Kingdom of God
Transcript of Kingdom of God
DON BOSCO CENTER OF STUDIES
KINGDOM OF GOD: THE FULLNESS OF HUMAN LIFE
A Theological Synthesis Submitted to the Faculty of Theology
Institute of Theological Formation
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Bachelor of Theology
By
Bro. Ronie D. Gumagay, RCJ
Parañaque City March, 2013
TableofContents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 1
Chapter 1: The Kingdom of God: the Final Goal in God’s Plan of Salvation…………………….…….2 1.1 God’s will in Establishing the Kingdom of God ................................................................ 2
1.2 God’s Preparation for the Establishment of the Kingdom of God ............................... 4
1.3 Mary’s Participation in Unfolding the Kingdom of God ................................................. 7
Chapter 2: Kingdom of God Revealed and Inaugurated in Jesus Christ…………...…………………11
2.1 Jesus’ Proclamation of the Kingdom of God ............................................................... 11
2.2 Church Heirs of Christ and Agent of Social Transformation ......................................... 15
CHAPTER 3: Kingdom of God and Fullness of Human Life…………………..………………………………20
3.1The Guiding and Transforming presence of the Holy Spirit in Man’s Journey to His Total Fulfillment………………………………………………………….………………………………………20 3.2 The Sacramental Expression for the Development and Growth of the Kingdom of God………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………22 3.3 Man Fully Alive in God……………………………………………..…………………………………………25
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..28
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………..29
Introduction “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.”1 We are already facing the post modern age where everything is made comfortable, conducive and consumable due to the emergence of modern technologies. There is nothing wrong about this development. In fact it helps a lot in many areas of man’s life. Through man’s imagination and creativity, he has the capacity to bridge the unimaginable distance between time and space. In a minute, he can send his communication to a very far flung area and instantly receive his response. He can bring a whole library of books by just a piece of a hard drive or an Ipod or see the whole picture of the world by just a single click of his fingertips. And man, in order to lessen his work in cleaning the utensils and cups, he made use of disposable wares to satisfy his wants. These are just some of so many developments that man possesses now in post modern age.
We must be grateful to God by giving us the capacity to manufacture all these things. However, while some people are making their lives easier and comfortable, majority are suffering because of man’s lack of sense of justice towards God’s creation. Most probably he fails to seek the Kingdom of God and he is overwhelmed by the brightness, surprises, newness beauty and creativity of such development. He forgets how he has been living in God’s universe and his relationship with the rest of creation. He forgets that every creature has the right to live and enjoy just and equal opportunities in respect to its existence without compromising the harmony of nature. This perspective leads me to do this humble work not only to fulfill my requirements for the completion of theology but first and foremost for my own future ministry. The proclamation of the Kingdom of God is the core message of Jesus’ public ministry. Pope Benedict XVI once said in one of his writings, “The core content of the Gospel is this: The Kingdom of God is at hand. A milestone is set up in the flow of time; something new takes place. And new answer to this gift is demanded of man: conversion and faith.”2 This is what I want in this work borrowing the idea of the Pope by using the theme “Kingdom of God; The Fullness of Human Flourishing” as my unifying theological synthesis.
In Chapter I entitled The Kingdom of God: the Final Goal in God’s Plan of Salvation, has three subtopics: the Trinity, Soteriology in juxtaposed with anthropology, and Mariology. It discusses God’s initiative to reach out to man after man broke his relationship with his Creator.
In Chapter II presents and explains God’s Kingdom Revealed and Inaugurated in Jesus Christ, which has as the subtopics namely Christology and Ecclesiology. This chapter presents God’s saving action through Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry continued and perpetuated by the Church as his legitimate heirs of his mission.
Chapter III expounds The Fullness of Human Flourishing. The subtopics are the fields in Pneumatology, Sacraments and Eschatology. In this juncture it is presents the objective of man as what God has planned for him in the beginning and leads him as he continues his journey back to the Father. Eventually as an end point of my work is the conclusion. This theological synthesis material which focuses on the Kingdom of God: The Fullness of Human Flourishing can help us reflect on the challenges of our faith and our piety to God our creator. May the good Lord of the harvest continue to bless me in this endeavor as I do my best for His greater glory.
1 Mt. 6:33 2 Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI: Jesus of Nazareth (United States: Doubleday, 2007) 47.
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CHAPTER 1
The Kingdom of God: the Final Goal in God’s Plan of Salvation
In this chapter I will be dealing on the plan of God in calling his people and gathering them back as he begun to establish his kingdom. The first part is the exposition of the will of God in establishing his kingdom. It explains about his desire to communicate his divine life to his people and as preparation for the total fulfillment in Christ.
The second topic that I would like to deal with is God’s preparation for the establishment of the Kingdom of God. God prepares man to unite with him and to restore back the relationship that was lost after his fall.
The third topic is Mary’s participation in unfolding the Kingdom of God. This deals more on the response of Mary in accepting the invitation of God to be the mother of Jesus. The “Fiat” of Mary became the stream or the door of the fulfillment of the kingdom of God.
1.1 God’s Will in Establishing the Kingdom of God
We ought to reflect our faith in understanding God’s kingdom as we ask ourselves the following questions. How can we know the will of God? What is the will of God? Is it possible to know the will of God?
These and many more questions we should ask ourselves as we reflect on the deeper meaning of God’s will. We may not be able to know the will of God unless it is being revealed to us. “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”3 Jesus said this long after the people of Israel was gathered together to form the people of God. “In his goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will.”4 God in olden times revealed his will through the voice of the prophets or a judge, messengers, and even through his creations. Abraham was visited by three men when Sodom and Gomorrah was about to be destroyed.(Gen 18:1‐15) Moses received his mission when he was conversing with the burning bush in mount of Horeb.(Ex 3:1‐22) He became the instrument of God to liberate the people of Israel from the slavery of the Egyptians. The people of Israel were able to communicate to God for their longing for a king. This was made possible through the mediation of Samuel. Samuel became the voice of God to the people and bearers of the pleas of the people to God. (1 Sam
3 Mt 11:27. 4 DV 2.
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8:1‐22) It is always the initiative of God to unfold the mystery of his will so that man may come to know him and love him. The will then of God is to let man be in communion with him. This made possible by establishing his kingdom.
In the beginning before the fall of man, man was enjoying the life in God. By the mere blew of God of the breath of life into the nostrils of the man‐clay, man became a living being (Gen. 2:7). God was so enamored with man that he “planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made grow every tree that was delightful to look at and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”5 Furthermore, God gave an order to man that he is free to eat all the trees in the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:16‐17). God was not yet done with man. He wanted man to be happy so he brought him all kinds of animals and birds on the air but none of them were suited to be the helper of him so God formed a woman from the ribs of man so that the two of them maybe one (Gen 2:18‐25). This is how God really envisioned man that he may be happy and fully alive. As man’s response to God, the goal of man is “God’s praise and glory.”6 “He wants men and all creatures to glorify him through their word and existence.”7
However, man disobeyed God and sinned against Him. Sin enters in the life of man as he turns away from God. Then God banished them in the garden of Eden (Gen 3:1‐24). But God did not put an end to the broken relationship between Him and man. He still continued to care for him. “The Lord God made for the man and his wife garments of skin, which he clothed them.”8 God, by this simple gesture, wanted still to reach out to man. “After the fall, (God) buoyed them up with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption; and he has never ceased to show his solicitude for the human race. For he wishes to give eternal life to all those who seek salvation by patience in well‐doing.”9
How God fulfill his promise? He fulfills his promise by establishing his kingdom of which “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.”10 How did it start? It started by gathering his people. He called Abraham from the land of Ur with a promise of making him a “great nation.”11 Abraham obeyed the command of the Lord. By his obedience God continued
5 Gen. 2:8‐9. 6 Karl H. Peschke, Christian Ethics; Moral Theology in the Light of Vatican II Vol. 1, (Manila: Logos publication, 1996) 40. 7 Ibid. 8 Gen. 3:21. 9 CCC, 55. 10 CCC, 543. 11 Gen. 12:2.
