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“The Kingdom of God”

The freedom of faith
To be human, man's response to God by faith must be free, and…therefore nobody is to be forced to embrace the faith against his will. The act of faith is of its very nature a free act. God calls men to serve him in spirit and in truth. Consequently they are bound to him in conscience, but not coerced…This fact received its fullest manifestation in Christ Jesus.  Indeed, Christ invited people to faith and conversion, but never coerced them. For he bore witness to the truth but refused to use force to impose it on those who spoke against it. His kingdom…grows by the love with which Christ, lifted up on the cross, draws men to himself. 160

Providence and secondary causes
To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in his providence by entrusting them with the responsibility of "subduing" the earth and having dominion over it. [Gen 1:26-28]  God thus enables men to be intelligent and free causes in order to complete the work of creation, to perfect its harmony for their own good and that of their neighbors. Though often unconscious collaborators with God's will, they can also enter deliberately into the divine plan by their actions, their prayers and their sufferings. [Col 1:24]  They then fully become "God's fellow workers" and co-workers for his kingdom. [1 Cor 3:9; Thess 3:2; Col 4:11] 307

The Fall of the Angels
The power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God's reign. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries - of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature- to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history. It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but "we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him." [Rom 8:28] 395

CHRIST
The word "Christ" comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah, which means "anointed". It became the name proper to Jesus only because he accomplished perfectly the divine mission that "Christ" signifies. In effect, in Israel those consecrated to God for a mission that he gave were anointed in his name. This was the case for kings, for priests and, in rare instances, for prophets. [Ex 29:7; Lev 8:12; Sam 9:16; 10:1; 16:1, 12-13; 1 Kings 1:39, 19:16] This had to be the case all the more so for the Messiah whom God would send to inaugurate his kingdom definitively. [Ps 2:2; Acts 4:26-27] It was necessary that the Messiah be anointed by the Spirit of the Lord at once as king and priest, and also as prophet. [Isa 11:2; 61:1; Zech 4:14; 6:13; Lk 4:16-21] Jesus fulfilled the messianic hope of Israel in his threefold office of priest, prophet and king. 436

The Christmas Mystery
To become a child in relation to God is the condition for entering the kingdom. [Mt 18:3-4]  For this, we must humble ourselves and become little. Even more: to become "children of God" we must be "born from above" or "born of God". [Jn 3:7; 1:13; 1:12; Mt 23:12] Only when Christ is formed in us will the mystery of Christmas be fulfilled in us. [Gal 4:19] Christmas is the mystery of this "marvelous exchange":

O marvelous exchange! Man's Creator has become man, born of the Virgin. We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share our humanity. [Antiphon I of evening Prayer for January 1st.] 526

Christ stands at the heart of this gathering of men into the "family of God". By his word, through signs that manifest the reign of God, and by sending out his disciples, Jesus calls all people to come together around him. But above all in the great Paschal mystery - his death on the cross and his Resurrection - he would accomplish the coming of his kingdom. "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." Into this union with Christ all men are called. [Jn 12:32, LG 3] 542

The proclamation of the Kingdom of God
Everyone is called to enter the kingdom. First announced to the children of Israel, this messianic kingdom is intended to accept men of all nations. [ Mt 8:11; 10:5-7; 28:19] To enter it, one must first accept Jesus' word:

The word of the Lord is compared to a seed which is sown in a field; those who hear it with faith and are numbered among the little flock of Christ have truly received the kingdom. Then, by its own power, the seed sprouts and grows until the harvest. [LG 5; Mk 4:14, 26-29; Lk 12:32] 543

Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. [Mk 4:33-34] Through his parables he invites people to the feast of the kingdom, but he also asks for a radical choice: to gain the kingdom, one must give everything. [Mt 13:44-45; 22:1-14] Words are not enough, deeds are required. [Mt 21:28-32] The parables are like mirrors for man: will he be hard soil or good earth for the word? [Mt 13:3-9] What use has he made of the talents he has received? [Mt 25:14-30] Jesus and the presence of the kingdom in this world are secretly at the heart of the parables. One must enter the kingdom, that is, become a disciple of Christ, in order to "know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven". [Mt 13:11] For those who stay "outside", everything remains enigmatic. [Mk 4:11; Mt 13:10-15] 546

