THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AMONG YOU

Fm 7-20; Ps 145; Lk 17,20-25
15 NOVEMBER

Jesus reveals the mystery of the kingdom with seven parables. The kingdom is born by sowing the word in every heart. The seed does not take root in every heart and not even bears fruit in every heart. If it is sowed, there will always be some heart that welcomes the seed and will make it grow and bear fruit. In the same field in which the good wheat of the kingdom grows, the bad grass sown by the devil also grows. Until the advent of the new heavens and the new earth, good wheat and bad grass will always grow together. The value of the kingdom is priceless. More than a treasure hidden in a field. More than a precious pearl. It is worth it to sell everything you own for it. How does the kingdom grow and how does it spread? Like the mustard seed and like the yeast. While the kingdom is on earth, all men can belong to it. With the passage into eternity, eternal separation takes place between the children of light and the children of darkness.

Having Jesus already begun the preaching of the Word, even the kingdom is already among men. It is in all those hearts that have accepted the Word and live it with perseverance. This is why Jesus can say that it does not come in such a way as to attract attention. It is a radical change of life. Who steals, stops stealing. Who is an adulterer, stops adulterating. Who kills, does not kill anymore. Those who do evil, start doing good. Who is idolatrous and immoral, begins to adore the one God in three Persons, the only living and true God, the only Creator of man and of the universe, abandons all falsehood and lie. Who has abandoned himself to superstitions, abandons this world of darkness and surrenders himself to the world of light. Conversion is often a silent work, of the heart, of the mind, of desires and of thoughts. However, conversion is seen. It is said. It is preached and manifested. One also invites to it. But all this is a long work, often lived in silence. One sees only a life that is no longer the same. Mouth and heart of man, with words and deeds, attest to being different.

Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he said in reply, “The coming of the kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the kingdom of God is among you.” Then he said to his disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. There will be those who will say to you, ‘Look, there he is,’ (or) ‘Look, here he is.’ Do not go off, do not run in pursuit. For just as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be (in his day). But first he must suffer greatly and be rejected by this generation.

When Jesus came, he was born in a grotto. Only the Angels know and announce the mystery. When he gets out of the world, he leaves like a criminal. Only a very few people know that He is the Eternal Son of the Father and our Saviour and Redeemer. After this coming and getting out of the sinful silence of the world, there will not be a second coming in history. For this reason no one might say: “Here it is”, or: “There it is”. He might not say of Christ because he does not come anymore. He might not even say it not even of the kingdom because it has already been sown in the field of the world. Jesus will come only at the end of time and history. The present world will vanish. The Lord will create the future one. In this moment of the passage from time to eternity, the whole universe will see Christ the Lord come in his glory. Nobody will have to tell it to another one. Everyone will see him.

The kingdom of God is in every heart in which justice and the truth of God, of man, of creation dwell. Where instead lie and falsehood reign, there is room for the kingdom of the prince of the world, there. Every disciple of Jesus is obliged to keep himself the kingdom of God, growing every day in grace, truth and justice, according to the Word of the Gospel. But he is also called to make sure that with his word and his prayer many others become the kingdom of God. These two obligations are one mission. If there is the first there is the other. If there is not the first one, never might the other one be there. We grow as kingdom, we make the kingdom grow.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, help us grow as kingdom to make the kingdom grow.