Today's Mass intentions is the first instance of the default intention for Mondays (in the absence of requested intentions): for the Holy Father and for the Bishop. Sunday Mass was for the people of the Parish. There was a nice tie in this Sunday's readings at Mass between the desire for Wisdom of the Hebrew king Solomon and the Gospel parables about the 'kingdom of God.' Last week, I was asked about this kingdom of God and how it could be presented to children. I don't think children necessarily have to have the message altered for them, for Christ is quite clear in many places in the Gospels about what the kingdom means. For example, in the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of S. Luke, he says:
"Upon being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God was to come, He answered, 'The kingdom of God comes unwatched by men’s eyes; there will be no saying, "See, it is here," or "See, it is there;" the kingdom of God is here, within you.' And to His own disciples He said, 'The time will come when you will long to enjoy, but for a day, the Son of Man’s presence, and it will not be granted you. Men will be saying to you, "See, He is here," or "See, He is there;" do not turn aside and follow them; the Son of Man, when His time comes, will be like the lightning which lightens from one border of heaven to the other. But before that, He must undergo many sufferings, and be rejected by this generation.'" - Gospel of S. Luke, 17: 20-25
The equation is clear: He's talking about his presence. We Catholics may think with reason about the Real Presence of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, but we're also talking about the Kingdom of God within ourselves. My Kingdom is not of this world, Christ once said. And yet, we call Him the King of hearts, and He says to his adversaries:
"'...if it is through Beelzebub that I cast out devils, by what means do your own sons cast them out? It is for these, then, to pronounce judgement on you. But if, when I cast out devils, I do it through God’s power, then it must be that the kingdom of God has suddenly appeared among you." - Gospel of S. Luke, 11: 19-20
Once again, the divine presence among men is the kingdom of God, and in so far as men are of one mind with the Lord, that they allow Him to enter into their hearts, the kingdom of God has suddenly appeared among them. There is a parallel with the Wisdom traditions of the Hebrews and the Jews. That's why I mentioned about a parallel with king Solomon's desire for the Wisdom to judge his people well. In this rather humble desire for wisdom, Solomon like his father David echoed the heart of God. This desire for Wisdom is a common thread running through the Old Testament, and it has to do with understanding what God desires for man, what the Law of God, given by Moses to the Hebrews, desires of them. In that Law itself, we hear the call of Israel:
"Listen then, Israel; there is no Lord but the Lord our God, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with the love of thy whole heart, and thy whole soul, and thy whole strength. The commands I give thee this day must be written on thy heart, so that thou canst teach them to thy sons, and keep them in mind continually, at home and on thy travels, sleeping and waking; bound close to thy hand for a remembrance, ever moving up and down before thy eyes; the legend thou dost inscribe on door and gate-post." - Deuteronomy, 6: 4-9
Even today, the Jewish people toil at this ancient precept, literally observing the last command of binding the Law upon their hands and upon their foreheads, and hanging it from the doorways of their homes. In our traditions, this is true wisdom: to know what is desired of us and to act upon the commandment. The Hebrew soul developed a deep love for the Law of God, a love which we inherited and which is expressed in the longest of the Hebrew Psalms, a part of which we had as the responsorial psalm yesterday:
"Perfect in Thy own servant’s heart the knowledge of Thy will. Put off the hour, Lord, no more; too long Thy commandment stands defied. Precious beyond gold or jewel I hold Thy law. Prized be every decree of Thine; forsworn be every path of evil-doing." - Psalm 118(119): 125-128
And then we come to the gospel reading and I can say that the Word of God made flesh is that same Wisdom, long-desired, which is to be written upon our hearts, communicated to our children, carried about with us, etc. If we walk constantly in the presence of God, this is entirely possible. Christ our Lord re-presents the Law of Moses to the people, and we Christians would call it the interpretation, because we know that He Himself gave it to the Hebrew people long ago, through Moses. So, when He describes the reign of God being established in our hearts, when He tells us that this kingdom is more precious than fine pearls, a treasure hidden in a field, Christ is in a way reciting Psalm 118 (he probably knew it off by heart). For when the Law of God is written in our hearts, we are already living in the kingdom of God. And Christ sounds best like the God of the Old Testament, and we may hear His voice in that passage from Deuteronomy above, when He says this:
"If a man has any love for Me, he will be true to My word; and then he will win My Father’s love, and We will both come to him, and make Our continual abode with him..." - Gospel of S. John, 14: 23
And so the kingdom of God will be there, within him.
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