By Jay Sorgi • Posted December 4, 2025

The Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul is hosting an Advent retreat based on Pope Leo XIV’s recent letter concerning care for the poor.

“The Cry of the Poor and the Heart of the Church: A Guided Journey through Pope Leo XIV’s Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te” is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 13 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Cathedral, located on 18th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Center City Philadelphia.

The archdiocesan Office for Consecrated Life is co-sponsoring the retreat.

The retreat intends to show how the pope’s letter “expresses even more that the Catholic Church is a home,” said Sister of Mercy Marie Faustina Wolniakowski, the archdiocesan Delegate for Consecrated Life.

“A home is an open door. A home is a place where one can know that they’re loved unconditionally and that they belong. It’s an encouragement for them to continue to invite everyone back home.”

People interested in attending are asked to email sr.mfaustina@archphila.org or call 215-587-3795. Attendees are encouraged to make a free will offering, with a $20 suggested donation.

The exhortation, which Pope Francis is said to have begun but which Pope Leo said is 100% his own, has a title that translated in English as “I Have Loved You.”

It explores a love that includes brotherly love but goes far beyond it, in a way that Sister Marie Faustina believes is a fantastic way to open a new liturgical year while putting a bow on the 2025 Jubilee of Hope.

“He begins by (describing) the foundation of Christian life, that God’s initiative is of love; that Christ’s declaration, ‘I have loved you,’ grounds all morals and spiritual duties that we have, and at the same time, that God’s love is revealed in the Incarnation. That’s what Advent is all about, preparing for the coming of our incarnate Lord,” said Sister Marie Faustina.

“In the letter, he doesn’t just stay at those two profound principles. He then draws from those principles of God’s love being revealed in the Incarnation and uses those principles as ways that we can then express humility and service by others. He’s calling us to this active charity, one that receives God’s love, but then goes out and gives God’s love, and he does it in a way that’s so inviting.”

Sister Marie Faustina reminds retreatants to dive deeply into the sacramental life, and to look beyond it in the everyday moments to find people we are called to serve in love.

“God’s so present in those whom we are with, and those whom we serve,” she said.

“That serving can come in so many different forms. Of course, you know, that serving comes in the poor who are often overlooked by many, even by ourselves at times.”

In his letter, the pope is  “drawing from this depth, this wellspring of Catholic tradition, of sacred Scripture, of Catholic social teaching, of examples of the saints,” she said, “to really paint a portrait of invitation and reminder and encouragement to press forward in being witnesses to the world.”

The six-hour retreat includes Mass, eucharistic adoration, the sacrament of penance and reconciliation, lunch and a pair of talks given by Sister Marie Faustina on Pope Leo’s first apostolic exhortation.

“It’s a short day, but it’s one which is going to be very much with the goal to have God at the center, and to give God the room and the chance to really speak to our hearts, and especially through our new Holy Father and the words that he has given to us in his new letter,” said Sister Marie Faustina.

Even as the retreat comes just 12 days before Christmas, at a time when center city will be filled with people doing Christmas shopping and scrambling to prepare for Christmas celebrations, the six hours will give people a chance to step away from the high-speed race of the season.

“God cannot be outdone in generosity,” Sister Marie Faustina said. “When we give Him a moment, He provides an abundance in the most perfect way for all things to work out according to His loving will. In His timing and in His will, He brings the order that we desire at the depth of going from here to there and in our very, very full lives,” she said.

“Just have a brief pause,” she invites those considering the retreat, “to just be with God and to be home.”