In Matthew, Jesus’ preaching begins with the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for of them it is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3). It ends with the scene of the last judgment: they receive the blessing of the Father, and the kingdom prepared since the foundation of the world, those who have served the need of their younger brothers and sisters. Recognizing the lordship of Jesus means recognizing the lordship of the little ones on their own lives. And the poor, the little ones, the last, the discarded, not only enter the kingdom, but it is in them and through them that the true kingship of Jesus is revealed. His reign does not correspond to the logic of the world, where those who rule dominate others by creating subjects, submissives. As Pope Francis likes to say about the Church and its structure, the pyramid is overturned: those who reign are not above, but below; it does not dominate, but waits, in its poverty, to receive the help and mercy it needs. The logic of the royalty of this paradoxical kingdom is not manifested, in fact, as power over others, but as a love that knows how to take care of their lives, as gratitude that welcomes with gratitude a closeness of solidarity. The last enemy to be annihilated, Paul writes, will be death. Evil is defeated by this humble, poor, unarmed love, which overturns the logics of domination and overpowering.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey