The Kingdom of God

After Jesus returns from His temptations He preaches, “the time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News” (Mk 1:15).

Repentance is how we shape our effort so that we can remove obstacles to God’s grace.  Satan encourages those obstacles to keep us enslaved so he can dictate, lie to, and degrade and destroy us. He’s so good at it, we don’t always recognize it. When we think only of this world—of our riches, pleasures, status, and power—we commit ourselves to Satan’s kingdom because he is the prince of this world. We need to repent to enter the Kingdom of God, to detach ourselves from these lures through self-denial, and then pray and receive Jesus’ Sacraments so that He fills us with Divinity. Then do we discover the eternal joy and excitement of the Kingdom of God within us!

To show us how easy it is to enter, Jesus teaches “The man who doesn’t welcome the kingdom of God like a child will never enter into it” (Mk 10:15). Children naturally trust their parents. They don’t wonder or worry about what they will eat, what they will wear, what they will do next; they are simply receptive and expectant. When our faith is open and expectant, we receive good gifts from our Heavenly Father.

We must add to this spiritual childhood patience and trust. When we do, we discover this Kingdom of God radiating from our hearts. Over the next day, when worries or anxieties arise, call out, “Father, they Kingdom come!”