Homily: Thursday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time - "The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand"

"As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'

 The phrase “kingdom of heaven” recurs over thirty times in Matthew’s Gospel.  We hear John the Baptist prefiguring Christ’s coming by preaching, “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand”.  Jesus begins his own ministry preaching, “repent the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  And today we hear he sends out his disciples, he gives instructions to his Church telling them to preach the same thing as he: “the kingdom of God is at hand”

Think about that phrase for a moment.  If I said, “Washington D.C. is at hand” many of us would run for cover, because it would mean that the authority, and power, and jurisdiction of the government was here to make its will known.

And this is how “the kingdom of heaven” is used in Mathew’s Gospel.  Jesus was announcing that God in his power and authority and divinity was present in their midst—the establishment of God’s eternal kingdom of justice and peace in this world gone wrong, begins now.  So change the direction of your lives that you might embrace it.

Jesus preached the kingdom not only through words, but signs: the curing of the sick, and lepers, the exorcism of the demon possessed, even the raising of the dead.  And in today’s Gospel, Jesus gives the authority to do these things, to make the presence of the kingdom of heaven known through words and actions.

This is the mission and task of the Church through the ages until Christ’s return: to call sinners to repentance and make the kingdom known through words and deeds. 

Pope Benedict wrote, “It is necessary to make the living God present in our own lives; only in this way do our lives become true, authentically human”.   In other words, this is work that truly fulfills us, this is the work that we long to do, to point to God, to bring others to God.

So much of our unhappiness comes from lives which point only to ourselves.  Yet, joy is discovered by those who pour themselves out in proclaiming the kingdom. 

Before leaving from Mass today, we would do well to pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance; that we may be open to proclaiming the Gospel to those who need to hear it this day, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.