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to look after him. Sarai, the wife of Abraham, bore him a son in her old age. His name was Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob, of whom the twelve tribes of Israel came about. One of the sons of Jacob was Joseph who was sold to the “caravan of Ishmaelites”12 by his brothers. Joseph was brought to Egypt and after sometime “the Lord was with Joseph and he enjoyed great success and was assigned to the household of his Egyptian master.”13 He brought not only prosperity and glory to Egypt and the whole land but also protected them from famine. Joseph became a pre‐figuration of that image of the Kingdom of God. They were saved and survived from that great famine that inflicted the whole land.
“The call of Moses gives an even sharper picture of God as liberating His people… God showed Himself ‘Father’ to the Israelites by choosing them ‘to be a people peculiarly His own.’ This was not because they were the largest of all nations, but solely because He ‘set His heart’ on them and love them’ (cf. Dt. 7:6‐8).”14 During the time of Moses the people of God were already numerous. The Pharaoh feared them because they were outnumbered by the Israelites. That is why they were thrown into slavery. They cried out to God and God vindicate them by sending Moses. Here is a new covenant with Moses. God wrote in the stone tablet in order to let them know what He willed for them and need to be followed. The liberation that the people experienced through the leadership of Moses is another expression of the Kingdom of God. What we have in the previous discussions are the elements and concepts about the Kingdom of God. Nonetheless, we can point out what is this Kingdom of God before Christ fully reveals it.
Putting all these concepts in a nut shell, the gathering of people in the Old Testament is willed by God in order to establish gradually his kingdom that starts here on earth and of which be inaugurated and fully revealed in the New Testament through the public ministry of Christ. “The two Testaments are organically linked to each other. The relationship between them is neither one of upward development of contrast; it is one of beginning and completion, of hope and fulfillment. And the bond that binds them together is the dynamic concept of the rule of God.”15
1.2 God’s preparation for the establishment of the Kingdom of God
The people of Israel were already gathered after a long history, from Abraham to Moses. The people of God were already numerous journeying towards the promise land. Along their journey God has been communicating to His people. “Listen to my voice and do all that I
12 Gen. 37:25. 13 Gen. 39:2. 14 CFC 278. 15 John Bright, The Kingdom of God,(USA: Abingdon Press, 1958)197.
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command you. Then you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”16 What has been communicated was His will and decrees sealed by the covenant. “God wishes to lead all men to a life of communion with Himself. It is this idea, fundamental to the doctrine of salvation, which the theme of the covenant expresses.”17 This covenant would serves later on as a measure of their fidelity to Him. If they are faithful, they will inherit the land and if they prostitute themselves to other gods, they cannot enter the land. The Promised Land became their destination in their journey and before entering the land God prepared them for forty years.
Most of the times, the preparation was not quite pleasurable for the people. They keep on complaining to Moses and Aaron which in the end, Moses doubted the will of God and was banned to enter the Promised Land. It was Joshua who led the people and fought against their enemies and conquered the land.
After they settled in the land, for quite some time, they enjoyed prosperity but remained insecure from other neighboring countries. Countries lead by the king who was ready and hungry for battle. The tension of such reality increases the fear and anxiety of the people. As a consequence they cried for a king who will lead them too to the battle against their enemies. “Give us a king to rule us.”18 God granted them their request for a king with a warning announced by Samuel. The king “will take your sons and assign them to his chariots and horses, and they will run before his chariots. He will appoint from among them his commanders of thousands and of hundreds. He will make them do his plowing and harvesting and produce his weapons of war and chariotry. He will use your daughters as perfumers, cooks, and bakers. He will take your best fields, vineyards, and olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will tithe your crops and grape harvests to give to his officials and his servants. He will take your male and female slaves, as well as your best oxen and donkeys, and use them to do his work. He will also tithe your flocks. As for you, you will become his slaves. On that day you will cry out because of the king whom you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you on that day.”19
Humanity became unstable in their relationship to God after they were granted by their request. The story of King Solomon, the son of David, was a testimony for this. In spite of his remarkable wisdom, he fell on the trap of his foreign women. God warned him, “You shall not join with them and they shall not join with you, lest they turn your hearts to their gods.”20 He did not listen. He built high places for worship to other gods and God was angry with Solomon. God said to Solomon “Since this is what you want, and you have not kept my covenant and the statutes which I enjoined on you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to 16 Jer. 11:4. 17 Xavier Le̒on‐Dufour, Ed., Dictionary of Biblical Theology, (Philippines: St. Paul Publication, 1978) 93. 18 1Sam. 8:6. 19 1Sam. 8:11‐18. 20 1 Kgs. 11:2.
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your servant.”21 The division of the kingdom reaches its climactic experience at the time of the Babylonian exile. It was a total devastation of the whole Israel. Then this was followed by the experience of identity crisis of the people of God, if they were still the people chosen by God. Prophets came into play to remind the people about the covenant made by their fathers. “When Israel’s infidelity led to disaster, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel foretold ‘the gathering of Israel from those who were scattered’ (Isa 11:12‐13; Jer 23:7‐8; Ezek 37:21‐22).’ Thus salvation was always communal, not individualistic.”22
“Through the prophets, God forms his people in the hope of salvation, in the expectation of a new and everlasting Covenant intended for all to be written on their hearts.”23 The prophets now are the mediators between God and the people. This is so to bring back the communication that was lost for quite some time when they were relying much to their king. They became the mouthpiece of God to relay his message to them, to correct them, to call them back in the fold. “The people needed education in faith and conversion of heart; this was the mission of the prophets, both before and after the exile.”24 This is again a form of preparation in order that people may realize that they have their destination and bound to be free. The element of renewal and transformation of the people became significant to their lives. Since their hearts were hardened.
“I will sprinkle clean water over you to make you clean; from all your impurities and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart, and new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you so that you walk in my statutes, observe my ordinances, and keep them. You will live in the land I gave to your ancestors; you will be my people, and will be your God.”25
The consistent and persistent calling of God to His people shows how precious and dear to Him these people. Only to them that He manifested His plan and made a covenant and a loving relationship like a bride to her bridegroom. The role of the prophets is to open the eyes and the heart of the people to once more return to God and be freed from their oppressors. The people of Israel came into their senses that they need to go back to God and repent in their sins. In return, God promised them a Messiah to avenge them and gather them once again and form a kingdom reign under the hands of God.
