Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious
The Gospel speaks of judgment. At the judgment the question will be: is the Kingdom within you? Are you part of that Kingdom? That’s the question put to us every day: are you part of the Kingdom of God? Is the Spirit of the Kingdom within you? By our actions, are we clearly identified with the Kingdom of Heaven? Have we heard the message of the good news? Have we made it part of us? Perhaps most important of all: are we striving, day after day, to live in the spirit of the Kingdom?
This is not so different, really, from what we hear in the passage from the Book of Wisdom. The point here seems to be that creation, all the works of God lead us to a knowledge of God. Wisdom laments the fact that some were not able to know God through observing the wonders of God that are so evident in the world. From the perspective of Wisdom, it seems impossible NOT to find God, the Lord of all, while surrounded by the goodness of God.
From the Catechism (CCC#36), “Our holy mother, the Church, holds and teaches that God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human reason.” Without this capacity, man would not be able to welcome God’s revelation. Man has this capacity because he is created “in the image of God.”
And being surrounded by the goodness of God is another way of saying that the Kingdom of God is among you, the Kingdom of God is among us and all around us.
Our tasks are to become completely filled with the spirit of the gospel, to totally give ourselves to following the Lord’s call of us: to be loving, forgiving, caring for our neighbor, to have trust in the God of our salvation—the God whose goodness and very creation surrounds us.
Reflection by Fr. Peter Ullrich, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections