“I Have Loved You”: A Certainty That Gives Meaning to Our Mission 

Reading these words from the Pope in Dilexi Te —“Whether through the work you do, your commitment to changing unjust social structures, or through those simple, personal gestures of help, it will be possible for the poor to feel that Jesus’ words are meant for them: ‘I have loved you’ (Rev 3:9)”— something settled within me. Not only because of the beauty of the message, but because of the moment I find myself in: I’m marking ten years since I committed my professional and personal life to the field of social justice. Ten years since I decided that my career would not be separate from my vocation of service,but fully devoted to it. 

Over this time, I’ve worked in civic engagement, community organizing, awareness-raising, and education for justice. And although these tasks often feel distant from the people we aim to serve, this phrase reminded me that the ultimate goal of everything we do is that, in some way, each person might feel that Jesus is saying to them: “I have loved you.” That through our work, even from afar, they might hear that whisper that dignifies, comforts, and redeems. 

In a world so wounded, so in need of concrete gestures of hope, encountering this certainty is a gift. Because it reminds us that our work is not just technical or strategic, but deeply spiritual and human. That every action, every campaign, every encounter can be a loudspeaker that tells the most vulnerable: you are not alone. The community, society, and God Himself love you. 

The apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te is, as a whole, a call to remember that the Church exists for and with the poor. That Jesus came into the world among the most vulnerable and for the most vulnerable. And that our mission, as Church and as society, is to make that redeeming love present in every place where there is pain, injustice, or exclusion. 

To feel that our work can be a vehicle of that love is priceless. It’s what gives meaning, what sustains, what transforms. And that’s why, now more than ever, I’m grateful to have come across these words. Because they remind me that, in the end, what truly matters is that each person I accompany, serve, or defend might feel that Jesus is saying to them: “I have loved you.”