21 1 Kgs. 11:11. 22 Thomas Rausch, Towards A Truly Catholic Church; An Ecclesiology for the Third Millennium, (Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2005) 50. 23 CCC64. 24 CCC2581. 25 Ez. 36:25‐28.
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Moreover, John the Baptist who was considered as the last of the prophets and even more than a prophet put an end to their waiting of the Messiah. He was sent to prepare the way of the one promised by God who will redeem the people of Israel. “He (God) therefore chose the Israelite race to be his own people and established a covenant with it. He gradually instructed this people – in its history manifesting both himself and the decree of his will – and made it holy unto himself. All these things, however, happened as a preparation and figure of that new and perfect covenant which was to be ratified in Christ.”26
The calling and covenant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the initial preparation of the gathering of the people. After the collapsed of monarchy the people cried out once more to God and the prophets were sent to prepare them for the reconstruction and restitution of the kingdom, the kingdom that promises freedom, prosperity, life and glory which never ceases and cannot be destroyed by anyone. This is the preparation of the coming of the Kingdom of God. “The principal purpose to which the plan of the old covenant was directed was to prepare for the coming of Christ, the redeemer of all and of the messianic kingdom.”27 Trying to make this plain and simple, the kingdom of God then at this point is the preparation of the people to welcome the fulfillment of it in the coming of Jesus Christ.
1.3 Mary’s participation in unfolding the Kingdom of God
“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”28 The scene of the annunciation of the angel to Mary portrays the opening of the unfolding of the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. Mary freely accepted the invitation of the angel that she would mother the Son of God. God “enter into dialogue with humanity, offering himself to humanity. Providentially, a simple woman accepted the inviting word and received the divine offering in the name of the best of our humanity.”29
What is the role of Mary in unfolding the Kingdom of God? How she participates in unfolding the kingdom? Mary played an important role in God’s revelation of the Kingdom of God. It started in Mary’s “yes” to the greeting of the angel. It is her act of faith and obedience to God. In spite the great faith and obedience of Mary, God always consider her freedom. God has high regard to man’s freedom that even it could jeopardize His plan He still respects the autonomy of man. That is why God came into dialogue with Mary through the angel that she would be the mother of His son. This is how important the role of Mary that she opens herself
26 LG 9 27 DV 15. 28 Lk. 1:38 29 Jospeh Paredes, Mary and the Kingdom of God, (United Kingdom: St Paul Publication, 1991) 66.
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to God’s will to be the mother of the Son of God. This is part of the immediate preparation of God for the coming of His Son.
How did God prepare Mary to be the mother of His Son? How did she collaborate in the plan of God? What is so special in Mary that she became the mother of God? God prepared Mary to be the mother of His Son by preserving her from the stain of original sin since the very beginning of her conception. She was preserved from the original sin from the first moment of her existence. This is the doctrine of Immaculate Conception. “The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by singular grace and privileged of almighty God and virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.”30 This is so in order that Mary could not have the complicity of sin. The one who finds herself close to God must be completely pure and holy, since we know that the divine love sanctifies human beings who do not put obstacles in its way, the moment it reaches them. This is the reason of the preparation that the womb that will carry the Son of God made man be pure and holy as the purest tabernacle for nine months. God found favor in her that she was ever protected and preserved from sin. Her immaculately conceived plays an important role in the immediate preparation of the coming of Christ.
“At the announcement that she would give birth to ‘the Son of the Most High’ without knowing man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded with the obedience of faith, certain that ‘with God nothing will be impossible’: ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word.’ Thus, giving her consent to God's word, Mary becomes the mother of Jesus. Espousing the divine will for salvation wholeheartedly, without a single sin to restrain her, she gave herself entirely to the person and to the work of her Son; she did so in order to serve the mystery of redemption with him and dependent on him, by God's grace:”31
Mary’s motherhood is motherhood without the intervention of a human husband. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that she conceived and bore a son. “It was God’s power alone which immediately made Mary an authentic mother. It also caused the son to be born holy and consecrated, belonging to the ontological sphere of the divine and acknowledged as the authentic Son of God.”32 She remained a virgin when she conceived Jesus in her womb. She “remained a virgin in conceiving her son, a virgin in giving birth to him, a virgin in carrying him, a virgin in nursing him at her breast, always a virgin.”33
30 Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 1854. 31 CCC 494. 32 Joseph Paredes, Mary and the Kingdom of God, (United Kingdom: St Paul Publication, 1991) 74. 33 St. Augustine, Serm. 186.
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The consequences of being the mother of the Son of God are to a certain extent ambivalent when she accepted the invitation. She has no human husband and she was about to bear a son, which means in their culture would end up into a tragic death, a crime punishable by death penalty. Secondly, she did not yet know their future, obviously, something unusual and extraordinary would happen. These unusual and extraordinary that would happen could be gratifying or a suffering which is also unusual and extraordinary. Thirdly, to be a mother of the Son of God during the time of Mary, never happened in the history of humanity. This means that she would grapple with the meaning and the purpose of such situation. It takes a lot of faith in order to accept and embrace all of these. The faith of Mary is the motivating factor in accepting her mission and collaborates in God’s plan. She is “freely cooperating in the work of man’s salvation through faith and obedience.”34 The aftermath of her faith benefits the whole humanity so much so that she became the mother of all the believers. “God grants his grace to those he chooses not as privileged but so that they may become channels through which grace can flow towards the people, toward the whole world.”35
To be a mother after menopausal period is quite common and familiar story of the people of Israel. For something significant role will be played by these sons. Like Samson who became one of the judges of Israel and the son of old aged mother, the wife of Manoah (Jgs. 13:1‐24), and delivered the people of Israel from the power of the Philistines. Another is Samuel the son of Hannah, who was barren until God answered her prayers to bear a son. In the case of Mary, her motherhood was not exactly the same compared to those mothers mentioned above. Since all those mothers conceived in their old age while Mary became pregnant because of the Holy Spirit and she bore the Son of God not just a mere human being but also divine. However all of these sons have particular calling and missions. “In Luke, the birth of Jesus was announced to Mary in the same way as the birth of John was announced to Zechariah (Lk 1:11‐20), the birth of Jesus to Joseph (Mt 1:20‐23). The birth of Isaac to Abraham (Gen 17), and the birth of Samson to his parents (Jdg 13). Besides this, Luke’s narrative contains all the essential elements of a typical narrative of vocation‐mission.”36
Mary’s collaboration to the plan of God entails great responsibility and coupled with many privileges. This makes her so special compared to the rest of humanity. One of these privileges I already mentioned above, she is immaculately conceived. Another privilege that she received is the privilege of assuming into heaven both body and soul. This is a prototype of what is it to be fully alive. She became the first one to enjoy the vision and to live fully in God. She is the first one to experience fully the kingdom of God. However, her experience is unique and special for her only. “The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her
34 LG 56. 35 Joseph Paredes, Mary and the Kingdom of God, (United Kingdom: St Paul Publication, 1991) 70. 36 Ibid 65.
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Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians.”37This is the hope of everyone that all of us will be in and with God, since our mother is already their ahead of us and we are called to follow her. “It is a spiritual blessing which is meant for all people and which bears in itself fullness and universality (‘every blessing"’).”38
In brief, the announcement to Mary is the beginning in the unfolding God’s mystery of his will to inaugurate his Kingdom through Christ, his only begotten Son. It unfolds Mary’s unique role in His plan among His chosen people. It shows Mary’s unique motherhood and remarkable faith and obedience. “The Annunciation, therefore, is the revelation of the mystery of the Incarnation at the very beginning of its fulfillment on earth. God's salvific giving of himself and his life, in some way to all creation but directly to man, reaches one of its high points in the mystery of the Incarnation. This is indeed a high point among all the gifts of grace conferred in the history of man and of the universe:”39
37 CCC 966. 38 RM 8. 39 RM 9.
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CHAPTER 2
Kingdom of God Revealed and Inaugurated in Jesus Christ
Part two has only two subtopics. The first one is Jesus’ Proclamation of the Kingdom of God. In this discussion, Jesus public ministry solely focuses on his preaching through words and deeds. I intend not to go into the details of every preaching; however I will give one or two examples of Jesus’ preaching that are relevant to my discussion.
