Sunday, July 27, 2008

The Kingdom of God is like . . .

right here, right now; and if you aren't living in the kingdom, what is your problem?

That was the message of the final homily at Corpus Christi, our adopted parish down here in paradise. Fr. Bob was trying to get everyone to understand that Jesus used all of those allusions to the kingdom in the gospels to make his followers understand that the kingdom of God was all around them and all they had to do was to choose to live in the kingdom.

Fast forward to here and now, and the message is still valid. The kingdom of God is still here, we are all still living in the kingdom. All we have to do is love one another as Christ loves us. So we must choose to do the right thing at all times. We must choose to live justly (Catholic social justice teachings; sound familiar? If not start reading up) We must choose to make right choices when it comes to our interactions with other people, especially those we say we love. Fr. Bob was especially hard on married people who break their vows.

It should be our choice to live rightly, in the kingdom, not live in sin choosing to live in the world of the evil one. It shouldn't be that difficult a choice.

Wow. I am still reeling at how forcefully he spoke about issues like abortion, and war and capital punishment, FROM THE PULPIT. I know my dear friend Suzanne would have wept with joy. I certainly teared up.

I sure will miss Fr. Bob, and I made a point of telling him so after Mass when we stopped by to say goodbye.

Pax

1 comment:

Suzanne said...

God bless this Father Bob! I will pray for him that God will give him and other priests courage to do the same again and again. It can't be easy, but your love for him and letting him know of your deep and abiding appreciation for this will
move him to tears...probably already did...those good kind of tears!
Miss you all! Hugs... Suzanne