The kingdom of God is at hand
Sunday Readings for Feb. 13, 2011 (6A)
By Father Cusick
Sunday Mass Readings Podcast of Readings Video Reflections Lecturas y Comentarios Sunday Readings Bible StudyPrayer of the HoursBQ: Is Divorce a sin according to the Catholic Church? "There is, to be sure, a certain wisdom which we express...It is not a wisdom of this age, however, nor of the rulers of this age who are men headed for destruction. What we utter is God's wisdom, a mysterious, a hidden wisdom." Our Catholic faith, the fullness of the Christian revelation, is a scandal to this age, as it has been in every time and place. Our faith is a stumbling block for those who are filled with worldly wisdom. If my faith has been placed in self-assertiveness training, or in the cult of the body, or in having power or domination over others, then I am incapable of understanding the Gospel of Christ. This Gospel demands that I take up a cross, which may demand suffering, and may even, in a supreme act of folly, call for me to imitate Christ and lay down my life for my salvation.
In Christ is the fullness of God, perfectly revealed for us. He is the fulfillment of the Commandments. In him, we can share in the glory of God, in his holiness and life. His holiness and life is the only source of happiness for us, because he created us to know and love Him as the fulfillment of our being.Our perfection lies in keeping the commandments: "Whoever fulfills and teaches these commands shall be great in the kingdom of God." Many people reject this highest wisdom, that of keeping the commandments. Many do not know that failing to answer the Lord's invitation to attend Mass on Sunday without a grave reason is a mortal sin: "I am the Lord Thy God, thou shall keep the Sabbath day holy."
The Catechism illuminates the Christian custom of the "Lord's Day": "By a tradition handed down from the apostles which took its origin from the very day of Christ's Resurrection, the Church celebrates the Paschal mystery every seventh day, which day is appropriately called the Lord's Day or Sunday...The Lord's Supper is its center, for there the whole community of the faithful encounters the risen Lord, who invites them to his banquet."(Jn 21:12; Lk 24:30) (CCC 1166)
"Whoever breaks the least significant of these commands and teaches others to do so shall be called least in the kingdom of God." (Mt 5:19) God is Ruler and King, as well as loving Father, and we have a duty to worship Him in the perfect prayer of Christ: the Mass. We cannot be pleasing to God except in Christ, hence the necessity of the Mass, a sacrifice we cannot offer except in Christ.
Each Sunday some sleep in, some exercise or shop, and some watch TV. The kingdom of God is at hand, whether or not we feel like it. If we miss the train, it will not be because God does not love us, but because we failed to love Him in return, in the small ways, like getting up on Sunday morning in order to spend an hour exercising our spiritual muscles to prepare for the kingdom, where we shall live as God's glory, and see Him face to face eternally.
Looking forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy", Father Cusick
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