Now my second subtopic is about the Church as heirs of Christ. Christ left to the Church the patrimony of his mission. He already established and inaugurated the kingdom. Moreover, the work of discovering the treasures of that patrimony is still continuing to flourish of which the whole member of the body of Christ is nourished.
2.1 Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom of God
In many and various ways, we may ask ourselves these question: Who is Jesus? Why Jesus needs to proclaim the kingdom of God? What is the purpose of his proclamation? Jesus is from above.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race;”40
“And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.”41
He was with God and from God and he is God. He knows the Father as well as the Father knows him (Jn 10:15). He was sent by the Father to reveal Himself through the Son. Therefore the proclamation of the kingdom of God is from the Father. It is very important to understand this because since the beginning the Father is constantly calling his people to gather once again to form his kingdom, “but when the fullness time had come, God sent his Son.”42 This is the time of fulfillment, the end time of waiting. Jesus enters into our history and communicated to us God’s hidden purpose of his will through centuries.
40 Jn 1:1‐3. 41 Jn 1:14. 42 Gal. 4:4.
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The people of Israel were waiting for the messiah who will save them and free them from the bondage of the Romans. They were expecting a king who was a provider, protector and liberator. These were the characteristics of their messiah. In other words their concept of messiah was the answer of their immediate needs in their own particular context. Few of these people saw these characteristics in the person of Jesus during his public ministry, when he started to proclaim God’s kingdom.
Jesus started the proclamation of God’s kingdom in his public ministry. His public ministry comprises two forms, words and deeds. Jesus’ deeds were healing, exorcism, resuscitating the dead and forgiving sinners. While his words were through preaching, and at the end of the day he prayed. For the Jews, Jesus’ actions seem did not drive in their criteria of a king. No wonder for many times he was rejected and encountered many oppositions and persecutions even from his own kinsmen (Mk 3:21). Through his word he offended a big number of people especially the higher authorities known us the educated ones, when he talked about the spiritual, moral and juridical dimensions of his preaching. How could this be a king? How he could feed, protect and liberate them?
However Jesus continued his mission. He did what the Father had told him. “So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”43 What did Jesus teach and proclaim? “The teaching and preaching of Jesus centered on the ‘Kingdom of God’ dynamic symbol of God’s active presence among His people. For Christ, this Kingdom was grounded in the Old Testament hope for Yahweh’s presence (cf. Ps 91:1, 96:10; 97:1; 99:1).”44 It is through proclamation of the kingdom of God that the people may realized that God’s reign is at hand. What is kingdom of God? Is Jesus the king of this kingdom? How it became the core of Jesus’ ministry? What is the end‐purpose of his mission? Jesus did not directly claim that he is the king of this kingdom neither he explicitly defined it. “This would seem to imply that the Kingdom is something more than God’s kingship or reign. Hence, it should not be conceived merely as the epiphany or revelation of God.”45 Matthew and Mark, as it always be, are unison in their presentation of Jesus’ public ministry. Both of them presented the calling of the disciples to follow him before he went around the villages preaching and proclaiming the gospel. While Luke, Jesus’ was already preaching and rejected by his town‐folks and followed by four healings before he called Simon the fisherman. Moreover, the gospel of John presented first the calling of the first disciples before he revealed himself in the marriage at Cana. It is very interesting to know this because these are the elements necessary to understand what the kingdom of God is all about.
43 Jn12:50. 44 CFC 481. 45 Arthur F. Glasser, Announcing the Kingdom; The Story of God’s Mission in the Bible, (Quezon City: Claretian Publications, 2003) 189.
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The calling and the gathering of the disciples marks the reorganization of the people of Israel. It symbolizes that the new kingdom is about to sprout drawn from the old, the dispersed people of Israel or known as the Diaspora. “It is possible that Jesus understood God’s reign as being exercised over Israel, the people of God, the religious community defined by Torah, Temple, and priesthood.”46 He gathered first his hearers and disciples so that they may be informed, believed and be saved. This is well portrayed in the story of the sinful woman who wept and washed the feet of Jesus with her tears, kissed his feet and anointed it with oil. Then the Pharisee remarked “If this man (Jesus) were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.”47 Then Jesus narrated them a parable of the two creditors who one of them owed a large sum of money while the other one just a little penny. Both of their debts were cancelled then Jesus asked Peter, “Which of them will love him more?”48 Then Peter answered “The one, I supposed, whose larger debt was forgiven.”49 Jesus said to the woman “Your sins are forgiven…Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”50 The element of faith is very important and necessary to anyone who belongs to the company of Jesus and who longs to be saved. “Thus faith comes from what is heard”51 no wonder Jesus was teaching and preaching before he heals and forgives, or what not, the healing and forgiving was within his preaching.
There are forms of Jesus’ preaching. These could be sayings and parables which portray the kingdom of God as the core image and message. Let us take as an example for a saying the beatitudes. The beatitudes are found in two accounts, Matthew and Luke. I am after to the phrase “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”52, according to Matthew, and for Luke, “for the kingdom of God is yours.”53 The kingdom of God belongs to someone or somebody. Who are these people who possess or own the kingdom of God? Both of them, Matthew and Luke, refer to the poor. I want to be clear that the “poor in spirit” referred by Matthew and the “poor” of Luke are different. They are addressing to particular audiences of which is not part of my discussion. I want to mean just simply the “poor.” Who is this poor? “The Old Testament the word ani was often used for the poor; it means literally ‘afflicted.’ It connotes those of lower class status who were often oppressed and lacked the power to defend themselves. The related form anaw had the same meaning, but often takes on a religious connotation. The anawim were the poor of Yahweh, those without material resources or power who could look only to
46 Thomas Rausch, Who is Jesus? An Introduction to Christology, (Quezon City: Claretian Publications, 2005) 68. 47 Lk. 7:39 48 Lk 7:42 49 Lk. 7:43 50 Lk 7:48‐50 51 Rom 1:17 52 Mt 5:3 53 Lk 6:20
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God for their well being and deliverance, for it is God who remembers their cry (cf. Pss 9‐10).”54 Such kingdom belongs to these people. Who are these poor people?
