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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
God Carries Out His Plan: Divine Providence
Jesus asks for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly
Father who takes care of his children's smallest needs: "Therefore do
not be anxious, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?".
. . Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first
his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours
as well." [Mt 6:31-33] 305 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
“The Kingdom of God is at hand”
"Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the
gospel of God, and saying: 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of
God is at hand: repent, and believe in the gospel.'" [Mk 1:14-15] "To
carry out the will of the Father Christ inaugurated the kingdom of
heaven on earth." [Lumen Gentium 3] Now the Father's will is "to raise
up men to share in his own divine life". [LG 2] He does this by
gathering men around his Son Jesus Christ. This gathering is the
Church, "on earth the seed and beginning of that kingdoms". [LG 5] 541 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
The kingdom belongs to the poor and lowly,
which means those who have accepted it with humble hearts. Jesus is
sent to "preach good news to the poor"; [Lk 4:18; 7:22] he declares
them blessed, for "theirs is the kingdom of heaven." [Mt 5:3] To them -
the "little ones" the Father is pleased to reveal what remains hidden
from the wise and the learned. [Mt 11:25] Jesus shares the life of the
poor, from the cradle to the cross; he experiences hunger, thirst and
privation. [Mt 21:18; Mk 2:23-26; Jn 4:6-7; 19:28; Lk 9:58] Jesus
identifies himself with the poor of every kind and makes active love
toward them the condition for entering his kingdom. [Mt 25:31-46] 544
 Jesus invites sinners
to the table of the kingdom: "I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners." [Mk 2:17; 1 Tim 1:15] He invites them to that conversion
without which one cannot enter the kingdom, but shows them in word and
deed his Father's boundless mercy for them and the vast "joy in heaven
over one sinner who repents". [Lk 15:7; 7:11-32] The supreme proof of
his love will be the sacrifice of his own life "for the forgiveness of
sins". [Mt 26:28] 545 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 Jesus
entrusted a specific authority to Peter: "I will give you the keys of
the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." [Mt
16:19] The "power of the keys" designates authority to govern the house
of God, which is the Church. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, confirmed this
mandate after his Resurrection: "Feed my sheep." [Jn 21:15-17; 10:11]
The power to "bind and loose" connotes the authority to absolve sins,
to pronounce doctrinal judgements, and to make disciplinary decisions
in the Church. Jesus entrusted this authority to the Church through the
ministry of the apostles [Mt 18:18] and in particular through the
ministry of Peter, the only one to whom he specifically entrusted the
keys of the kingdom. 553 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 Jesus, Israel's Messiah and therefore the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven, was to fulfil the Law by keeping it
in its all embracing detail - according to his own words, down to "the
least of these commandments". [Mt 5:19] He is in fact the only one who
could keep it perfectly. [Jn 8:46] On their own admission the Jews were
never able to observe the Law in its entirety without violating the
least of its precepts. [Jn 7:19; Acts 13:38-41; 15:10] This is why
every year on the Day of Atonement the children of Israel ask God's
forgiveness for their transgressions of the Law. The Law indeed makes
up one inseparable whole, and St. James recalls, "Whoever keeps the
whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it." [Jas
2:10; Gal 3:10, 5:3] 578
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
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