This Upside-Down Kingdom Outlasts Every Empire
Christmas isn’t comfort for the powerful — it’s God siding with the poor, the forgotten, and the cast aside.
Dear friends —
This Advent, all paid subscribers are receiving the Letters from Leo Advent Reflection Series: a daily companion to prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas — and to reckon with what his arrival demands of us, personally and publicly, in a moment of deep moral and political crisis.
It’s not too late to join us. Today’s reflection is below.
To give you a sense of what you’ll encounter, I’ve unlocked two pieces for all readers.
The first is our opening Sunday reflection, which sets the tone for the season. The second is last Tuesday’s reflection, where I wrote candidly about the isolating pain me and so many others experience during the holidays — and how Advent meets us there, not to deny the loneliness, but to reveal God’s quiet presence within it.
These reflections will continue each day through Christmas.
Letters from Leo is open to anyone who wants to be informed and inspired by our pope — and to turn that inspiration into action that leaves America and the world more just, less cold, and more alive with hope.
If you’d like to support this work during the holiday season, here are three ways you can help:
Subscribe as a paid member to receive exclusive posts about the life and formation of Pope Leo and help sustain this newsletter.
Donate with a one-time gift to fuel this project’s mission.
Share this post (and Letters from Leo) with a friend who might enjoy it.
Whether you give $0, $1, or $1,000, your presence here matters — no matter your faith or your politics.
Thank you for reading. I’ll see you on the road.
“The Lord hears the cry of the poor.” (Psalm 34:7)
The first Christmas turned the world on its head. The Son of God was born not in a palace among elites, but in a stable among animals. His birth was announced to shepherds and foreign seekers, while the local kings and scholars either missed it or felt threatened by it.
From the very start, God showed that he stands with those at the bottom.
Today’s Scriptures continue this revolutionary theme.
The prophet Zephaniah foretells that God will remove the proud and leave behind “a people humble and lowly” who take refuge in the Lord.
The Psalm reminds us over and over that “the Lord hears the cry of the poor.”
And in the Gospel, Jesus delivers a stinging lesson to the religious leaders of his day: those they despised as “tax collectors and prostitutes” are entering God’s Kingdom before the self-righteous authorities.
In other words, the so-called bottom dwellers of society — sinners and outcasts who turned their hearts toward God — were ahead of the pious elites who refused to repent.
This Advent message hits home in our own time today.
