November 28: The Kingdom / El Reino
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On what is said to be the biggest shopping day of the year in the U.S., we recall that the “wisdom” of the world tells us that we will be free only if we can build up capital, accumulate many things, have connections with influential people, and become somehow untouchable and invulnerable. But the Wisdom of the Kingdom of God, a very different kind of wisdom, speaks to us of humility, selflessness, renunciation, and repentance.
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A few thoughts on the Kingdom from the Catholic priest and mystic writer Meister Eckhart: “When I think about God’s Kingdom, I am often dumbfounded at its greatness: for God’s Kingdom is God Himself in all His richness. It is no small thing, the Kingdom. If one were to consider all possible worlds God might make, that constitutes God’s Kingdom. Sometimes I declare that in whatever soul the Kingdom dawns, which knows it to be near her, is in no need of sermons or teaching: she is instructed by it and assured of eternal life for she knows and is aware how near the Kingdom is, and she can say with Jacob, ‘God is in this place, and I knew it not - but now I know it….’ They know God rightly who know God equally in all things.”
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En los últimos días del Año de la Iglesia, estamos invitados a recordar que todos los fieles deberían conservar la esperanza con paciencia: “El Reino de Dios está cerca.”
No solamente hay signos de desesperanza, como conflictos y tensiones que surgen tanto desde dentro del pueblo de Dios como desde fuera, sino que también hay signos de esperanza, y nosotros deberíamos buscarlos.
A veces los no creyentes dicen, erróneamente, que los cristianos miran al cielo porque no saben ni pueden tratar con el mundo. Cristo nos dice que tenemos que tratar con el mundo y que tenemos que transformarlo, para trabajar por la construcción del Reino y la consecución de “un nuevo cielo y una nueva tierra.”