The Kingdom of God

Today the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Christ, the King. It marks the end of the ligurgical year (Cycle B). Next week, with the first Sunday of Advent, begins the new liturgical year.

At the heart of the feast is the Kingdom of God. It is important to realise that the Kingdom of God is not a place, a region or state. It must be understood in a dynamic sense: the reigning of God. It speaks of what happens when and where God reigns.

Where God reigns relationships change. Love, mercy and justice reign. God’s justice, in particular, is unique: he takes sides with the weak, the suffering, the neglected, the rejected, the excluded. He is there, alongside the poor! God did not just become man, he became a poor man. Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom! God does not place conditions on the poor for being with them. Of course, God does not neglect all his children and creatures. He has more than just a preferential love: he gives himself uniquely and freely.

When God reigns changes come about. Behold I make all things new! Love, mercy and justice change relationships: with oneself, with others, with God, with creation. Human beings begin to be and act in response to God’s commitment. Solidarity becomes militant. It is not a matter of becoming tolerant but of becoming truly loving and generous.

We cannot be like the “good son” in the parable of the prodigal son. It is of no use to protest against the love of a Father who welcomes back home the ungrateful son with a huge party. Life is not a matter of doing many good things. It is all about real Love, about loving the way God loves.

Spirit and Spirituality

Spirituality, in the Christian tradition, flows from a life in the Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus of Nazareth, the son of God, the Christ. We follow Jesus, in the Spirit, on the road towards the realization of the Kingdom of God (the will of the Father). It is in the Spirit that we learn to see as God sees and to act as God acts. It is the Spirit who brings us together into common-union, in community. The Spirit of Love brings us together on the road to the Father, like the person who sews together the most disparate pieces of cloth into one beautiful quilt. In the Spirit the diversity becomes a gift for realizing true unity (which is not uniformity). The Spirit gives to each different gifts for the sake of the common-unity.

In our tradition the Spirit does not alienate us from history. The Spirit, rather, drives us into the very heart of daily life and its demands. We can count on the Spirit to have enough strength to be able to respond to the challenges of history, to participate in the liberating dynamism of the realization of the Kingdom. He will never abandon us and his Love will nurture us at every moment.

The Challenge of Spirituality

It is said that there is today a great thirst and search for spirituality. To seek the path of maturing in spirituality presents great, albeit fascinating, challenges. One of the most significant is to grow in one’s capacity to see and to listen. One must put out an effort to go beyond the insignificant and the superficial. As we walk on, we begin to detect clearer signs of God’s liberating presence in history, events, situations.

Much too often we construct images of God and of who we are as human beings that we must discard somewhere along the path. Simply because they are not right. They do not correspond to who God really is and who we are. The adventure is found here: in starting a new relationship with God, with ourselves, with others, with creation.

This blog is an invitation to grow in our spirituality. Saint Alphonsus de Liguori and the redemptorist tradition will be our guide and companions. It is a forum for sharing and commenting on our growth in the Spirit. Your participation is welcome.