systems that crush the lowly. Are we ready to be poor in spirit, to let our parishes become refuges where love is born anew? To serve the poor is to touch the hem of Christ’s garment, to become the Church He longs for, a communion of hearts on fire.

The Cry Against Injustice

With a clarity that pierces the soul, Dilexi Te names the sin that binds the world: an economy of death, where profit eclipses dignity. The Pope calls us to stand with the exploited, to raise our voices against the theft of wages and the wounding of the earth. This is not playing at politics; it is the Gospel’s demand to shatter the chains of selfishness with love’s fierce mercy. To walk with the oppressed is to walk toward the Kingdom, where the last are first, where hope blooms in the ashes of despair. In this solidarity, we glimpse the face of God, who is Himself the Poor One.

The Poor as Our Guides

In a revelation that humbles the heart, Dilexi Te unveils the poor as our teachers. Their faith, born of suffering, their joy, carved from want, their hope, defiant of despair; these are the wisdom of God. They are not objects of our pity but prophets of the Spirit, drawing us into the mystery of trust. Walking with them, we shed the masks of superiority and learn to serve as brothers and sisters. The poor preach Christ to us, not in words, but in the silent sermon of their lives. To listen to them is to hear the voice of God whispering in the wilderness of our hearts.

The Beauty of God in Every Face

Dilexi Te invites us to a contemplation that transforms: to see in every suffering soul the beauty of God’s image. Charity becomes communion, duty becomes love. The Pope calls us to a culture of encounter, where we cross the borders of fear and prejudice to meet the marginalized as friends. In their eyes, we see Christ; in their wounds, we touch His cross. This is the joy of love’s surrender, a discovery that we are all poor, all beloved, all bound in the mystery of God’s heart.

A Love That Knows No Bounds

Christian love is a flame that leaps beyond every barrier. In a world torn by division, the Pope’s call to embrace the stranger and to forgive the enemy, is a song of hope rising from the ruins. Entrusting this mission to Mary, Mother of the Poor, he prays that the Church may become a beacon of God’s mercy, guiding the world to healing and unity. Love is our vocation, our way home to the God who waits for us in every human heart.

A Call to Awaken

God summons each one of us to leave the safety of our solitude and comfort to enter the fire of love. Let us listen to the poor with hearts unveiled, serve with hands emptied of pride, and work for justice with the courage of the saints. Every act of love, be it a cup of water, a word of kindness or a quiet presence in a time of need is a seed of God’s Kingdom. May we, stirred by this exhortation, become flames of Christ’s love, burning brightly, sacrificially, joyfully, until the whole world knows it is held in the embrace of our loving God.