Good morning. So, here we are celebrating another important and meaningful feast day in our Church. I believe, if we are to benefit from the graces being made available to us, it is important to ask ourselves this question: How significant for our lives is what we celebrate? This is an important question because I believe that for most of us, including myself, the reason meaning of the feast is either unknown, forgotten or of little interest. So let me put before you the catechetical nuances of what we celebrate.
First, let’s consider this concept of king and kingdom. We have not developed with such a concept in our experience in this country. So what importance might we be missing? Let me suggest that at the heart of Jesus’ teachings and his very life was the Kingdom of God and his role in this new concept.
The notion of a kingdom includes the reality that various communities and individuals who have accepted Jesus’ teaching about life under God. Furthermore, we need to understand that not everyone has or will be able to accept this concept. Nonetheless, in our Church we do believe that it is a concept or message that comes with validity and speaks of the very hopes and longings of all peoples in the very core of their being.
The way that God designed His Kingdom there is much reason for happiness and satisfaction to be sure. At the same time, however, the very opposite, pain and suffering, are also a part of this Kingdom of God while we live in our bodies on this planet Earth. Also not to be forgotten is the reality that we are sisters and brothers to one another. This relationship opens up for us that some of these brothers and sisters are God’s representatives sent to help each of us in our personal growth. At the
same time, as well, others will - at some time or another - rely on one another to be God’s messengers for our own personal growth.
In the words of St. Paul and St. Luke offered for our liturgy today we see the contrast between the duality of Jesus. He is the image of God, the unseen Father, and at a later time he became the object of inhumane torture, even death as his naked body was nailed and displayed upon a wooden cross — for no other reason than to fulfill the Father’s will to provide for us a true reconciliation with the Father.
In these readings we encounter the fullness of the Kingdom in the awe and wonder of our King. These words from the Preface Prayer speak to us what this means and what it means for us to be a part of his Kingdom.
“As King he claims dominion over all creation,
the he many present to you, his almighty Father,
an eternal and universal kingdom;
a kingdom of truth and life,
a kingdom of holiness and grace,
a kingdom of justice, love and peace.”
The Kingdom and the King are the Father’s gift to each of us. However, each of us has the obligation to stand up and proclaim our allegiance to Him … every day! We are called upon to join with all who recognize and live in the Kingdom of God to provide greater awareness of this Kingdom among our families, our communities, indeed throughout the world.
If your accept your place in God’s Kingdom, do not let it remain only with you. From this year of Faith which concludes today, we have been given the opportunity to realize, I believe, how important the profession of our faith truly is when we encounter opportunities to being the message and love of Jesus Christ to those who have walked away from Him or who have never met Him.