At the time of monarchy poverty and injustice became rampant, pervading and genuine social problem. “Economic changes and double or triple system of taxation in first century Palestine expanded the number of poor in the land… Thus in the time of Jesus ‘the poor’ included more than the economically disadvantaged, the subsistence and day laborers, the unemployed or underemployed. It includes public sinners, women, orphans, the illiterate, the mentally ill, those with disfiguring disease or bodily injuries, and those whose religious practice did not measure up to the strict standards of priestly class and Pharisees.”55 These people were marginalized and excluded in the community. Not only that, they were also classified as sinners. Since they were poor they did not have the means to study the law and they remained ignorant and they were incapable to observe what was right and lawful.
Why the kingdom of God belongs to them? It is because they are the ones who truly, madly, deeply in need of it. They become poorer and poorer because the kingdom of the earth, the kingdoms that conquered them, suppressed and make them as vassals. Their reign was suppressive and inhuman and stripped them with their dignity. The kingdom of God becomes their hope to regain their loss. “It is a promise and hope for all who cling to God’s will, but in a special way for those who have been denied full justice and love.”56 The people who cling to God’s will are no other than the poor, whose hope lies on God. They depend much to God that their hope is God himself.
What is this kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is well portrayed and compared by the parables of Jesus. Parables are “very short stories with double meaning.”57 This is to make unimaginable or incomprehensible realities be understandable and relatable to common people. To make it simple, in order for the listener may enter and relate with the unimaginable world by using his/her own common experience with things, places, events, persons and time. The parables illustrate how the reign of God is taking place in the experience of the listeners. The parables of Jesus are subversive. Trying to destroy the system or damage the oppressive system of government or even in the temple, in order to reversed or inverts the status of society. This is well described in the canticle of Mary, “He has thrown down the rulers from
54 Thomas Rausch, Who is Jesus? An Introduction to Christology, (Quezon City: Claretian Publications, 2005) 81. 55 Ibid, 82. 56 Karl Pesche, Christian Ethics; Moral Theology in the light of Vatican II, Vol. 2, (Manila: Divine word Publication, 1997) 69. 57 Paul Archtemeier, Gen. Ed. Harper’s Bible Dictionary, (India: Theological Publication in India, 1990) 747.
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their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things: the rich he has sent away empty.”58
The kingdom of God is the manifestation of God’s mighty hand that protects and saves his people. It is the intervention of God to man’s history by entering into the story of man and becoming like them. The kingdom therefore is a “reality of God’s activity among human beings; it was to grow among them, spread mysteriously, silently, but assuredly, and thus ‘come’ into its own.”59 Like restoring the life that was reaped off from these lowly people. Like the land that was grabbed be returned to them. For the people of Israel, land is very important. It is their identity and their life because it is the manifestation of God’s loving presence to them. “By loving the Lord, your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land which the Lord swore to your ancestors.”60 The hungry may be satisfied, those who weep may find consolation and peace, the sick may be healed and the like. The kingdom of God therefore is neither a place nor a building. Very hard to capsulate in words but may experience. It is therefore the fullness of human flourishing, where justice and righteousness abides. It is in constant change for growth and progress. Moving towards its destination in God where man’s life is lived in its fullness.
We all know what the preaching of Jesus served him. His preaching brought him to a terrible end. He was put to death because of his mission, and he willingly embraced it because of his great love for us. What is the meaning of Jesus’ death for us? The death of Christ is his victory over our greatest enemy. Through his passion, death and resurrection, he destroyed death restored life. Death has no power anymore over him. His resurrection is the fulfillment of his proclamation. For us who believe in Christ may share the same fate. Our hope now is in Christ that one day we will be resurrected and the death has no power over us. “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”61 Our resurrection and glory in God is our final destination wherein we reach our journey in the kingdom of God.
2.2 Church heirs of Christ and agent of social transformation
Previously, I have been discussing about Christ and his works in proclaiming the kingdom of God, the inauguration and the fulfillment of it in him. Now at this point I will be harping on the questions about the continuality of Jesus’ saving work and the spreading of the
58 Lk. 1:52‐53. 59 Joseph Fitzmyer, A Christological Catechism; New Testament Answers, (Makati: St Pauls 1993) 50. 60 Dt. 30:20. 61 Jn. 3:14‐15
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news of the kingdom of God. Questions like, to whom did Christ entrust his mission? Who is the agent of that mission? Who are the addressees of this mission? And what is the new form or style of proclamation? I am confronted by these questions because of the reality that the kingdom of God continuously growing and in motion towards its final end where “the kingdom of God will be realized.”62
Looking at the whole picture of the Church in the vantage point of history, I can say that the calling and the gathering of the disciples were just the preparation for its organization. Before Jesus was taken up to heaven he founded the Church and laid the foundation upon the apostles. According to tradition the birth of the Church is when “the Pentecostal explosion of the Spirit – that is, the event that occurred on the Jewish feast of Pentecost shortly after the resurrection, when the first believers were filled with the Holy Spirit, who confirmed them in their faith and ignited in them the zeal to witness publicly and urge others to believe, repent and baptized,”63 as the acts of the apostles recounted it in chapter 2. It is there then that they begun their mission by proclaiming Jesus Christ who suffered, died, resurrected and ascended into heaven. By such proclamation it was package with the message of the kingdom of God of which all people are called to enter. “All are invited by Jesus to enter the Kingdom of God. Even the worst of sinners is called to be converted and to accept the boundless mercy of the Father.”64
Christ left to the Church, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, his mission. Peter as the Vicar of Christ and the foundation of the Church received its authority from Christ. When Christ said “I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”65 “The power of biding and loosing, which was given to Peter was granted also to the college of apostles, joined with their head. This college, insofar as it is composed of many, expresses the variety and universality of the People of God, but insofar as it is assembled under one head, it expresses the unity of the flock of Christ.”66 The exercise of binding and loosing are part of the whole mission of the Church. This is in terms of power and authority. However when it comes to missionary mandate and the command of Christ to go to all nations’ follows the same paradigm. “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”67 By its nature then, the Church is missionary, ministering 62 Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 134. 63 Thomas Bokenkotter, A Concise History of the Catholic Church, (USA: Doubleday, 2005) 17. 64 Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 107. 65 Mt. 16:18‐19. 66 LG 22 §2. 67 Mt. 28:18‐19.
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to her members and calling all men to unite with her as one body and Christ as the head. The role of the Church is to be universal sacrament of salvation by striving to proclaim the Gospel to all men so that all things may be restored in Christ and all men may constitute in him and one people of God (AG 5). What is the center of the Good News? It is the kingdom of God.
Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God, as what we see in the previous topic. Most of his works, which are part of his proclamation, are girded towards human promotion. We already clarified that the kingdom of God is not just all about the physical welfare of the person but the integral whole of him. It is then the God’s intervention in man’s history so that man may return to him. This mission is entrusted to the Church, and the Church in her faithfulness to the head performs or executes her mission with all her vigor, enthusiasm and dedication.
Now we are at the point of transformation of every person which Christ calls us to do and reechoed by the Church until our present day. “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”68 This call has been sound loudly all throughout the whole Christendom and even to all people of good will. We at times called this transformation as repentance, conversion or in Greek “metanoia”, the transformation of mind and heart. “This endeavor of conversion is not just a human work. It is the movement of ‘contrite heart’ drawn and moved by grace to respond to the merciful love of God who loved us first. Every person should admit his own faults and failures in order to start an authentic conversion.
Why do we need to convert ourselves then? Our conversion is our response to Christ’s call of repentance that was quoted a while ago. Through conversion, it is also the start of social transformation which was envision by Christ and as these people, whom he called, continue to move towards the total fulfillment of the kingdom of God. As what our Catechism of the Catholic Church would say;
“Conversion is accomplished in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern for the poor, the exercise and defense of justice and right by the admission of faults to one’s brethren, fraternal correction, revision of life, examination of conscience, spiritual direction, acceptance of suffering, endurance of persecution for the sake of righteousness.”69
Christ left the Church all means that she needs in order to fulfill her mission, the sacraments, her authority to teach and her power to discipline her members. There are twofold functions of the Church. “First, she seeks to enlighten men in order to assist them to discern the truth and to find the right path to follow amidst the different teachings that call for their
68 Mk.1:15. 69 CCC 1435.
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attention. Secondly, since the proclamation of principles and the prophetic denunciation of injustices are not enough to change society, the Church also strives to be actively and affectively involved in the transformation of man’s world.” 70 With regard to the sacraments, we have the Eucharist as the source and nourishment of daily conversion and penance, and the sacrament of penance and reconciliation as our means to reconcile ourselves to God and our neighbor and for our spiritual growth.
“Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament. For those who receive the sacrament of Penance with contrite heart and religious disposition, reconciliation ‘is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation.’ Indeed the sacrament of Reconciliation with God brings about a true ’spiritual resurrection,’ restoration of the dignity and blessings of the life of the children of God, which the most precious is friendship with God.”71
The Church as a teacher (magistra) guides well her children. I quote the encyclical letter of Pope John XXIII entitled “Mater et Magistra”, “Mother and teacher of all nations, the universal Church has been instituted by Jesus Christ so that all who in the long course of centuries come to her loving embrace may find fullness of higher life and guarantee of salvation.”72 This is well evident in the encyclicals, pastoral letters, and dogmatic constitutions and the like, that was issued and promulgated by our popes who were the successors of the chair of Peter. The Church as our mother continues to give life to her children and nourishes them until it reaches its fullness and maturity.
Part of her being a teacher, she also disciplines her children. “The Holy Church has the special task of sanctifying souls and making them participants in goods of the supernatural order, she also solicitous for the exigencies of the daily life of men, not merely those concerning the nourishment of the body and the material conditions of life but also those that concern prosperity and culture in all is many aspects and stages.”73 Defending the lowly, preference for the afflicted, the marginalized, and the little ones are part of disciplining the members. Since she is fully aware that her members are composites of saints and sinners, in order to prevent the sinners in overpowering the lowly and stepping the rights of the afflicted, she teaches them not to and instead protects them from the claws of the greedy. Following Jesus, he “freed people from their fears and anxieties by assuring them of God’s mercy and providence. He freed them from a slavish respect for institutions. But Jesus did not only act and speak against
70 Pope Paul VI, Octagesima Advenniens (14 May, 1971), no. 48, (Pasay: Saint Paul Publication). 71 CCC 1368. 72 Pope John XXIII, Mater et Magistra (15 May, 1961), no.1, (Pasay: Saint Paul Publications). 73 Ibid.
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evil. He prayed. He brought his task before his father in prayer to draw from him the strength to do battle against evil. And what he did, he taught to his disciples.”74
We, as members of the Church, should be aware that authentic social transformation is not only raising our fist and shout in the streets, or leave our houses and stay together with the poor without letting Christ stays within ourselves otherwise we identify ourselves as social workers not as priest, king and prophet. We are first a priest called to communicate with God so that we can bring God to people who never heard about him (prophet) and eventually serve them to the best and all means we can (kingly) so that they can see the hands of God working within their lives and be citizens of the kingdom of God.
74 Acts and Decrees of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, (Manila: Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines 1992) 24.
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CHAPTER 3
Kingdom of God and Fullness of Human Life
Part III of my discussion is about the end of man, his final destiny that gradually fulfilled his journey towards the fullness of his flourishing. The first subtopic is about the role of the Holy Spirit as the guiding and transforming power groaning with creation heading to the
direction of its total fulfillment.
This is followed by the sacramental expression of man as he believes, professes, lives and celebrates what he believes. His daily living, the gifts receive and the belief of living his life gird towards that direction of his fulfillment.
Third, is man’s fundamental option to commune with his creator, the Father, his total fulfillment in God as his final destiny whom he was called from the very first existence.
3.1 The Guiding and Transforming presence of the Holy Spirit in Man’s Journey to his Total Fulfillment
We are already on the era of the Holy Spirit. After Jesus ascended into heaven and the early Christian community received the Holy Spirit during Pentecost. We have been sharing in these gifts of the Holy Spirit since then.
In Jesus’ earthly ministry, he was not able to finish his work. This is the reason why he commissioned his disciples and formed them to continue and perpetuate his saving work. He did not leave them alone. Instead, he left them the Holy Spirit as their guide and the abiding presence while they were in their field of work. "It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."75
It is very important to note that there is always the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit if we can point it out and identify it. The presence of the Holy Spirit is not just an abstract thing. But it is also visible in our naked eye if we are just very observant in the movement of our time. Talking about the Holy Spirit is not just the fruit of speculation but it is also grounded on the realities of human situation.
75 Act 1:7‐8
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To suggest some examples, let me bring you back to the history of our Church. Jesus knew well how frail were his apostles. He wanted them to be strong and to hold on to what they believe in. He promised to them the Holy Spirit as their advocate “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.”76 True to his word, Jesus sent them the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.”77
After that event the apostles went to the ends of the world with full of vigor and enthusiasm to proclaim the kingdom of God as what the master told them to do. Their anxious heart, trembling bodies and dying faith to their master regains its life and vitality that burns once more the zeal to proclaim the good news to all peoples from all walks of life and through generations. After hearing the apostles, many people were converted through the help of the Holy Spirit that moves them to conversion. “To make this act of faith, the grace of God and the interior help of the Holy Spirit… moving the heart and turning it to God, opening the eyes of the mind and giving ‘joy and ease to everyone in assenting to the truth and believing it.’ To bring about an ever deeper understanding of revelation the same Holy Spirit constantly brings faith to completion by His gifts.”78 The truth about Jesus Christ penetrates to the hearts of these people and acknowledges him as the Son of God our savior. That is how distinct and identifiable the presence of the Holy Spirit during the time of our first Christian community. The promise of such presence is still valid until our present time and we can count on that.
Man’s journey for his fate continues to traverse through time and space, from east to west and north to south. His search for fulfillment passes through shadows of death and valleys of darkness but he fears no evil because the Lord is with him. God’s presence through the Holy Spirit guided man to that journey until he finds his end with God who promises him eternal life e.i. life totally fulfilled and flourished. “The Holy Spirit is the divine person through which God the Father immediately animates life. He is the final ‘touch’ through which God unites with his creatures, saves them from non‐existence, sustains them, renews them, and directs them toward their fulfillment. Being in the Spirit equals being in ’life’.”79
76 Jn. 14:16 77 Acts 2:1‐4 78 DV 5. 79 Agostomo Bono, trans., The Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life,(Pasay: Paulines Publishing House, 1997) 31.
