ThE AposToLaTe SerMoN JourNaL | Wednesday, October 05, 2022

 || PRAYER BRINGS US HERE AND NOW INTO GOD'S KINGDOM ||

 

BIBLICAL PASSAGE

Luke 11:1-4

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught His disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say:

 

Father, hallowed be Your Name, Your Kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.”

 

THE SERMON 

“Hallowed Be Your Name, Your Kingdom Come Within Us.” 

 

Now behold, daughters, how great the wisdom of our Master is. I am reflecting here on what we are asking for when we ask for This Kingdom. 

 

But since His Majesty saw that we could neither hallow, nor praise, nor extol, nor glorify This Holy Name of the Eternal Father in a fitting way, because of the tiny amount we ourselves are capable of doing, He provided for us by giving us here on earth His kingdom. That is why Jesus put these two petitions next to each other.

 

Now, then, the great good that it seems to me there will be in the Kingdom of Heaven, among many other blessings, is that one will no longer take any account of earthly things, but have a calmness and glory within, rejoice in the fact that all are rejoicing, experience perpetual peace and a wonderful inner satisfaction that comes from seeing that: EVERYONE HALLOWS AND PRAISES THE LORD AND BLESSES HIS NAME AND THAT NO ONE OFFENDS HIM.

 

Everyone loves Him there, and the soul itself doesn't think about anything else than loving Him; nor can it cease loving Him, because it knows Him. 

 

And would that we could love Him in this way here below, even though we may not be able to do so with such perfection or stability. But if we knew Him we would love in a way very different from that in which we do love Him. 

 

The above would be possible, through the favor of God, for the soul placed in this exile, but not in perfection. for we are at sea and journeying along this way. 

 

But there are times when, tired from our travels, we experience that the Lord calms our faculties and quiets the soul. As though by signs, He gives us a clear foretaste of what will be given to those He brings into His kingdom.

[SAINT TERESA OF AVILA]

 

Published By Mary Anti