{"id":67479,"date":"2025-05-30T17:14:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T22:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=67479"},"modified":"2025-06-27T19:46:05","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T00:46:05","slug":"actions-and-words-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/30\/actions-and-words-of-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Actions and Words of Love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chapter Two of Dilexit Nos<\/em><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

This is the third in a series of reflections by Nathaniel Marx<\/a> on the final encyclical letter of Pope Francis, <\/em>Dilexit Nos<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
James Tissot. Jesus Wept (J\u00e9sus pleura)<\/em>, 1886\u20131896. Brooklyn Museum, Purchased by public subscription, 00.159.182. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Actions Speak<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a pop song clich\u00e9 that the words \u201cI love you\u201d aren\u2019t very convincing. \u201cActions speak louder than love songs,\u201d as John Legend tells it.1<\/a><\/sup> For Pope Francis, turning to the heart of Christ\u2014\u201cthe symbol of the deepest and most personal source of his love for us\u201d (DN 32<\/a>)\u2014means examining actions before words. \u201cChrist showed the depth of his love for us not by lengthy explanations but by concrete actions\u201d (DN 33<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, chapter two of Dilexit Nos<\/em><\/a> resembles the second chapters of Laudato Si\u2019<\/em><\/a> and Fratelli Tutti<\/em><\/a> in turning to the word of God. The Gospel is where faith encounters Jesus and the truth that \u201che loved us\u201d (DN 33<\/a>). And while the four gospels relate the words of Jesus, they emphasize his deeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Close Proximity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The actions of Christ culminate in his passion, death, and resurrection. He claims us as \u201chis own,\u201d not by grasping domination, but by emptying himself, \u201ctaking on the form of a slave\u201d (Phil 2:7<\/a>). On the cross, Jesus enacts the \u201cmutual belonging typical of friends\u201d in the most extraordinary way. Still, Francis doesn\u2019t start with the dramatic actions of Holy Week but with the Lord\u2019s Advent name, \u201cEmmanuel.\u201d The name signifies God\u2019s desire for ordinary intimacy with us. \u201cJesus came to meet us, bridging all distances; he became as close to us as the simplest, everyday realities of our lives.\u201d (DN 34<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In simplicity and friendship, then, Jesus \u201cseeks people out\u201d and meets them where they are. He finds them at their daily tasks (cf. Jn 4:4\u201342<\/a>), afraid to be seen with him (cf. Jn 3:1\u201321<\/a>), judged unworthy (cf. Lk 7:36\u201350<\/a>), caught in sin (cf. Jn 8:2\u201311<\/a>), or ignored by the roadside (cf. Mk 10:46\u201352<\/a>). Jesus distances himself from no one. Instead, he reaches out to touch those whom others reject. He heals people \u201cnot from a distance but in close proximity\u201d (Cf. Mt 8:3<\/a>; 8:15<\/a>; 9:29<\/a>; Mk 7:33<\/a>). In his whole ministry, \u201cChrist shows that God is closeness, compassion, and tender love\u201d (DN 35\u201336<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTake Heart!\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, many people have reason to fear closeness at least as much as they desire it. \u201cWe find it hard to trust others because we have been hurt by lies, injuries, and disappointments\u201d (DN 37<\/a>). Francis does not explicitly cite the harm suffered by children and adults betrayed by leaders in the church. Yet we can imagine he has in mind the sexual abuse scandal when he refers later in Dilexit Nos<\/em> to \u201c\u2018certain situations [that] have become irremediable\u2019\u201d (DN 186<\/a>). Betrayal is devastating, and Francis does not counsel blind trust in words of affection or authority. \u201cThere may be many people we distrust\u201d and prudently keep at some distance from more intimate parts of our lives (DN 37<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Jesus, however, we need not fear closeness. \u201cLet him draw near and sit at your side,\u201d Francis urges, and \u201cdo not hesitate because of your sins.\u201d Jesus was not scandalized when \u201cmany sinners and tax collectors came and were sitting with him\u201d (Mt 9:10<\/a>). The real scandal, then and now, is that the \u201creligious \u00e9lite\u201d manipulate \u201cpeople deemed base and sinful\u201d into believing themselves unworthy of genuine love (DN 37<\/a>). Exploitation intrudes where God\u2019s invitation to intimacy is contradicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus, by contrast, assures us that we are beloved children of God. \u201cTake heart, son!\u201d he tells the paralytic (Mt 9:2<\/a>); \u201cTake heart, daughter!\u201d he says to the woman suffering from hemorrhages (Mt 9:22<\/a>). The English version of Dilexit Nos<\/em> felicitously renders Jesus\u2019s words of encouragement according to the NRSV translation of Matthew\u2019s Gospel (DN 37<\/a>). The heart is simultaneously a symbol of courage and closeness, for both depend on authentic love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus Learned Attention<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, Jesus\u2019s actions of love don\u2019t seem like actions at all. Looking, listening, and pondering all sound passive. But when Jesus \u201cfixes his gaze upon you,\u201d his loving attention actively compels you to make a decision about following him (DN 39<\/a>). For the rich young man whom Jesus looked at and \u201cloved\u201d (Mk 10:21<\/a>), the attention occasions grief. \u201cMany possessions\u201d keep him from possessing Christ alone in the mutual belonging of friendship. For Nathanael\u2014initially \u201cstanding apart and busy about his own affairs\u201d\u2014merely being seen by Jesus is enough to upend his life and make him a disciple (DN 40<\/a>; cf. Jn 1:45\u201350<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ\u2019s attention is compelling because his concern is sincere. \u201cMany a page of the Gospel illustrates how attentive Jesus was to individuals and above all to their problems and needs\u201d (DN 40<\/a>). Jesus is the ultimate manifestation of God\u2019s eternal attentiveness, proof that \u201cthe LORD hears the poor and does not spurn those in bondage\u201d (Ps 69:34<\/a>; cf. Ps 34:18<\/a>). Human attentiveness, however, is learned, even by the Son of God. Strikingly, Francis describes Jesus as the pupil of his mother in the school of human attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In his humanity, Jesus learned this from Mary, his mother. Our Lady carefully pondered the things she had experienced; she \u201ctreasured them\u2026 in her heart\u201d (Lk 2:19<\/a>, 51<\/a>) and, with Saint Joseph, she taught Jesus from his earliest years to be attentive in this same way. (DN 42<\/a>; cf. DN 19<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