The signs of the Kingdom of God
Jesus accompanies his words with many "mighty works and wonders and signs", which manifest that the kingdom is present in him and attest that he was the promised Messiah. [Acts 2:22; Lk 7:18-23] 547

The coming of God's kingdom means the defeat of Satan's: "If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." [Mt 12:26, 28] Jesus' exorcisms free some individuals from the domination of demons. They anticipate Jesus' great victory over "the ruler of this world". [Jn 12:31; Lk 8:26-39] The kingdom of God will be definitively established through Christ's cross: "God reigned from the wood." [Liturgy of Hours, Lent, Holy Week, Evening Prayer] 550

From the beginning of his public life Jesus chose certain men, twelve in number, to be with him and to participate in his mission. [Mk 3:13-19] He gives the Twelve a share in his authority and 'sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal." [Lk 9:2] They remain associated for ever with Christ's kingdom, for through them he directs the Church:

As my Father appointed a kingdom for me, so do I appoint for you that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. [Lk 22:29-30] 551

A foretaste of the Kingdom: the Transfiguration
On the threshold of the public life: the baptism; on the threshold of the Passover: the Transfiguration. Jesus' baptism proclaimed "the mystery of the first regeneration", namely, our Baptism; the Transfiguration "is the sacrament of the second regeneration": our own Resurrection. [St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 45, 4, ad 2] From now on we share in the Lord's Resurrection through the Spirit who acts in the sacraments of the Body of Christ. The Transfiguration gives us a foretaste of Christ's glorious coming, when he "will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body." [Phil 3:21] But it also recalls that "it is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God": [Acts 14:22]

Peter did not yet understand this when he wanted to remain with Christ on the mountain. It has been reserved for you, Peter, but for after death. For now, Jesus says: "Go down to toil on earth, to serve on earth, to be scorned and crucified on earth. Life goes down to be killed; Bread goes down to suffer hunger; the Way goes down to be exhausted on his journey; the Spring goes down to suffer thirst; and you refuse to suffer?"[St. Augustine, Sermo 78, 6: PL 38, 492-493; Lk 9:33] 556

Jesus’ messianic entrance into Jerusalem
How will Jerusalem welcome her Messiah? Although Jesus had always refused popular attempts to make him king, he chooses the time and prepares the details for his messianic entry into the city of "his father David". [Lk 1:32; Mt 21:1-11; Jn 6:15] Acclaimed as son of David, as the one who brings salvation (Hosanna means "Save!" or "Give salvation!"), the "King of glory" enters his City "riding on an ass". [Ps 24:7-10; Zech 9:9] Jesus conquers the Daughter of Zion, a figure of his Church, neither by ruse nor by violence, but by the humility that bears witness to the truth. [ Jn 18:37] And so the subjects of his kingdom on that day are children and God's poor, who acclaim him as had the angels when they announced him to the shepherds. [ Mt 21:15-16; Ps 8:3;Lk 19:38; 2:14] Their acclamation, "Blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord", [Ps 118:26] is taken up by the Church in the "Sanctus" of the Eucharistic liturgy that introduces the memorial of the Lord's Passover. 559

Jesus' entry into Jerusalem manifested the coming of the kingdom that the King-Messiah was going to accomplish by the Passover of his Death and Resurrection. It is with the celebration of that entry on Palm Sunday that the Church's liturgy solemnly opens Holy Week. 560

The kingdom of heaven was inaugurated on earth by Christ. "This kingdom shone out before men in the word, in the works and in the presence of Christ" [LG 5]. The Church is the seed and beginning of this kingdom. Its keys are entrusted to Peter. 567

Jesus' entry into Jerusalem manifests the coming of the kingdom that the Messiah-King, welcomed into his city by children and the humble of heart, is going to accomplish by the Passover of his Death and Resurrection. 570

Jesus and the Law
At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus issued a solemn warning in which he presented God's law, given on Sinai during the first covenant, in light of the grace of the New Covenant:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets: I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law, until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. [Mt 5:17-19] 577