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The guiding presence of the Holy Spirit is not merely a passive presence that is detached from the realities of human situation and the movement in creation. The whole of creation gone through the process of generation and corruption, and in every movement, this entails pains and sufferings. When Mary conceived the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit, the life of Mary and much more of Joseph were in chaos and they suffer much from the pressure of the community. “Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.”80 This is very serious situation to both Mary and Joseph but God continued to be with them and actively intervening to the difficulties of the spouses. When Jesus was crucified on the cross, it is already God who suffers not simply human person in order to bring new life in creation. “The cross reveals a God who enters into the pain of the world, who suffers with suffering creation. In the resurrection and the outpouring of Spirit new life is promised and in some way already given. Those who live in the power of resurrection life are convinced that forgiveness, liberation, and new creation have already taken hold at the heart of this world.”81
This movement in creation is the beginning of transformation which is geared towards its fulfillment. Man in his constant search and gradual transformation continues to approach his destiny closer and closer as what his creator called him to partake with, in the banquet of the kingdom of God. As man continues his pilgrimage towards his fulfillment, the Holy Spirit is actively present in him within his entity as being of man, one being accompanied by the Holy Spirit and through him as instrument of transformation and co‐journeyer in relation to his fellowmen. Guided in every journey, he in return cooperates to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and should be always open to the Holy Spirit so that the transformation to be done reach its fullness in accordance to the plan of God, who called him for a life live in its fullness.
3.2 The Sacramental Expression for the Development and Growth of the Kingdom of God
Previously, I zeroed in on man’s gradual transformation and his final destination in the kingdom of God guided and transformed by the Holy Spirit. Now along that journey of man there is the in between or the luminal experience which also an important thing to consider. Along such journey there is a space but not an empty space. That space is full of memories worth mentioning, memories which are expressions and by‐product of history pruned and molded by God’s omnipresence. An ordinary expression in the eyes of man but through the
80 Mt. 1:18‐19. 81 Denis Edwards, Breath of Life: A Theology of the Creator Spirit, (New York: Orbis Books, 2004) 106.
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eyes of faith it is a divine expression which can only be perceived sacramentaly. It is in luminal experience that we can see the development and the growth of the kingdom of God.
“The Church is the seed and beginning of this kingdom.”82 To cite an example in the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 1 verse 13, there were eleven members mentioned in the first Christian community in Jerusalem and after Peter made his first speech on that day their number increased into three thousand as what the following chapter recounted in verse 41. This is just an example of a growing community, a development towards the kingdom of God. This is a sign or sacramental moment that God’s presence still abide in the community and works through them and in the hearts of the people.
Sacramentals “are objects, actions, practices, and the like, that help us become aware of Christ’s grace‐filled presence around us… the church, which uses them to sanctify everyday life. They do not directly modify our grace‐relationship with Christ, but rather arouse us to acts of virtue and piety which strengthen God’s grace‐filled presence within and among us.”83 The events, development and growth within the Church’s journey when it is read through the eyes of faith and taken sacramentally are God’s grace‐filled presence.
What are the events and development that happened in our Church? Our Church develops not only by the number of the members but also in her doctrines, mentality and geographically. The Church has only one intention “that the kingdom of God may come and the salvation of the human race may be accomplished.”84 With regard to each member, obviously as what I stated I while ago, every speeches of the apostles there were converts, much more when they went to different places and mission lands. Through the examples of the martyrs many people those who were already Christians became steadfast in their faith and those who witnessed the martyrdom were converted to Christianity. “The church became the subject of incredulous and not necessarily friendly discussion, but it was a kind of publicity from which the church came to gain recruits.”85 This was the glamour of the pagans. According to Tertullian ‘the blood of the martyrs is seed.’ To be a member in the Church requires an initiation in doctrine and evangelization which is the key to enter the door of faith, the sacrament of baptism. “Through Baptism… we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission.”86 That is why in the current development of our Church’s teaching baptism is the first of the sacrament of Christian Initiation.
82 CCC 567 83 CFC 1532. 84 GS 45. 85 John McManners, Edt., The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, (New York: oxford University Press, 1992) 43. 86 CCC 1213.
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With regard to the universality of salvation in the Church, that “outside the Church there is no salvation”87 if before it was understood that the Church closes its door for salvation who were living outside of her, today this is to be understood in a manner that accommodates those people who lives outside of her but in goodwill. “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience – those too may achieve eternal salvation.”88 The Church now is welcoming all people even to those who never heard of her and Christ the head. Through this opening she is now starting to spread wide not only to her own legitimate children (the validly baptize) but also to those orphans who long for her maternal care and acceptance. Her arms spread wide open for all people of goodwill be baptized and non‐baptized. This is what the gospel of Luke recounts us about the kingdom of God, “It is like a mustard seed that a person took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and 'the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.”89
As we, the Church, grow and develop we are given a foretaste to the fullness of that development. We are not left alone without the foreknowledge of what it is in the fullness of life at the kingdom of God. This foretaste is instituted by Christ and is called a sacrament. “Sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.”90 Yes we are still journeying to the future but constantly on the process of transformation through which we see semblance of life live in its fullness. By the sacraments offered to us by our mother Church we see our journey the steps of our growth in faith not only physically but spiritually.
A journey starts with a single step; the same is in true in our faith. The first step in our journey of our faith is baptism. “The journey can be rapidly or slowly, but certain essential elements will always have to be present: proclamation of the Word, acceptance of the Gospel entailing conversion, profession of faith, Baptism itself, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and admission to Eucharistic communion.”91 These are the elements present in the stages of first level of the journey. All of these stages comprise the so called Christian initiation which finds its summit in the Eucharist, the center of the Church’s liturgy. Every stage is a preparation to the next step so that the person may be disposed and ready to receive it. “The seven sacraments
87 Cyprian, Ep. 73.21: PL 3, 1169. 88 LG 16. 89 Lk. 13:19. 90 CCC 1131. 91 CCC 1229.
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correspond to all stages and most important moments in the Christian life: birth and growth, cure/healing and mission to the life of faith of Christians. This has certain similarity with the stages of the natural life and stages of spiritual life.”92 This does not presume that the sacraments depend or are founded on the biological situation of the life of human being, because certainly, they are founded on the person of Christ. But this has to be recognized that they cannot be separated, but correspond to the most important stages and moments of human life. This means, that they usually coincide with the crucial decisive moments in life. The growth and development of faith in every member therefore is the growth and development of the kingdom of God.
3.3 Man Fully Alive in God Dealing with the issue of the life of man is very sensitive and crucial thing to ponder with. We will be confronted with a lot of questions which also generates new questions. Like the question; What is the life of man? Where does it come from? Where is it destined to? Does the life of man has its own particular end or does it destined for eternity? These are basic questions that man need to face with as part of his search for meaning in life.
In answering these questions about life, it is nice to deal first with the opposite of life, in loose sense of the word, which is death. How people look at death as part of their life especially those people who understands death as the end of life. This is a common understanding of people who do not encounter or understand the Christian understanding of death. They have this mentality of drink, eat, be merry for tomorrow you will die. Death for them is simply the end of life here on earth.
