Blessed Are the Poor A Call from Pope Leo XIV

Blessed Are the Poor

By the time you read this I will be accompanying our group of thirty-two pilgrims led by Maggie Hoagland on our pilgrimage to visit shrines of Italy. We will be praying for you and request your prayers too - for us pilgrims, and for Fr. Patrick and the rest of the Pastoral Team who continue to administer the parishes while we are away! Remember my recent column about how you can also participate in a personal, local pilgrimage.

 

In his new apostolic exhortation Dilexi te (“I have loved you”), Pope Leo XIV reminds the Church that poverty is not a single condition, but a multifaceted reality that reveals where Christ continues to call us. He names material poverty, which demands compassion and concrete aid; spiritual poverty, which opens the heart to dependence on God; and relational poverty, which grows when isolation and indifference replace community.

 

Each form of poverty touches our daily lives. Material poverty appears in those who lack food, housing, or medicine — but it also shows when we cling too tightly to comfort or possessions. Spiritual poverty is a grace: the humility to admit our need for God and to receive mercy. Relational poverty — the loneliness so many endure — invites the Church to be a family that notices and heals wounds.

 

Here in our collaborative parishes these lessons are lived. This weekend we take up a special collection for those impacted by Hurricane Melissa, and parishioners are already stepping up support for our food pantries in Wrentham and Plainville. Our St. Vincent de Paul Society in each parish continues to assist neighbors in crisis, and many of us compassionately accompany those in church or other settings who are going through a difficult time. As we are preparing the Giving Trees we hope to have up by November 22, Dilexi te reminds us generosity is about how we give: with respect, love, and attention to the dignity of the recipient. Using these trees as a teaching tool for children and young adults is one of the ways we hand on this Christian attitude of giving.

 

Pope Leo offers practical counsel that balances interior and exterior conversion. He invites us to cultivate poverty of spirit through prayer, confession, and simplicity of life. You and I can practice hospitality by inviting the lonely to share a meal or making time for a pastoral visit. We can support structural charity by volunteering, donating food or funds, and advocating for policies that protect the vulnerable. Small daily acts — sharing a meal, bringing nonperishables to the pantry, offering a listening ear — weave together into a pattern of Christian mercy.

 

May Dilexi te inspire us to embrace poverty of spirit, serve our neighbors faithfully, and recognize Christ in those in need. Let us go forth as pilgrims of hope, bearing the Gospel through service, compassion, and humble prayer. Remembering all the various forms of poverty, may we for the poor always.