Thursday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Lk 17: 20-25
November 16, 2023 | Thursday
The Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was to come. He answered, “The kingdom of God is not like something you can observe, and say of it, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘See, there it is!’ for the kingdom of God is within you.”
And Jesus said to his disciples, “The time is at hand when you will long to see one of the glorious days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Then people will tell you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go with them, do not follow them. As lightning flashes from one end of the sky to the other, so will it be with the Son of Man; but first he must suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation.
Today’s Reflection:
To ask the question “where” is an invalid one when we talk about the kingdom of God because it is not a physical place. The kingdom of God reigns here on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus himself said in today’s gospel that the kingdom of God is within us. So rather than searching for evidence of whether the kingdom of God indeed exists, Jesus is telling us to devote our day-to-day lives to actually living in it. For at the end of the day, whether we like it or not, whether we are aware of it or not, God triumphs and reigns in our midst in accord with His design. But the joy with which He would have wanted us to enjoy will be missed and unfelt if we focus too much on searching and not living life’s fullness in God’s presence.! / Vulnerasti, 2023
