Hear This (Enhanced with slides) [32:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Guide to : Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

If ever there was a message to hear, the message of the Good News of Jesus that the reign of God is at hand and already in our midst is one you really want to share with everyone and proclaim to one and all, hear this! This conversation takes up the wondrous message about the reign of God, which is another way to say kingdom of heaven, and then how Jesus’ life, death and resurrection started it all. This was the topic at the Orientation Session of the Catechumenate for this liturgical year at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, in Holladay, Utah, from which this podcast derives. At that session we spent a lot of time exploring the structures and experiences that are unique to each of the four various periods of the whole Catechumenate. The message that the structures and experiences of the whole Catechumenate raise-up is Jesus — he proclaimed that the Kingdom of God is at hand. His life, death and resurrection invite us to hear this message.

Jesus’ message continues to be raised-up in the Church and the Church’s message is that the Kingdom of God is in our midst. The Catechumenate is an apprenticeship of sorts in which people respond to Jesus’ invitation to “come and see” where and how he lives in the Kingdom of God. It leads us to hear his message — the Good News, and see how it transforms life. It leads us to how Jesus lives in the Church, and how the people of the church live in the Kingdom of God.

People who hear this have to be asking, how?! There are several answers. First, the kingdom is where he is. Second, the kingdom is in the teaching that we must die in order to live — participation in the “Paschal Mystery.” Third, life in the kingdom is offered to everyone. Fourth, the kingdom belongs to the poor. Fifth, and most importantly, Jesus invites sinners — the kingdom is not reserved only for those who behave themselves; it is not a reward for being righteous, for being lawful, or even moral and just. Sixth, once you give yourself to Christ and enter the dying and rising of your own journey of the Paschal Mystery, there will be signs in your life that will amaze you! And seventh, though the Church is not the kingdom of heaven, the reign of God is found in her midst.

Thus, to know Christ, is in fact to know his community, just as it had been during his lifetime. During his lifetime his mission was not to free the world from all evils, that remains the church’s work, his mission was to free us from slavery of sin; from missing the mark, which divine love sets as our destiny. This is why the kingdom is not something to be studied but a way of life to be lived. We live the life of the Spirit so as to remove the evils of the world, that, like Jesus’ prayer, God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Hear this! This is our faith!

Free upon request:

OS1B1 What Did Christ Teach
OS1B2 The Kingdom of God
OS1B3 The Paschal Mystery

Musical Interlude was “When Creation Celebrates” by Resonate.

Recommended Reading: