For many years as a Catholic I would hear about the Kingdom of God announced at Mass, I read about it in our Bible, hear preachers and the good Salesian sisters tell me that God’s Kingdom is at hand. I would wonder: what the heck are they talking about?
It wasn’t until some years ago as an adult that I began to
see that God’s kingdom is a place in my heart, in all our hearts. When I accepted God’s word to be truth, my
heart and mind were awakened. That opening
in my heart, even though it may have only been like a small crack in fine porcelain,
it was enough of a space to allow in this understanding: God’s kingdom is both
here and it is to come. This
paradox compels me to ‘not rest on my laurels’ as they say. It means that when I accepted Jesus as my
savior I entered into a relationship with him that allows me to see him in
everyone. It allows me to see myself in all of his creation. It allows me to
see hope even when all things seem dire. It allowed me to make sense of
suffering and be so thankful for God’s mercy upon me.
God’s kingdom is God’s pledge of what is to come. God’s
kingdom is the presence of the Holy Spirit now,
in the moment. And when I can hold both thoughts at the same time: the “now”
and the “to be”, then I am aware of God’s kingdom. This is the good news. When
we proclaim this good news, we are proclaiming healing, we are proclaiming freedom,
we are proclaiming sight, and we are proclaiming a future time where we can all
be full of God’s Spirit.
Knowing this affects how we see ourselves and how we see
others. One cannot separate God’s Kingdom and his spirit. And as the Spirit anoints
us at baptism, the Spirit continues to propel us onward. The last few weeks we heard
in the gospels Jesus was baptized and witness saw the Holy Spirit descend upon
him, then the Spirit drove him into the desert to be tested by Satan. And now today
we read how the Holy Spirit directs him into his mission of proclaiming God’s
Kingdom.
I think of my own faith journey, baptized as a child, then
all my growing up years you may say were my years of being in the desert, being
‘tested’, and finally as an adult accepting my mission. The Bible teaches me that this is the work of
the Holy Spirit and when I willing take this mission; God blesses me and his
Church. What is my mission? I believe it is to bring healing first to my life,
then to my family, and finally to my community.
This week I had the privilege to have been made a member of
the St. Vincent de Paul South Pinellas Board of Directors. At the start of the meeting we opened God’s
word to this Sunday’s gospel. Although I
had already read the gospel reading earlier in the week as I prepared for this
weekend, hearing it again as often happens, I heard God pointing out something
new to me.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring
glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and
recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free…”
I thought back to some minutes earlier when I had parked my
car outside the SVDP building to go inside for our meeting. The area where the
SVDP buildings are located is south St. Pete, just under the shadow of the big
arena known as Tropicana Field. It’s an area affected by blight. Parking is along an old neighborhood street,
where small houses are lined up, some in obvious neglect and others where
flowers are carefully planted and windows freshly painted. It is an area
struggling to make itself relevant to the larger community. As I walked along I wondered how are the
residents tolerating the many homeless vagrants that linger on the corner as
they peacefully assemble to get their morning breakfast that is served in the
SVDP soup kitchen. Would I tolerate this? These homeless men and women I noticed
are all different shapes, colors and sizes. Some carry bags, some don’t. There
isn’t a lot of conversation. As I go to
the front door of my building I noticed the long line that was starting to form
and I thought “there they are”. Just as quickly my mind shifted and I thought
again…”there I am.”
This shift in attitude I believe is the work of God’s spirit
in me. I was anointed to bring the good
news to all in my baptism. I was too
young to know what was happening then but our mother Church teaches us that the
anointing by the Holy Spirit happened even if I wasn’t aware of it. Jesus was
baptized so that we would all see the importance of our baptism as an
initiation into his Kingdom, as a seal on our soul, a permanent testament of
our profession of faith in Him, our Lord and savior. My parent’s faith brought me to my baptism as
a child and it was at my Confirmation when I was older that I took the faith in
Jesus Christ that was passed onto to me by my parents I accepted for
myself. However, this process of
accepting faith is a lifelong process, not a one moment in time only
experience. That process leads us into the desert. It is in those moments of
looking for God, crying out to him; losing and finding him that I have learned
to rely on him more. You see, I have learned
that accepting God’s word as truth and turning my life over to him leads me
into a relationship with Him. A
relationship requires nourishment and honesty. A relationship requires letting
go. A relationship requires allowing me to be changed, to be made poor! The poor are all those who solely depend upon
God.
So here’s the good news about God’s kingdom: we don’t enter
into God’s kingdom because of what we do, or where we live, or how much money
we have, or how beautiful we are, we are all invited into God’s kingdom! And this kingdom is present to us today! We
don’t have to wait! And….and….the best news of all is that we can find
this kingdom when we look into the eyes of our brother and sister in need
because they are usually the ones who have learned to depend only upon God’s
grace.
That morning as I heard this
reading this revelation is what jolted me: that God’ kingdom is available if I
am open to finding God in all things, in all people. God was present in that
moment among those people. Those people are me. I am those people. We all
belong. We are all loved infinitely by a merciful and loving God.
This week I had an opportunity to
meet a family who came knocking on my office door. They were a young husband, wife and young
child. They were smiling and so happy to
have found us (the church). They had just arrived from Venezuela 3 months
ago. They know no one here in this
country. Not too long ago, the wife went
out walking in despair because they had no food to eat in their small
apartment. As she walked she came upon a small Christian church in our
neighborhood and she went inside to pray. There the pastor found her and after hearing
her story he gave her some bags full of food to take home. She had tears in her
eyes as she said this to me and said “I knew God would not abandon us”. Then she went on to tell that that although
she was very appreciative, she didn’t feel at home at this small church because
although our Lord was there, our Mother Mary wasn’t there.
This Venezuelan family celebrated
their Catholic faith in her country and as all good Catholics had learned to depend
on Jesus’ mother and to learn from her example as the first disciple. She wanted to find a Catholic church where
Mary would be present. This past Sunday
they came to our Spanish Mass for the first time and she knew she had found her
home. She was happy to see our statue of Mary and the stained glass images
where the story of Jesus unfolds. In Jesus’ story Mary is so present. As Jesus
is present in God’s Kingdom, so is Mary.
The Kingdom of God was first
proclaimed by Mary. Her “yes” to God filled her with God’s Spirit. She is FULL
of his spirit. Meeting with this lovely
family, inviting her in, listening to her story and welcoming her into our
church, setting them up to meet other families, was a blessing to me and to our
community. She reminded me of the joy of being a member of God’s kingdom. There
is room for everyone and we are not alone.
We are to go out and find those
who are alone, abandoned, hungry, unjustly accused, hurt, imprisoned, insulted,
cold, have no clothes to wear. Sometimes they find us. In those encounters you
will find God’s kingdom. There you are
to proclaim God’s blessings! St. Vincent de Paul said “consider God’s
generosity towards you rather than your own unworthiness in his sight; and live
in his strength, rather than the thoughts of your own weakness.”
This friend, is living in God’s spirit. This is living in
God’s Mercy. This is living God’s will for us.
“Today, this scripture
has been fulfilled while you heard it.” I
am listening Lord. Help me to proclaim your Kingdom to all who would listen.
Help to live as though I believe this to be true.
