Finding the Kingdom of God and Holding on to It

In yesterday's reading from the Gospel of St. Luke, we were reminded once again of the core message of Jesus' preaching; namely, that the Kingdom of God is among us. Today, Jesus becomes a little more pointed in his message as he follows up by asking us to be more cognizant of the importance of this realization.

It's Friday; this means that I will go about my usual Friday routine. I will travel downtown to be present for Bible Study class at St. Peter's after which I will meet with the friars from Asia for lunch and practice in English conversation. On my way home I will make my usual stop at the Cicero Public Library to return the materials that I borrowed on previous Fridays and to check out new materials. Then I will stop at the Post Office. Finally, I will stop at the bank. When I get back to the friary, I will check the mailbox before going to my room for a short nap "to recharge my battery." On this particular Friday, I will precede all that activity by a stop at the podiatrist's office. That's a pretty full day of eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building (Luke 17:28b). While the other days of the week are not nearly as routinely planned, they too will be filled with "ordinary" activities. As I have written in the past, as disciples of Jesus, we are called upon to find God in the ordinary. According to today's Gospel passage, Jesus might suddenly call me home in the midst of these activities. Will I be ready?

Also part of my daily routine is the first hour of the day which I try to spend with the Scriptures. It helps me to focus on the fact that God will be with me in the midst of the ordinary. Hopefully, I won't become so preoccupied with the rather prosaic activities of the day that I will forget this first hour which I spend encountering God in the Word. Blogging or journaling about that encounter helps me to recall it throughout the day. While it may seem too ridiculous, the reign of God and my daily activities are very much a part of the same piece of cloth.