February Allocutio 2025

Dilexit Nos

Fr. Paul Churchill, Concilium Spiritual Director

Some encyclical letters of Popes are hard going. But I have no hesitation in recommending Pope Francis’ latest encyclical letter Dilexit Nos. There is a depth to this letter about the love in the heart of God for us all, even the most lost soul, an encouraging message for all of us sinners. Certainly, there are a few paragraphs that require thinking but with its rich use of scriptural texts and its many quotes from so many saints on the love in the heart of God it lifts the heart and inspires to make that love known.

In the first chapter the Pope focuses on the human heart, something so many don’t stop to consider. The heart refers to the centre of each person, where thoughts and feelings come from, where good and evil grow, our co-ordinating centre. It is the source of our courage and nobility, it can also be the centre of abuse and cruelty, such that we can call some people heartless. Two people in love, their hearts beat faster; when we are let down we can speak of our hearts sinking; when speaking very personally we talk of “speaking from our hearts”. This side of us, with its capacity to spread great good or absolute misery is forgotten by the world. No artificial intelligence or algorithm or data systems are up to dealing with it. It is only by turning to the person of Jesus, represented by his heart, that we can get what the deep desires of our hearts seek: to be loved and to return a love we never knew was possible. We need to regain our hearts, something only possible with Jesus.

The second, third and fourth chapters of the document are rich in quotes from scripture and saints about the love in the heart of God, brought to us in human form by Jesus, with his pierced heart, the human symbol of that love. These chapters are to be prayed more than read. It feels like God speaking to our hearts, he whom we have pierced by our sins. We should all seek to feel what St. Paul did, “He loved me and gave his life for me” (Gal 2:20).

The document goes through saint after saint who tries to plummet the deep meaning of his wounded heart: Augustine, Bernard, Bonaventure, Catherine of Siena, Francis de Sales just to mention some. But I want to quote a few to you for your benefit. So to start with St Margaret Mary, “This is the heart that so loved human beings that it has spared nothing, even to emptying and consuming itself in order to show them his love”. “He asked me for my heart, which I asked him to take, which he did and then placed myself in his own adorable heart, from which he made me see mine like a little atom consumed in the fiery furnace of his own”. She once saw him open his robe showing her his loving and lovable heart such that she could see he loved us to the utmost and yet sadly received just ingratitude and indifference.

I am struck also by the words of Claude de la Colombière, that Jesus, betrayed by his friends, treated dismally by those who arrested him, never showed the slightest hatred or indignation. “I present myself anew to this heart, free of anger, free of bitterness, filled instead with genuine compassion towards its enemies”. That understanding compassion is there for you and me!

Therese of Lisieux wrote, “I need a heart burning with tenderness, who will be my support forever, who loves everything in me, even my weakness.” “Ever since I have been given the grace to understand also the love of the heart of Jesus, I admit that it has expelled all fear from my heart. The remembrance of my faults humbles me … but speaks to me of mercy and love even more.” “If I had committed all possible crimes, I would always have the same confidence; I feel that this whole multitude of offences would be like a drop of water thrown into a fiery furnace.” St Therese’s view is simple, to have complete confidence and trust in the love, understanding and compassion in the heart of Jesus for us, not based on any merits of ours but based on his delight in us and his seeking to draw us to love him.

It is by coming to that love that we are changed into his love, not that we earn his love by any works we do. To quote St. Vincent de Paul, “God asks primarily for our heart―our heart―and that is what counts. How is it that a man who has no wealth will have greater merit than someone who has great possessions that he gives up? Because the one who has nothing does it with greater love; and that is what God especially wants”. God is trying to win our love and by that conquering of us with love we come to join him in loving his brothers and sisters. That is the message from Chapter 5 of this work.

The symbol of the heart is just that, a symbol. But it is the symbol across all time, in the pagan world and in the Christian world, that speaks of the centre of the person. Behind the symbol lies the person who is yearning for love and also capable of giving great love. In Christ it is the eternal Son reflecting to us the love that the Father has for us all.

The world may be ignoring the deep truth of the human heart. It is this failure that leads to the many moral and spiritual illnesses in the world which causes people to be cold, indifferent and indeed heartless and to inflict awful wounds on others and themselves.

Frank Duff had one simple strategy, befriend people first, show them you love them and care for them. That way you open a door to bring the healing value of the Gospel to their hearts (see e.g. Handbook Ch 39,2).

The Pope makes one reference to Our Lady, that she pondered all these things in her heart. Let us her children and servants in the Legion, join her by pondering the depth of God’s message to us in our hearts and let our hearts be changed by that divine love that heals us of everything.

I have tried in my inadequate way to convey something of this treasure from our dear brother Francis to us. As Lent approaches, when we look particularly on him whom our sins have pierced, let us take it up and pray it. Don’t read it, pray it. With Our Lady ponder it!