A Statement from Most Rev. Douglas J. Lucia on Delexi te

Today, Pope Leo XIV has shared with the Church and all people of goodwill the Apostolic Exhortation "Dilexi te”. He addresses it, “To all Christians on Love of the Poor.”  Yesterday, he shared the text with the Episcopal College (the College of Bishops), and in a note to us, His Holiness wrote, “May ‘Dilexi te’ help the Church to serve the poor and help bring the poor to Christ.”

This document is a rich compendium on the Christian vocation throughout the centuries to follow in the footsteps of Christ, the Servant. Even more, in my own first reading of the text, it has led me to really examine my own care of the poor of our day and call myself out for any sin of indifference.  Even more, it reminds me of St. Teresa of Calcutta’s saying about such care being “Something Beautiful for God.”

It is my prayer that our Diocesan family will truly read this beautiful document, which can be found at www.vatican.va or on our diocesan website www.syrdio.org, and that it will become a roadmap for our own living out of the Corporal and Spiritual works of Mercy here in Central New York.

There are so many beautiful quotes in "Dilexi te” but let me close with the words of St. John XXIII, whose feast day is on October 11th: “The Church presents herself as she is and as she wishes to be: the Church of all and in particular the Church of the poor.” 

May these words continue to guide all people of goodwill to conversion of heart and greater care for all members of God’s family.