He Ascended Into Heaven
"So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God." [ Mk 16:19] Christ's body was glorified at the moment of his Resurrection, as proved by the new and supernatural properties it subsequently and permanently enjoys. [Lk 24:31; Jn 20:19, 26] But during the forty days when he eats and drinks familiarly with his disciples and teaches them about the kingdom, his glory remains veiled under the appearance of ordinary humanity. [Acts 1:3; 10:41; Mk 16:12; Lk 24:15; Jn 20:14-15; 21:4] Jesus' final apparition ends with the irreversible entry of his humanity into divine glory, symbolized by the cloud and by heaven, where he is seated from that time forward at God's right hand. [Acts 1:9; 2:33; 7:56; Lk 9:34-35; 24:51; Ex 13:22; Mk 16:19; Ps 110:1] Only in a wholly exceptional and unique way would Jesus show himself to Paul "as to one untimely born", in a last apparition that established him as an apostle. [1 Cor 15:8; 9:1; Gal 1:16] 659

Being seated at the Father's right hand signifies the inauguration of the Messiah's kingdom, the fulfillment of the prophet Daniel's vision concerning the Son of man: "To him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." [Dan 7:14] After this event the apostles became witnesses of the "kingdom [that] will have no end". [Nicene Creed] 664

Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into the Father's glorious kingdom so that we, the members of his Body, may live in the hope of one day being with him for ever. 665

From There He Will Come Again
As Lord, Christ is also head of the Church, which is his Body. [Eph 1:22] Taken up to heaven and glorified after he had thus fully accomplished his mission, Christ dwells on earth in his Church. The redemption is the source of the authority that Christ, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, exercises over the Church. "The kingdom of Christ [is] already present in mystery", "on earth, the seed and the beginning of the kingdom". [LG 3; 5; Eph 4:11-13] 669

Since the Ascension God's plan has entered into its fulfillment. We are already at "the last hour". [1 Jn 2:18; 1 Pet 4:7] "Already the final age of the world is with us, and the renewal of the world is irrevocably under way; it is even now anticipated in a certain real way, for the Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real but imperfect." [LG 48, 3; 1 Cor 10:11] Christ's kingdom already manifests its presence through the miraculous signs that attend its proclamation by the Church. [Mk 16:17-18, 20] 670

Before his Ascension Christ affirmed that the hour had not yet come for the glorious establishment of the messianic kingdom awaited by Israel [Acts 1:6-7] which, according to the prophets, was to bring all men the definitive order of justice, love and peace. [Isa 11:1-9] According to the Lord, the present time is the time of the Spirit and of witness, but also a time still marked by "distress" and the trial of evil which does not spare the Church [Acts 1:8; 1 Cor 7:26;m Eph 5:16; 1 Pet 4:17] and ushers in the struggles of the last days. It is a time of waiting and watching. [Mt 25:1, 13; Mk 13:33-37; 1 Jn 2:18; 4:3; 1 Tim 4:1] 672
 

The Church’s ultimate trial
The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. [Rev 19:1-9] The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven. [Rev 13:8; 20:7-10; 21:2-4] God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgement after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world. [Rev 20:12; 2 Pet 3:12-13] 677

Christ the Lord already reigns through the Church, but all the things of this world are not yet subjected to him. The triumph of Christ's kingdom will not come about without one last assault by the powers of evil. 680

The Spirit and the Church in the Last Days
On that day, the Holy Trinity is fully revealed. Since that day, the Kingdom announced by Christ has been open to those who believe in him: in the humility of the flesh and in faith, they already share in the communion of the Holy Trinity. By his coming, which never ceases, the Holy Spirit causes the world to enter into the "last days," the time of the Church, the Kingdom already inherited though not yet consummated.

We have seen the true Light, we have received the heavenly Spirit, we have found the true faith: we adore the indivisible Trinity, who has saved us. [Acts 2:33-36] 732

The Holy Spirit – God’s Gift
By this power of the Spirit, God's children can bear much fruit. He who has grafted us onto the true vine will make us bear "the fruit of the Spirit: . . . love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." [Gal 5:22-23] "We live by the Spirit"; the more we renounce ourselves, the more we "walk by the Spirit." [Gal 5:25; Mt 16:24-26]

Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise,
led back to the Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children,
given confidence to call God "Father"
and to share in Christ's grace,
called children of light
and given a share in eternal glory.
[St. Basil, De Spiritu Sanctu, 15, 36: Pg 32, 132] 736