Continuing our
reflection on The Lord’s Prayer:
Luke 17:20-22: Being asked by the
Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, “The kingdom of
God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Lo, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for
behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
And he said to the
disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of
the Son of man, and you will not see it.
Mark 12:28-34: And one of the scribes came up and heard
them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked
him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The
Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all
your strength.’ The
second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other
commandment greater than these.” And
the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that he is
one, and there is no other but he; and to love him with all the heart, and
with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s
neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and
sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him,
“You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask
him any question.
I spent every day last week in either a doctor’s office
or a hospital, sometimes for me, and sometimes for my mother or aunt. Either
one of two things happens when I visit a doctor or the hospital these days. I
can wait for so long to finally see the MD that when the tech announces my
name, I feel like standing up, waving my arms and shouting “Halleluiah”!!!!!!!!!
or… I am admitted quickly, given 15 minutes of non-eye contact, “no smiles or
questions allowed” time and sent on my way. Efficient, punctual and absolutely
void of any human concern. Either way, I find myself dreading visits to
doctors.
I think this all applies to the line from the Our Father,
one of the seven petitions found in this beautiful prayer, which begs, “Thy
kingdom come.” Patience is a virtue we all need to work on. The saints knew
that they had to be patient in everyday life in order to be patient in their
wait for the kingdom. Getting called into the doctor’s presence after a long
wait is just like finally getting called to see God. Really. I have to spend
the time while I wait engaged in some activity. I can fume inside over this
egregiously discourteous attitude; I can pray for the patient inside the
coveted examination room who may need more time and attention than 15 minutes
can cover, or I can read a really long but holy book and better myself. If I am
honest with myself, I will admit that I prefer the long wait to the rushed
attitude. How horrible it would be for all of us if the Kingdom of God turned
out to be something we achieved so quickly that we never had time to prepare
for it, and if in the end, we really didn’t need to prepare at all because God really didn’t
want to spend too much time with us anyway! No, I will wait my turn, and I will
pray for the sick and the dying, and I will read my really long holy book,
currently “The Fulfillment of All Desire” by Ralph Martin, and I will learn
that the Kingdom of God is something we yearn to see, something we long to
experience, something worth waiting for. Marana tha: Come, Lord Jesus.
2817 This
petition is "Marana tha," the cry of the Spirit and the Bride:
"Come, Lord Jesus." It may even be . . . that the Kingdom
of God means Christ himself, whom we daily desire to come, and whose coming we
wish to be manifested quickly to us. For as he is our resurrection, since in
him we rise, so he can also be understood as the Kingdom of God, for in him we
shall reign.86 86 St. Cyprian, De
Dom. orat. 13:PL 4,528A.(Catechism of the Catholic Church)
(I will do “Thy Kingdom Come”
part two-tomorrow)
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