The Kingdom of God: Already, But Not Yet

Nov 10, 2022 | Reflections and Homilies

Homily for Thursday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Thursday, November 10, 2022
Holy Ghost Church – 8:00 Mass
Philemon 7-20; Psalm 146:7, 8-9A, 9BC-10; Luke 17:20-25

 

  • When will the Kingdom of God come? Today’s question by the Pharisees to Jesus. And what is his answer?
  • Already, but not yet. 
      • He tells them that “The Kingdom of God is among you”
      • Isn’t this amazing! The Kingdom is among us…right now!
      • It will also come at the end of time and it will be unmistakeable
  • The Gospel readings this month combine this eschatological tone of the “end times” at Christ’s second coming with the incarnational tone of God’s presence that dwells in our midst right now.
      • The mystery of our faith is such that these two realities are not opposed to one another
      • They go hand in hand
  • The Kingdom is present now and can be seen through the eyes of faith, not by human sight alone. It is present in the Mass, especially in the Eucharist
  • The Kingdom will be also be revealed at the end times to everyone, those who have faith and those who do not
      • At this time there will be no more need for faith or hope, as the Kingdom will be fully revealed to everyone 
      • As Christians we hope for the coming of the Kingdom in its fullness, and we are also living in the Kingdom, in mystery, in the present time.
      • It is primarily the liturgy that brings us into this dynamic reality of the Kingdom present now and the fullness of the Kingdom to come
  • Many of us are eager to realize the fullness of the Kingdom and we look for it in signs of the times. While it’s important to desire the coming of the Kingdom in its fullness, to hope for this, Jesus tells us today that we must be careful not to allow ourselves to be distracted from the Kingdom that is already at hand. 
      • We should avoid the temptation of predicting when the Kingdom will come in its fullness
      • Our job at this time is to focus on living righteous lives that prepare us to enter into this Kingdom when it does come. To live more in the present mystery of the “incarnation” Kingdom that is at hand now
      • When the time of the day of the Son of Man comes it will come suddenly and obviously, like bolts of lightning that light up the night sky. We won’t miss it.
      • True hope requires patience and discernment about where the desires of our hearts tend to pull us
      • We should not be looking for things that are flashy or novel. We should be amazed only in those “ordinary” truths of our faith, especially that the Lord is truly among us now, fully present in the liturgy and especially in the Eucharist
  • The goal of our daily lives should be to be TRANSFORMED, not INFORMED. 
      • Pope Benedict XVI expressed this so well in his encyclical Spe Salvi when he wrote
        • “The Christian message is not only “informative” but “performative.” That means: the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known – it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing. The dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.”
  • So let us pray today for an increase of our faith to believe that Christ is truly present with us today in mystery and that he communicates his saving grace to us through his Word and the Eucharist at every Mass. 
  • Let us ask for an increase of hope so that we will live in anticipation and certainty of his glorious reign, which is yet to come in its fullness, when all tears will be wiped away and his great love will be fully revealed
  • And let us not waste time speculating as to when this time is coming, but rather focus on living more completely in the mystery that is present with us today.