Make Known the Kingdom
April 30, 2013
Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter
By Beth
DeCristofaro
(Some Jews) stoned
Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
But … he got up and
entered the city. On the following day he left with Barnabas for Derbe. After they had proclaimed the good news to
that city and made a considerable number of disciples, they returned to Lystra
and to Iconium and to Antioch. They strengthened the spirits of the
disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, “It is necessary
for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”
Jesus said to his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to
you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you.
(John 14:27)
Piety
Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom. (Psalm 145:12)
Study
Sit with me for a few minutes, on a high bluff
over the Potomac River at Loyola Retreat Center in Faulkner, MD and marvel with
me as Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom. On retreat as I write, I am
spending time in prayer with teeny tiny lavender flowers at my feet which grow
in self-satisfied clusters, exquisitely fulfilling their part in the spring
growing cycle. Bright green inch worms
either dangle like ornaments from trees or determinedly go about their
appointed rounds even as I try to coax them off my arm or my neck and onto a
juicy leaf. Silky mosses grow on downed
trees – life from death. Swift ospreys
make my mood soar as they ride the currents out over the water. And
eagles! They fly past with a fierce
dignity of creatures at harmony in their place.
Lets’ close our eyes for a moment
and hear frequent and plentiful birdsong.
Their vocalizing is random and varied but never discordant. Listen to the soothing concert of buzzing
critters going about their mating rituals, grasses rustling in the breezes and
waves shhh-shhh-ing against the shore.
Take a deep breath to smell flowers, dirt, river. I wonder if God delights twice in the
splendor of creation as we pray our thanksgiving?
Most probably those clown-like
squirrels, hunting up hidden food with one eye on the sky watching for
predators would not agree, but God has asked a much more complicated friendship
of you and I. Look at Paul. Instead of obeying that deep instinctive
drive to run from danger, Paul returns to Lystra where he was stoned. He returns to support and strengthen God’s
other friends. Paul continues to speak
the Word, making known the God’s Good News, making known the splendor of God’s
kingdom. Most of our lives are not spent
in such peril, but Jesus does ask us to risk offering the world his living Word
and to love as He would do, even those
who would stone us, misunderstand us,
judge us, slander us, dismiss us or ask us to buy into indefinite values. As His true friends, Jesus offers us not only
the splendors of the kingdom but his divine peace surpassing anything that this
world has to offer. We can get glimpses
of that splendor in places such as Loyola on the Potomac.[i]
Action
Now back in your own space, I pray that you are
able to spend time with Jesus in the splendor of His kingdom. Bring a friend – perhaps plan to ask someone
to one of next Fall’s Cursillos. How are
you helping build His kingdom?
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