There is a lesson for us in the attentiveness that Jesus learned. \u201cPrayer consists of attention,\u201d Simone Weil asserts in a famous essay<\/a>. The \u201creal object\u201d of school studies and all contemplative effort is to \u201cdevelop that faculty of attention which, directed toward God, is the very substance of prayer.\u201d2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attentive prayer could hardly be a retreat into passivity for Weil, the social activist. \u201cNot only does the love of God have attention for its substance; the love of our neighbor, which we know to be the same love, is made of this same substance.\u201d Real attention to one who is suffering is so difficult as to be a \u201cmiracle,\u201d according to Weil.3<\/a><\/sup> The capacity for such attention therefore requires human cooperation with divine grace, modeled precisely on the kenosis<\/em> of Christ. The Son of God \u201cemptied himself\u201d (Phil 2:7<\/a>) in fulfillment of God\u2019s eternal love for his people. The same Son of Mary learned how to look at God\u2019s sinful and suffering people \u201cin a certain way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

This way of looking is first of all attentive. The soul empties itself of all its own contents in order to receive into itself the being it is looking at, just as he is, in all his truth.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Jesus Wept<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When Jesus receives us into himself, Francis says, he calls us to the \u201cbetter place\u201d of his own heart and \u201cinvites us to find fresh strength and peace\u201d there (DN 43<\/a>). His heart is the place to lay down our cares only because he has completely taken them up there. Scripture testifies that \u201cJesus was not indifferent to the daily cares and concerns of people,\u201d but felt compassion for their hunger and weariness (DN 44<\/a>; cf. Mk 8:2\u20133<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If daily needs were not too insignificant to elicit the Lord\u2019s compassion, his friends\u2019 anxiety and grief in the face of death stirred \u201cprofound emotions\u201d in his heart. His words of lament over Jerusalem and his words of consolation to Martha and Mary convey deep feeling. Even more, the tears of Jesus are \u201cthe sign of inner turmoil\u201d (DN 45<\/a>; cf. Lk 19:41\u201342<\/a>; Jn 11:33\u201335<\/a>). In all of this, the symbol of the heart as the seat of emotion proves more than compatible with Christ\u2019s holiness and with the courage, intimacy, and integrity that his Sacred Heart signifies for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Most Eloquent Word of Love<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt first glance,\u201d Francis admits, \u201call this may smack of pious sentimentalism\u201d (DN 46<\/a>). Above all, we suspect emotional manipulation in the gospel accounts of Christ\u2019s Passion, which vividly portray Jesus\u2019s \u201canguish over his impending violent death at the hands of those whom he had loved so greatly\u201d (DN 45<\/a>; cf. Mk 14:33\u201334<\/a>; 15:34<\/a>). Does this merely represent an early effort to tug at our heartstrings?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francis insists that the anguish of Christ \u201cis supremely serious and of decisive importance, and finds its most sublime expression in Christ crucified.\u201d If Christ\u2019s words and tears are not the outward manifestation of heartfelt love, then his violent death makes no sense as a sacrifice to redeem the very people who reject him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The cross is Jesus\u2019 most eloquent word of love. A word that is not shallow, sentimental or merely edifying. It is love, sheer love. (DN 46<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The eloquence of the cross explains why Francis did not take the title of his encyclical from the words of Jesus but from the words of Paul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Christ\u2019s self-offering on the cross became the driving force in Paul\u2019s life, yet it only made sense to him because he knew that something even greater lay behind it: the fact that \u201che loved me.\u201d At a time when many were seeking salvation, prosperity, or security elsewhere, Paul, moved by the Spirit, was able to see farther and to marvel at the greatest and most essential thing of all: \u201cChrist loved me.\u201d (DN 46<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

No love song could speak louder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. John Legend, \u201cActions,\u201d track 2 on Bigger Love<\/em>, Sony, 2020. (Apple Music<\/a>) (Spotify<\/a>) \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Simone Weil, \u201cReflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God,\u201d in Waiting for God<\/em>, tr. Emma Craufurd (HarperCollins, 2009), pp. 105\u2013116, at 105\u2013106. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Weil, \u201cRight Use of School Studies,\u201d 114. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Weil, \u201cRight Use of School Studies,\u201d 115. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    NATHANIEL MARX \u2014 Attention is the heart of Jesus\u2019s love, Pope Francis explains in chapter two of Dilexit Nos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":67483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3446,3496,2224,3687,187],"tags":[4033,3021,814,4055],"class_list":["post-67479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liturgical-catechesis","category-liturgical-theology","category-pope-francis","category-prayer","category-social-justice","tag-dilexit-nos","tag-pope-francis","tag-sacred-heart","tag-simone-weil"],"yoast_head":"\nActions and Words of Love - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NATHANIEL MARX \u2014 Attention is the heart of Jesus\u2019s love, Pope Francis explains in chapter two of Dilexit Nos.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/30\/actions-and-words-of-love\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Actions and Words of Love - 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