COLLECT: “ALMIGHTY AND MERCIFUL GOD, GRACIOUSLY KEEP FROM US ALL ADVERSITY, SO THAT, UNHINDERED IN MIND AND BODY ALIKE, WE MAY PURSUE IN FREEDOM OF HEART THE THINGS THAT ARE YOURS. THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, YOUR SON, WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU IN THE UNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, GOD, FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN”.
Wis 7:22-8:1; Ps 118:89-91,130,135,175 and Lk 17:20-25.
Talking about her own experience, Saint Theresa of Lisieux says this; “The Doctor of doctors teaches us without the sound of words. I have never heard him speak, and yet I know he is within my soul. Every moment he is guiding and inspiring me, and, just at the moment I need them, ‘lights’ till then unseen are granted me.
Most often it is not at prayer that they come. Still, while I go about my daily duties” (Cf. The Autobiography of a Saint, Chap. 8). We can liken Saint Theresa’s experience to Jesus’ teaching today regarding the question some Pharisees asked him concerning the coming of the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God is already here with us. It is eminently spiritual and supernatural, existing ever since the incarnation, that is, the coming of Jesus in human form into the world. The climax of the Kingdom of God will be after Jesus’ second coming or the Parousia at the end of the world.
The effects of the presence of the Kingdom of God are to be seen in the hearts and souls of us all. The presence of the Kingdom of God in each soul or heart is something one perceives through the affections and inspirations communicated by the Holy Spirit.
Without the sound of words or speech, one is taught to live the good life and behave according to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. One very important role the Holy Spirit plays in this regard is to grant us divine wisdom, which ‘pervades all things, passing into souls, to produce friends of God’ (Cf. Wis 7:22-8:1).
The Kingdom of God on earth is indeed eminently spiritual and supernatural, happening in our hearts and souls. However, it also has something visible and external in the world. This is the Church.
Of course, when the Pharisees asked Jesus about the coming of the Kingdom of God, they were not thinking about the Church, which Jesus established later in the world as a physical, visible and external sign of God’s Kingdom, but in terms of purely external, political authority, whereas they perceived Jesus as a political king and leader, to pick up arms with them to fight their political enemies.
Jesus established and inaugurated God’s Kingdom on earth to fight a spiritual war against Satan and to liberate us from evil and sin. Jesus and his disciples or followers, who are like Jesus’s army, in this battle against Satan in the world, will encounter and experience contradictions.
They will suffer so much that they will yearn to see even ‘one of the days of the Son of Man’, that is, one of the days of the victory of Jesus Christ, which day will not arrive until the second coming of the Lord.
May we believe that the Kingdom of God is actively present in our midst every time. May we always allow the Holy Spirit to aid us with divine wisdom to perceive and understand things. Stay blessed.
WE MEDITATE TODAY, THURSDAY, ON THE MYSTERIES OF LIGHT: ‘THE BAPTISM OF JESUS, THE WEDDING AT CANA, THE PROCLAMATION OF THE KINGDOM, THE TRANSFIGURATION, AND THE INSTITUTION OF THE EUCHARIST’. (WE PRAY FOR OPENNESS TO THE HOLY SPIRIT, PRAY TO JESUS THROUGH MARY, FOR REPENTANCE AND TRUST IN GOD, THE DESIRE FOR HOLINESS, AND WE PRAY FOR THE SPIRIT OF ADORATION)
“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen”.
PRAYER: “NOURISHED BY THE SACRED GIFTS, O LORD, WE GIVE YOU THANKS AND BESEECH YOUR MERCY, THAT, BY THE POURING FORTH OF YOUR SPIRIT, THE GRACE OF INTEGRITY MAY ENDURE IN THOSE YOUR HEAVENLY POWER HAS ENTERED. THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN”.
Rev. Fr. Aloysius Kpiebaya, Catholic Diocese of Wa, UW/R, Ghana. (00233) 0207867239/0545462863. Email: aloybaya20@yahoo.com.
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