Category: Love of the Poor

Growing in Faith: A Call to Action for 2026

As one year closes and another approaches, many people begin to set goals; physical goals, financial goals, professional goals. Yet for Christians, and especially for those of us formed by discipline, sacrifice, and service, the most important question is not what will I accomplish? but who will I become?

As we look toward 2026, the Community of Warrior Penitents invites all Catholics, especially our brothers and sisters who have served or who are currently serving, to dedicate the coming year to growing intentionally in the Catholic faith and living that faith openly through service to our neighbors.

This is not a call to shouting louder words, but to a clearer witness.

Faith That Is Lived, Not Hidden

Catholic faith was never meant to be confined to the private sphere. From the earliest days of the Church, Christians were recognized not primarily by what they said, but by how they lived; how they loved, how they forgave, how they cared for the poor, the sick, the needy, and the forgotten.

Our Lord Himself is unmistakably clear:

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

To live an open life of faith does not mean seeking attention or approval. It means refusing to separate belief from action, prayer from service, or Sunday worship from weekday living. Faith that remains hidden quickly becomes faith that withers.

Formation Before Action

The temptation is always to rush into doing. But the Church teaches, and experience confirms, that right action flows from right formation.

Dedicating 2026 to the Catholic faith begins with returning to the sources:

  • Sacred Scripture, read daily and prayed with reverence
  • The Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation
  • The Liturgy of the Hours, uniting our days to the prayer of the Church
  • The Rosary, contemplating Christ through the eyes of Our Lady
  • The teachings of the Church, received humbly and lived faithfully

For Warrior Penitents, this discipline is familiar. Just as training precedes mission, spiritual formation precedes fruitful service.

Faith Made Visible Through Service

The Letter of St. James leaves no room for ambiguity:

“Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (James 2:17).

An open life of faith is one that naturally moves outward. Love of God finds expression in love of neighbor. Prayer bears fruit in mercy and charity

In 2026, we are called to make our faith visible through:

  • Commitment to the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy
  • Intentional service within our local communities
  • Presence to those who are lonely, struggling, in need, or forgotten
  • Willingness to give time, attention, and dignity, not just financial resources where they are needed

This is not about heroic gestures. It is about consistent fidelity in ordinary places: families, neighborhoods, parishes, workplaces.

Veterans Living With Purpose

For many veterans, the loss of mission after service leaves a deep ache. The Catholic faith offers not a replacement mission, but a greater one—a lifelong vocation rooted in Christ.

The discipline, readiness, and sense of brotherhood formed in military service find new direction when ordered toward the Gospel. In the Community of Warrior Penitents, fraternity becomes accountability, and accountability becomes love expressed through action.

To dedicate 2026 to faith lived openly is to reclaim purpose, not for personal fulfillment alone, but for the good of others and the glory of God. A purpose of self-growth and community growth towards Christ.

A Public Witness, Quietly Lived

Living an open life of faith does not require confrontation, argument, or spectacle. Often, it is the quiet consistency of a life shaped by Christ that speaks most powerfully. It is the bridges built in charity that bring the most people to the Church and to Christ.

  • Choosing integrity when compromise would be easier
  • Serving when no one is watching
  • Praying before acting (and praying while acting)
  • Forgiving when resentment feels justified

In a world hungry for authenticity, a Catholic life lived with humility, simplicity, and love becomes a powerful sign of hope.

A Resolution Worth Making

As 2026 approaches, consider making a resolution not simply to believe more, but to live more fully what you believe.

Let this be a year marked by:

  • Deeper prayer
  • Stronger community
  • Concrete service
  • Visible charity
  • Faith that moves from the heart, through the hands, to the community

For the Community of Warrior Penitents, and for all who walk alongside us, may 2026 be a year of growth, witness, and renewal. A year where faith is not hidden, but offered freely in service to Christ present in our neighbors.

May we live what we profess.
May we serve whom we love.
May we follow Christ, openly and faithfully.

May the Saints and Apostles pray for your growth this next year, and may there be opportunities for you to live charitably through faith in Jesus Christ.

In Christ and Prayer,

WP

“Dilexi Te” – Opening Our Hearts to the Poor This Advent

As we draw near to the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Church once again invites us to return to the heart of the Gospel: love. Not an abstract or sentimental love, but a love that stoops low, enters suffering, and takes flesh among the poor.

In his Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te (“I have loved you”), the Holy Father Leo XIV reminds all Christians that love for the poor is not an optional devotion or secondary concern; it is a direct response to the love with which Christ has first loved us. To love Christ is to love those with whom He chose to identify: the poor, the forgotten, the wounded, and the marginalized.

For us as the Community of Warrior Penitents, this call resonates deeply with our Rule of Life and our lived experience as veterans.

Christ Chose Poverty

The mystery of Christmas is not merely that God became man, but that God became poor.

Jesus was born not in a palace, but in a stable. He was laid not in fine linens, but in a manger. From His first breath, Christ aligned Himself with those who have little, those who depend entirely on the mercy of others.

In Dilexi Te, the Holy Father emphasizes that this was no accident of history. It was a deliberate revelation of God’s heart. Christ reveals that true strength is found in humility, and true glory is found in self-gift.

This truth echoes the life of St. Francis of Assisi, a soldier turned penitent, who recognized Christ most clearly in the poor and chose to live among them, not as a benefactor above them, but as a brother beside them.

Veterans and the Poor: A Shared Wound

Many veterans understand, perhaps more than most, what it means to be unseen, misunderstood, or forgotten. The transition from military life to civilian life often brings a loss of structure, identity, and community. In this sense, many veterans encounter a form of poverty. Whether that experiential poverty is material, relational, or spiritual, it is still experienced to the core of the veteran.

The Holy Father reminds us that the poor are not only those without money. Poverty includes loneliness, despair, addiction, displacement, and loss of meaning.

As Warrior Penitents, our own wounds become places of encounter. Having known hardship, we are uniquely positioned to recognize Christ in those who struggle. Our Rule of Life calls us not to retreat inward, but to allow our healing to become mission.

Active Contemplation: Love Made Visible

At the heart of our community is active contemplation, the union of prayer and action, where love for God flows naturally into love for neighbor.

Dilexi Te reinforces this truth: prayer that does not lead to mercy is incomplete, and service that is not rooted in prayer risks becoming empty activism. Christ calls us to both.

As Advent invites us into watchful waiting, we are challenged to ask:

Do our prayers open our hearts, or harden them?

Do we recognize Christ in the poor, or only in the sanctuary?

Are we willing to be inconvenienced by love?

To love the poor is not merely to give alms, but to give ourselves, our time, our presence, our attention, and our dignity.

Preparing a Place for Christ

As we prepare our homes, our liturgies, and our hearts for Christmas, the Holy Father urges us to remember that there is no room for Christ where there is no room for the poor.

The manger still stands before us as a question:

Will we make space?

For the Community of Warrior Penitents, this means recommitting ourselves to the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, comforting the sorrowful, and walking patiently with those who suffer.

It means living simply, giving generously, and loving concretely.

“I Have Loved You”

Dilexi Te is not first a command, it is a reminder.

“I have loved you.”

From that love flows everything else.

As we approach the birth of Jesus, may we allow His love to reorder our priorities, soften our hearts, and sharpen our readiness to serve. May we recognize Him not only in the manger, but in the faces of the poor He continues to love through us.

Come, Lord Jesus.

May You find room among us

In Christ and Prayer,

WP