The Pharisees who asked when the kingdom of God would come
showed that they still didn’t understand what the kingdom meant. They couldn’t see that it was already in
their midst. The blind were seeing, the
deaf were hearing, the lame were walking—Who could miss these signs? Whenever
God’s presence is welcomed, powerful things occur. The Pharisees did not
welcome Jesus, they did not welcome his teaching, they did not welcome who he
was, what he came to do, and so they did not recognize God at work in their
midst.
The kingdom of God is dynamic, powerful, and noticeable to
those with faith. From the very
beginning of the Church, people’s lives have been radically impacted by the
Gospel. In every age, including our own,
God has moved in mighty ways, revealing his love, rescuing people from sin, and
transforming even the hardest of hearts.
When God is welcomed, lived are changed—he changes hearts, he transforms
relationships.
In the first reading, we see relationship changed, from the
letter to Philemon. Paul, writes to
Philemon to inform him that his missing slave, Onesimus, has become a fellow
Christian and to persuade him to receive Onesimus in mercy as the brother in
Christ he has become. God has changed
this relationship, Onesimus goes from slave to brother Christian. Onesimus was an unbeliever, now, he is “no
longer a slave, but more than a slave”; as a Christian he will work to build
the kingdom of God, as Paul and all Christians are called to. Again, the kingdom of God looks like the
transformation of hearts and relationships.
We can also see God at work in the life of the Saint we
honor today, Frances Xavier Cabrini, whose parents both died when she was just 18
years old. She felt God was calling her
to a life of service, but she didn’t know exactly what. She tried out various religious communities
in her area, but they didn’t think she had a religious vocation because of her
poor health. So, her local bishop
decided to have her found a new religious order. She thought she was being called to
missionary work in China, to evangelize the Chinese.
She had a dream one night where the Lord appeared to her,
sending her not to the orient, but west.
She was confused by this, because since she was a little girl, she
thought she was meant to bring the Gospel east.
So she visited the Pope, and Pope Leo XIII confirmed her dream, so
Mother Cabrini came to this country to care for Italian immigrants.
Within a few years, she opened a Catholic school in New York
City, founded an orphanage and hospital for the immigrants which had wards which
were free to the poor. She built other
hospitals in Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Seattle, New Orleans, and
Chicago.
Mother Cabrini dedicated her life to serving the kingdom of
God, and she touched millions of lives. She
allowed the king to reign in her, and became a dynamic, powerful instrument to
God.
Today, as we come forward to receive the king of kings in
the Eucharist, let us allow the Lord to transform our hearts, our
relationships, and impel us into the world as his instruments for the building
up of his kingdom, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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