“I“I am the Lord and there is no other” says God through the prophet Isaiah. Paul makes clear what his Lordship is, writing to the Thessalonians, for it reveals itself to us as a love that chooses us, confirming us in the faith and opening us to hope. On the other hand, love is demanding: it chooses, calls, awaits an answer. For Paul the answer is spelled out in what the Christian tradition will call theological virtues: faith, hope, charity. Theological because they do not originate in us, but in God. They come from him and lead to him. Also for this reason, Jesus affirms, it is necessary to give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. There is something that belongs to Caesar and that God does not claim for himself. It is the responsibility in history, the commitment to the common good, the management of a power that knows how to promote justice and peace. However, there is also something that belongs to God and that Caesar cannot claim for himself. And it is the other image, not the one imprinted on a coin, but in us, in our body, in our person. We were created in the image of God and it is to him alone that the image must be rendered. He is the only Lord of our life. If Caesar claims to lord it over us, faith makes us recognize that the true and only lordship belongs to another. Charity teaches us to fight for the freedom of all, even at the sacrifice of our existence. Hope makes us persistent and faithful even in the face of threats and persecutions.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey