Twelfth of Year A - Witness to Christ
June 2008
Today’s theme is witnessing to the existence of the ‘Kingdom of God’ here on earth.
Witnessing to Christ (that is witnessing to the existence of the Kingdom of God here on earth) can, in some circumstances, involves public marches, standing up in the ‘market place’ and shouting out the praise of God, public processions with singing and music, public Eucharistic processions and stations of the cross etc. etc. But one can do all these things and not necessarily witness to the existence of the Kingdom of God here on earth.
Being a witness to the existence of the Kingdom of God here on earth goes far deeper than doing any of the above.
It involves changing myself and being a different kind of person.
Firstly the Kingdom of God must reside in me. This means I must become a just, forgiving, generous, loving person, towards myself and towards all members of my family. This attitude must then expand to include all other people and nationalities.
Should this happen, then I am truly witnessing to the existence of the Kingdom of God in my life and on earth. In fact I am not just witnessing to the existence of the Kingdom of God, I am the Kingdom of God. My life of justice, forgiveness, generosity and love is the Kingdom of God just as water is wetness.
You will remember the horrific fatal stabbing of Jimmy Mizen last month in London.
Jimmy had dropped down to the local bakery a few hundred yards from his home to buy bread. He was set upon by a group of youths for no apparent reason. He had had his 16th. birthday the previous day.
On the news I watched and listened to his parents as they were interviewed just after the Funeral Mass.
They obviously had no statement prepared. They spoke from the heart and their words and demeanour were totally amazing.
They were obviously people of very strong faith. They had decided that they would not be angry with or blame God. In fact it was the presence and closeness of God that kept them going through this ordeal. They had decided to harbour no anger or bitterness against the killers of their son or their parents as this anger and bitterness would only destroy themselves and their family. They did not cry out for tougher laws or heavier penalties for law breakers. They did not blame the politicians or the police but said that we, the people, needed to reappraise our values and priorities.
All this was delivered haltingly and piecemeal.
Watching and listening to what they had to say and the way they said it, I knew that I was looking at the ‘Kingdom of God’ here on earth.