Pope Leo’s First Apostolic Exhortation: What It Means for Prayer and Service
- Fiach OBroin-Molloy
- Oct 8
- 2 min read
A New Voice for an Old Call: Love in Action
This week, Pope Leo released his first Apostolic Exhortation, Dilexi te — “I Have Loved You.” The document focuses on the Church’s mission to stand with the poor and forgotten, inviting every believer to rediscover the simplicity of love expressed through daily acts of mercy.
It’s not a political statement or a theological manifesto. It’s a gentle, urgent reminder: the Christian life only makes sense when it overflows into compassion. Whether you’re a priest, parent, student, or artisan, Dilexi te calls each of us to turn prayer into action.
The Heart of the Message: Humility and Presence
One of the most striking lines from Dilexi te reads:
“The poor are not a problem to be solved, but a presence through whom we meet Christ anew.”
This is deeply resonant with the spirituality of the Rosary. Each Mystery — from the Annunciation to the Coronation — teaches us to recognise God’s love made visible in ordinary lives. Humility is not weakness, Pope Leo reminds us, but a courageous openness to love.
Praying with Dilexi te: A Rosary for Compassion
To bring the exhortation into our own spiritual lives, try praying a “Rosary for Compassion.”
Here’s one simple pattern you can keep for a week:
Joyful Mysteries – Offer for those beginning again after hardship.
Luminous Mysteries – For those bringing light through quiet service.
Sorrowful Mysteries – For those who suffer invisibly.
Glorious Mysteries – For those who work toward hope and renewal.
Even a single decade prayed with intention — perhaps during a walk, a commute, or while tending the bees or garden — can become an act of solidarity with the poor and forgotten.
Small Acts, Great Love
In Dilexi te, Pope Leo reminds us that change begins at home. Mercy is local, specific, and rooted in love. When we choose kindness over comfort, we live the Gospel in its truest form.
That could mean checking in on a neighbour, writing a note to someone who feels isolated, supporting a local charity, or simply pausing to pray for those who are struggling. Every prayer, every act of generosity, stitches another thread of grace into the fabric of daily life.
Faith in Practice
For those who keep a physical rosary, each bead can become a prompt for compassion — a reminder to love as Christ loved. Handmade rosaries, crafted with care and prayer, are tangible signs of that calling. Holding them, we remember: faith is not just believed, it’s lived.
Closing reflection:
As the Church enters the Jubilee of 2025, Dilexi te sets a tender tone for the year ahead — not of grand gestures, but of quiet faithfulness. Pope Leo invites us to rediscover that our truest vocation is love itself: simple, practical, enduring.
“Let your prayer become bread for the hungry, and your love become light for the lost.”
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