Memorial of St.
Josephat, bishop and martyr
Wisdom 7:22b-8:1; Luke 17:20-25)
In the movie Philomena
the son of an unmarried woman is unlawfully given to another family. When many years later the woman discovers that
the perpetrators of the crime are a congregation of sisters, she decides not to
sew for personal damages. Thankful to
have closure to the question of what became of her son, Philomena accepts the
apologies of the congregation. Obviously
she lives within the Kingdom of God.
As Jesus explains to the Pharisees in today’s gospel, the
Kingdom of God has no geographical boundaries.
Nor is it confined to any moment of time. Rather the Kingdom of God exists wherever men
and women recognize that their lives are gifts from God which they are to share
with others. It is the freedom experienced
in thanking God by joyfully serving all as brothers and sisters.
We live in a world that believes that justice can be achieved
by recognizing a full complement of human rights for all. Soon, however, we see that there are many
more rights than there are responsibilities to assure their being honored. Living in God’s Kingdom, we realize that we
must sacrifice at least some of our rights claims. It means that we humble ourselves for the
good of our neighbors.
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