The Fullness of God's Kingdom

Homily for Thursday of the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s text from the Gospel of St. Luke, Jesus says: “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed… For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.” How can God’s Kingdom be present in this world of division, greed, destruction, and violence? Jesus himself seems to affirm that it can be hard at times to see its presence. While the Church herself is the visible manifestation of God’s kingdom, it is not complete. Jesus’ second coming into the world will establish the fullness of the kingdom, and as to that time and the day we have no knowledge. We must simply be prepared.

It helps to practice seeing what is around us, preparing for Christ’s coming again by listening to God’s Word. We have a preview of what the presence of the Kingdom of God is like in the first reading from the Book of Wisdom. The reading describes Wisdom by listing all sorts of adjectives. Each of these words carries with it so many perspectives. The list can also be used to describe God. Indeed, God is the ultimate personification of Wisdom, that quality of God which is responsible for God’s creative energy.

By the same token, these adjectives can be used to describe the Kingdom of God as it will be fully revealed in the second coming of Christ. God’s kingdom is inhabited by people who are not destructive, who love doing good, who are discerning, who do not give up, who are generous, and who are loving and kind.

Jesus gives himself to us in the Eucharist so we can be the seeds of God’s kingdom. He invites us to become what we eat and drink thus becoming the presence of Christ in the world – so that wherever we are, there also is the Kingdom of God. As we receive communion today, we pledge our faithfulness to the task of establishing the Kingdom of God in the world today.