Our editorial director reflects on Pope Francis’ new apostolic encyclical ‘Dilectit Nos’ and says it helps us understand how Christ loves us.
Andrea Tornielli
Pope Francis writes in his new apostolic encyclical: “Christ has demonstrated the depth of his love for us, not through long explanations but through concrete actions. By examining His treatment of others, we can learn how He treats each of us.”
As children of Greek rationalism, post-Christian idealism, materialism and today’s fluid culture of individualism, we struggle to fully understand whether Christianity should be a doctrine, a philosophy, a set of moral rules or even emotional feelings cannot be limited to a sequence. Rather, it is an encounter with a living person.
Therefore, understanding how they love us, attract us, call us, and relate to us is not limited to discussions, a cosmetic cultural identification, or a rule book to consult when necessary.
Understanding how Jesus loves us is a matter of the heart: it is a story of actions, looks and words. This is a story of friendship, a matter of the heart.
The Successor of Peter writes: “I am my heart, because my heart is what distinguishes me, shapes my spiritual identity, and keeps me united with others.”
We can understand how Jesus loves us, says the Pope, “by examining his relationships with others”; That is, meditating on the lessons of the Gospel and allowing ourselves to be surprised by the things that happen around us, perhaps even where we least expect them.
As we watch them work, we see that Jesus pays all his attention to people and, above all, to their problems and needs.
They came, crossed all distances and came closer to us, like the simplest and most everyday things in life. In fact it has another name, Emmanuel, which means “God with us”, God who lives among us, close to our lives. The Son of God took flesh and emptied himself, became a servant and sacrificed himself for love.
Embracing the Christian faith means embracing the heart of Christ, a heart incapable of remaining indifferent, which, embracing us with its infinite mercy, invites us to imitate it.
And it has social consequences because the world, ravaged by wars, socioeconomic imbalances, consumerism and the inhuman use of technology, can be changed “starting from the heart.”
Thus, the apostolic encyclical dilexit us It is like an interpretative key to the entire pontificate of Pope Francis.
