THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand!

What is this "kingdom of God"? It is the ultimate victory over evil...a heaven on earth.

It begins with the command to repent, that is, to have a new mind-set...new priorities...to see the world as God sees it. 

It's that simple. And it's that colossal.  

Today, as we celebrate Respect Life Sunday, our gospel challenges us to assess our priorities and to stand with Jesus...to give life and not to take it. When we take life, we kill ourselves.  

When we take life at any stage of its being, from conception to natural death, we not only abort life, we abort Jesus’ mission and kill God’s plan for a heaven on earth. 

Now let's be clear, there are many ways to take life: certainly we kill with scalpels but also with words...every day, every hour on talk-radio and in gossip circles. We kill with bombs and semi-automatic weapons in troubled spots around the world and in our streets...even in our schools.

We kill with prejudice and hate, discrimination and injustice, inattentiveness and lack of compassion.  That's the evil Jesus came to conquer.

We kill each time we are blind and numb to the cry of the poor…each time we are deaf and blind to the lies of our politicians...each time we are deaf to the voice of the voiceless in the womb of God. 

We seem to have become very sensitive to the sins of others and lament their sinfulness, but better to look at ourselves and wonder why we do it. Perhaps out of fear. Perhaps we judge and kill others (their character if not their body) out of insecurity, some lack of self-esteem, trying to make ourselves seem superior. 

At the dawn of the 20th century, William James wrote, The desire to gain wealth and the fear to lose it are the worst moral disease from which our society suffers. Are we too insulated; focused on our own comfort and afraid of losing it? Do we delude ourselves in thinking that by protecting our life-style and self-interest we will be safe and happy?  

The key to happiness and to a holy life is to first overcome our fears...because God is with us and we are part of God's great enterprise of building God's kingdom. It is noteworthy that the most used phrase in the Bible is, Be not afraid! It is repeated 365 times!  

The disappearance of fear in our life gives us a wonderful feeling of inner security and peace...a fullness of life...which opens us to give life – perhaps with just a smile – ideally with other good people. 

There are many ways to take life...and to give life.

If we bring to each day some goodness, we are part of this colossal good work that is God's good work. We are manifesting that the kingdom of God is at hand.