St. Anthony the Abbot Catholic Church

Christ's favorite topic, it could be argued, was "the Kingdom of God". His first public sermon   began with "The Kingdom of God is at hand," and from then on He kept talking about it, as in today's Gospel. If there is a Kingdom, there must also be a King, and if there is a King, there    must be subjects. That's how He sees the Church, as a Kingdom, not merely as some kind of club.

Today we can ask ourselves if that's how we see Church. When we pray, "Thy Kingdom come," do we mean the same thing that Jesus meant when He taught us that prayer? God's Kingdom is the realm where hearts obey Him out of faith and love. The kingdom of this world is the realm where hearts obey themselves out of self-centeredness, egoism, and fear. If we really want to help Christ redeem the kingdom of this world by transforming it, through His grace, into the Kingdom of Christ, we have to keep hearkening to the King and carrying out His commands, even when they are uncomfortable for our selfish tendencies.

Obeying someone else, though, is almost always a challenge for us sinners. Jesus knows this, and so He doesn't ask us for blind, mindless obedience. He uses parables to explain and promise that by following and obeying Him, our lives will be fruitful. The virtues that give true, lasting beauty to our lives, that give our lives meaning and deep happiness (virtues like wisdom, courage, self-control, and Christ-like love), are like the seeds in the Lord's parables. They are planted in our hearts at baptism, and as we follow and obey Christ in our daily lives, they grow and flourish. Being good citizens of Christ's Kingdom is the sure path to an abundant spiritual harvest here on earth and forever in heaven.

The Church surrounds us with examples of walking by faith and not by sight. Think of the Eucharist. When the priest elevates the consecrated Host above the altar, we know Jesus is really present under the appearances of simple bread, not because we see Him there, but because we believe in his Word.

Think of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At the very beginning of her adventure, she saw an angel.  From then on, she saw nothing special. She gave birth to Jesus, and He was just like any other baby. She raised Him in Nazareth, and He ate, slept, studied, and worked just like any other growing boy. She saw nothing special, but did she give up on God?  Did she demand spiritual fireworks? No. She stayed faithful to her mission, all the way to Calvary, where she stood at the foot of the cross and watched her Son die a horrible death. She didn't rebel against God even amid the inexpressible pain of her Son's Passion. She walked by faith; her hope in God's goodness, power, and wisdom didn't waver. And she received her reward: she was assumed into heaven and crowned Queen of the universe.

Think of the candles that we light for people in church. Why do we do that? Not because the candles are some kind of magical weapons to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck. Rather, they are an expression of our faith that God is always paying attention to us. So even when we leave the church building, the candle continues to burn, just as God's love continues to watch over us and answer our prayers. Truly, if we follow the gentle guidance of our beloved Catholic Church, we will never fall into the modern trap of trying to walk just by sight, because we will always be walking by faith.

To understand that we "walk by faith, not by sight," is a help to every aspect of our Christian life, but maybe most especially to our life of prayer. We live busy lives, full of challenges, problems,   and difficulties alongside the many joys and satisfactions. As a result, when we come to Mass or prayer, we often find ourselves distracted, tired, or even a bit confused. And what's more, in the back of our minds we are usually expecting strong emotional consolation, deep insights, and oceanic interior peace - as spiritual people do in the movies. But that is a false expectation, because we don't walk by sight, by what we can feel and touch; we walk by faith.

Our faith tells us that prayer isn't about feelings; it's about friendship. And friendship is built on commitment, loyalty, and love. That's the foundation of Christian prayer. When we pray, when we come to Mass, we don't come in order to stir up feelings - we can do that at the movies or at a concert.

Rather, we come to turn the attention of our hearts and minds to God. If good feelings come, then great. But if they don't, that's great, too!  It doesn't change the truth of friendship with God.  When dark clouds block out the sun for a little while, the sun is still there. Just so, when we turn to God in prayer and find it hard to feel His presence, our faith reminds us that He is always with us, listening to us, and guiding us. And let's promise to do our best to use these gifts this week, to exercise them, walking by the stable and dependable truth of faith, not the false and collapsible promise of sight.