INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Thy Kingdom Come!”
At the end of today’s gospel, Jesus asks his disciples, “Do you understand all these things?” They answer, “Yes!”
Have you ever lied when someone asks you, “Do you understand?” I know I have - many times. Sometimes I have no clue to what someone is talking about. I know if I say, “No! I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” they might try to explain what they are trying to explain again - or feel insulted or think I wasn’t listening. Most of the time when this is happening, I just want to get away - get out of there.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Jesus often talks about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. Do we understand what he means by “kingdom”?
I'm tempted to ask for a show of hands - but no hands might go up.
I know I don’t understand what the kingdom is - but sometimes I do - or I think I do. It’s a mystery. It’s an attitude. It’s a reality. It’s an outlook. It’s a way of seeing and doing life. It's here and now. It's here and hereafter. It’s an understanding.
I have glimpses about what Jesus means by kingdom - but then again I wonder if I’m right.
Jesus gives lots of parables to try to explain what he came up with in trying to describe this so called “kingdom.” That tells me that it’s a mysterious or a difficult concept to get one’s mind around it.
It’s like this. It’s like that.
Thy Kingdom come!
What does that mean?
TODAY’S GOSPEL
In today’s gospel Jesus tells us it’s like 3 things. It’s like a treasure buried in a field that is discovered. It’s like a pearl found in a market. It’s like a net thrown into the sea that collects all sorts of things.
Today’s gospel tells me it’s a discovery - a “Eureka moment” - an “aha moment” - an “eye opening moment” - a conversion moment.
TWO SCENARIOS - REFLECTING ON TODAY’S GOSPEL
First Scenario: A parent dies - our other parent had died sometime earlier. It’s our job now to go through their stuff - because the house is going to be sold or what have you. And we discover all sorts of things.
Some things would be labeled “priceless” as the TV commercial puts it. Some thing might be a total surprise - and worth a lot of money after we bring it to Antique Road show - or get it appraised.
Using today’s 3 parables we might find some thing
we want - so we sort of hide it - so our other siblings don’t see it or get it. Or we find a pearl of great price. Or we find some stuff that needs to be tossed - and then we invite everyone in to take their pickings of what is judged to be “good” - and the rest is tossed or brought to Goodwill or what have you.
Going through another’s stuff - one’s treasures - could be very, very interesting - and sometimes we have to protect our parents or one parent - because of some thing we discovered or what have you.
Doing this could be an “Aha moment!” or it could be an “Uh oh!” moment.
Second Scenario: I’ve been on a lot of retreats and on a lot of retreats there is an exercise called, “The House on Fire Exercise”.
The retreat leader asks: “If your house was on fire and you could only bring 3 things out, what would they be? In this exercise the leader usually says, “Not counting people or pets!”
It’s a great exercise.
Once I was actually in a barber shop in Port Ewen, N.Y. waiting to get a haircut. A radio was playing music. Suddenly an annoucement came over the radio about a fire happening on such and such a street - at such and such an address - in Kingston, N.Y. which was just across the bridge. A guy in the barber chair with half a hair cut, jumps out of the chair, tosses the barber’s cloth on a chair, and says, “I’m out of here. That’s my house! There’s some stuff I’m going to see if I can save.”
Next time you’re stuck in traffic or there’s a long line in the supermarket or at the airport and there is a delay, try that exercise. What are your 3 most important possessions?
Or you can go into any room of your house and just sit there and look around at what you got and then ask yourself , "What are the 3 most important things in this room?" Or "What are the 3 most important things in this house that I would save if this house were on fire?"
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN
It seems that when Jesus is talking about the kingdom, he’s talking about an inner reality - an inner outlook - but he uses outer realities like finding a treasure in a field or a pearl in the marketplace or casting a net into the waters - to help us to understand what he’s talking about within.
So he's talking about finding something - discovering something - that becomes our most important possession - but it's invisible. It's within. It's a spiritual reality. It's our most precious reality.
Jesus knows we are citizens of place - but we can also go into inner places - inner spaces.
We know what our
outer labels are: American, female, male, liberal, conservative, Republican, Democrat, Independent, Italian, Lithuanian, Lebanese, immigrant, native born, young, old, fat, thin, tall, short, baby boomer, X generation, Annapolitan, Washingtonian, Snow Bird, teacher, accountant, engineer, nurse, retired, or what have you.
Jesus uses the metaphor of kingdom to ask us to belong to and become a citizen of the kingdom of God.
And this kingdom transcends all boundaries - and barriers - all labels - all titles.
If someone asked us to describe ourselves, what would it be like to describe oneself as, "I am a member of the kingdom of God"?
Such a description or label is not on any form that others ask us to fill out.
A DRAMATIC CHANGE - A DRAMATIC CONVERSION
What would it be like to go through the rest of one’s life - seeing oneself
mainly as a citizen of the Kingdom of God?
What would it be like discovering this? And then we realize: this is what I've been looking for all my life.
People would be seen differently - boundaries would be seen differently - the world would be seen differently - some labels and divisions would disappear.
Some say the Church is the Kingdom. Some would say to that: “It all depends on how you see Church.” Some would say that the Church could be seen as a means - not as an end. The Catholic Church’s call then would be seen as a call to people to be Kingdom people - so that the world would see practiced and hear proclaimed that Jesus is Lord and he has a vision for this life - leading us into eternal life.
See! It is complicated and mysterious. Do you understand what I’m trying to say? If you say “Yes” you have a better glimpse and grab on this than me. I would assume you'd say what a dozen people said to me after the last Mass: "I get about 25% of what you're saying." I replied, "Thank you. Nor bad. You made my day."
IN THE MEANWHILE
In the meanwhile, pray, “Thy Kingdom come!”
Let me now push something that I find practical. It’s one of my babies. It has to do with rosary beads. You might have heard me make this pitch from time to time from the pulpit.
Practically every Catholic has a rosary somewhere in their possession. If it was blessed by a pope or it was your dad's rosary and you took it out of his hands when they were closing his casket, then that rosary might be one of the 3 things you'd grab if your house was on fire.
Well, for the past 40 plus years, I’ve been pushing people to use the rosary for prayer - for Hail Mary’s and Our Father’s. I've also stressed using the beads for shorter prayers - like “Lord have mercy!” or “Patience today Lord. It’s hot.” or "Hello Mary!" or “Help!” To say a decade of those short prayers or a whole rosary of those prayers takes moments - two minutes - and for many it makes the rosary make a lot more sense as one’s worry beads or prayer beads. Get that and we got what Muslims and many people around the world are doing with their beads - including little old Italian and Irish and Polish ladies around the world are doing there - praying for their kids and grandkids and their neighbors kids.
Today I’m suggesting saying, “Thy Kingdom come” as a morning prayer. Using 10 beads on a rosary puts the prayer in hand and in mind. So after waking up, after a shower, after coffee or with coffee or before leaving the front door - or in the car say, pray, “Thy Kingdom Come!” “Thy Kingdom Come!” “Thy Kingdom come!” 10 times or a whole rosary.
At various times I have suggested this practice using other short prayers and folks have come up to me at various times and said they have been praying like that for 3 years now or what have you.
Three years from now, I hope one of your comes up and says, "You suggested saying, 'Thy Kingdom come!' and I've been using my rosary beads for short prayers for the past 3 years now. Thanks!"
So today I’m suggesting praying ,“Thy Kingdom come” that short prayer in the Our Father prayer.
Now comes the action step. Then that day we try to make that kingdom come.
Translation: we try that day to be understanding. Today’s first reading has the wonderful story of Solomon’s dream when God says to Solomon, “You can have one gift. What do you ask for?” So he asks for an understanding heart. Then God says, “Solomon you could have asked for riches - like to win the Jerusalem Lottery, you could have asked for a long life, or for your enemies to be killed, but because you asked for understanding, you’re getting it all.”
At the end of last evening’s Mass a guy came up to me after mass - when shaking hands and said, “I’ll tell you why Solomon asked for understanding. He had 700 wives and 300 other women in his harem!” I had never heard that one before.
Understanding: Well I hope they say about me in the funeral parlor, “Andy was understanding.”
Besides understanding, what else would be the practices, virtues and values of an invisible card carrying member of the kingdom?
Besides understanding, besides having Jesus as one’s Lord and Center, I would think it would be how we treat one another each day: we listen, we forgive, we respect, we try to make sure that folks have their daily bread - that we put into practice all those neat qualities that are in the Peace Prayer of St. Francis.
CONCLUSION
Thy kingdom come.
In this homily, I pushed and tried to proclaim the Kingdom of heaven - that we pray to discover good glimpses of this mysterious vision of how to live life that Jesus pushed. Do you understand all these things - or did I complicate it? Should I have stuck with those 3 simple images Jesus gave us: finding a treasure in a field or a pearl in a marketplace or a pulling up a net and checking out what we have come up with?