For us, Christians, death is not simply the end of life. Death is a bridge or transition to new life. It is the door to eternity. As the prayer in the funeral mass that goes like this “in death life is not ended but just changed.” Our Christian understanding of death finds its deeper meaning through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. I quote McKeating in his book (Peace at the Last), he says “By his example Jesus gave a new meaning to death and transformed our attitude to it. He taught us that death is not something suffered simply as penalty for sin. We die because we are finite, not because we are sinners. But considering death as human event and not merely as an act of nature, we find that there is some connection between sin and death – a connection which Jesus did not remove. Though he was without sin, his human condition was the same as our historical, concrete, sinful human nature.”93 Jesus, as true God, respects the natural order of human life and he even gone through death as manifestation of his humanity 92 St. Thomas de., S. Th. 3, 65,1. 93 Colm McKeating, Peace at the Last: A Christian Theology of the Last Things. (Quezon City: Claretian Publications, 2009) 172.
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because he is also a true man. Moreover, death is not anymore the end of life, because of his death it acquires a new and deeper meaning of the reality of human existence. Death is transition to new life because Christ did not just die, he also resurrected on the third day. His resurrection is the restoration to new life, a new being which is not simply resuscitate bringing back to life a dead person which is still a transitory state of life. It still undergoes death. On the other hand, resurrection is a state wherein death has no power over the new life. This gives a deeper meaning to death for us the followers of Christ. “If we die with him (Christ) we will also live with him.”94 “To rise with Christ, we must die with Christ: we must ‘be away from the body and at home with the Lord.’ In that ‘departure’ which is death the soul is most shrouded from the body. It will be reunited with the body on the day of resurrection of the dead.”95
Looking at death in another angle, it is not only at the point when our hearts stop beating, our mind stop working and we stop breathing. It is part of the reality of death but there are instances that we undergo death in another way. We can also consider pain as death, suffering as death. “Death is in fact always present in life. It inserts itself in many ways, through sickness and suffering and old age. It is felt also in the negative experiences of life, in daily disappointments and in times of frustration and despair. It is acutely felt in the anguish of bereavement and separation from loved ones, or in the loss of a life‐long friend. Divorce is a form of death for there is something absolute and final about it. Failure and public embarrassment can also seem like death to someone who has been stripped of one’s honor and reputation.”96 These are the realities of human life that some of us fail to understand that we undergo various types of death. Therefore death is not simply physical death but it could be emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual.
This kind of understanding of death is very important in order to comprehend and understand the life of man fully alive. The fullness of the life of man is not only when we experience physical death then. We rise on the day of resurrection as what I quoted above in our Catechism of the Catholic Church, but before we engage in that discussion let me first talk about life. What is life? Life is a gift from God. “Its origin is from God, so it has also in him, his glory and his kingdom, its ultimate purpose.”97 It is therefore an ordinary phenomenon that man searches for his meaning, the meaning of his life because his ultimate end is in God. “The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and
94 2 Tim. 2:11. 95 CCC 1005. 96 Ibid, 160. 97 Karl Peschke, Christian Ethics: Moral Theology in the Light of Vat II. Vol 1, (Manila: Logos Publication Inc. 2004) 40.
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God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for.”98
If pain, suffering, sickness, negative experiences of life, disappointments and the like are forms of death, life therefore is the freedom from pain, sickness. Hope is the life to those who suffer from disappointments and frustrations. The blessings of life for man are already a form of life fully alive. This is very clear in Jesus’ exercise of his ministry that the wellbeing of man and the freedom of him from any oppression are manifestations of the reign of God here on earth which we call the kingdom of God. It is the salvation of man from all kinds of slavery, slavery from physical or spiritual oppression like poverty, sickness, suffering, sin etc. The concern of God’s kingdom is the good of the whole human person and beyond it which is the whole people of God.
The kingdom of God is already present in the here and now, because we experience our temporal welfare in our present state of life and we consider it as God’s blessing. However it continues to grow and develop like the mustard seed that was planted and it grew, bloomed and the birds in the air of all kinds took their shelter. The kingdom of God continues to develop until it reaches its final destination in God. “The kingdom is always more than secular progress. It is the realization of the thoughts of God which are not the thoughts of men. The kingdom ultimately culminates in the fellowship with God and the communion of saints.”99
What is the nature of this kingdom of God when it reaches its final destination? Since man is in continues search for his meaning, the future of the kingdom of God “is the fulfillment of the longing of the human heart, the transformation of the world, the triumph over sin, suffering and death and the union of the divine and the human in a ‘new heavens and new earth.”100 This is the final event wherein Christ would come for the second time with majesty and full of glory. This will be the event when the dead will be resurrected and the completion of the kingdom of God. This is what we call the “Parousia.” This is the time when man is fully alive in God and he will glorify God contemplating his face in eternity.
98 CCC 27. 99 Karl Peschke, Christian Ethics: Moral Theology in the Light of Vat II. Vol 1, (Manila: Logos Publication Inc. 2004) 47. 100 Colm McKeating, Peace at the Last: A Christian Theology of the Last Things. (Quezon City: Claretian Publications, 2009) 8‐9.
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Conclusion
I have been through into a very long discussion about the kingdom of God. This starts on the establishment in the Old Testament account to its inauguration marked by the coming of Jesus Christ by his proclamation and work of wonders during his public ministry. This was continued and perpetuated by his Church where the seed of the kingdom is hidden and gradually unveiled by the people, the apostles and their successors, he entrusted the work of deepening, studying and sharing it to all peoples who welcome Christ as bearers of this kingdom.
After dealing all of these one by one, I have come into a realization that leads me into a conclusion about the topic, kingdom of God: The Fullness of Human Flourishing. This is my realization; the kingdom of God has four stages as it develops into its full stature. This is along the history of man in juxtaposed with his relationship with God. Let us keep in mind the fundamental principle that God calls man to commune with him and the fact that man turns away from God consequently God’s call to man was interrupted.
Let me present first the stages of the development of the kingdom of God. The first stage is the establishment that was started in the Old Testament. The discussion of this is found in Chapter I. The second stage, Chapter II, is the inauguration marked by Jesus’ public ministry. This includes the words and deeds he performed before the people so that they may come to hear, see and believe of his presence as the presence of God’s kingdom. Together with this is the founding of his Church to continue his work so that all people from all walks of life and from all generations may share the good news he brought to humanity. The third stage is the growth and development of this kingdom wherein the people personally encountered Jesus Christ in history, lived during his time and entered him, or became witnesses in experiencing the fullness of life to live in him and with him. The discussion of this part is in Chapter III of the second subtopic. Eventually, the fourth stage is the final completion of this kingdom together with Jesus in his second coming, the parousia. This is the part of my discussion in chapter three at the last subtopic, Man Fully Alive in God.
We experience already the kingdom of God while journeying and growing to its final completion. Therefore, the kingdom of God is not only the end of man but it is also his life being lived in the here and now, while journeying towards its fulfillment in God, whom he was called to commune with. In God, whom he finds the fullness of human flourishing where death, decomposition, suffering, pain, sickness have no power over “life in God.” This is the kingdom of God, the fullness of human flourishing.
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