When you fall in love with someone, you can’t stop thinking about him; you look for every opportunity to be with her; you look for ways to show your love for him; you want to tell everyone else all about her. So I had to ask myself:
How often does Jesus occupy my thoughts; how frequently do I seek ways to spend time with him; do I look for ways to show him my love; do I find myself telling others about him and how much he means to me?
Where are the subjects of the Kingdom? If the Kingdom of God is fading from memory and visibility in our contemporary world, the question must be “What has become of its citizens?” In 1978 Frank Sheed wrote that we were in a spiritual coma! Apparently forty-three years have passed with little change in our condition. Our malaise might best be captured in the word repeated ad nauseam in daily parlance: “Whatever”. Intended to convey a benevolent tolerance, it instead communicates an indifference to anything or anyone outside of one’s own experience.
In the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church, next Sunday is the feast of Christ the King. It’s a celebration of his kingship over the entire universe. An affirmation of a central truth of Christianity. But what do Americans know of kingdoms? Have you ever met or even seen a king (the flat faced one with a silly grin that promotes burgers doesn’t count)? Yet throughout the Gospels kings and kingdoms are a persistent theme.
