Hi everyone, and welcome to Weekly Homilies with Father Mark Suslenko, Pastor of SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut. We are part of the Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford. I'm Carol Vassar, parish director of communications, and this is Episode 37 of Season 7 for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe - November 24, 2024. This is the final episode of this podcast series, and we invite you to join us on our new series, “Living in Faith, Hope, and Love,” which begins Nov. 30, 2024. Visit our website, isidoreandmaria.org for details. 

Our Gospel reading for today is from John, Chapter 18, verses 33b - 37. 

Pilate said to Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?"  Jesus answered, "Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?" Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I?  Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me.  What have you done?" 

Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here." So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?"  Jesus answered, "You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

The Gospel of the Lord 

“Connecting with the Kingdom of God,” by Father Mark S. Suslenko, Pastor, SS. Isidore and Maria Parish, Glastonbury, Connecticut

The church teaches and scripture certainly confirms that this world as we know it will one day pass away and Christ will reign as king over all the universe. What we see here and know will cease to be. This is an undisputable fact of our faith.  

As we think about that end time, how do we imagine it to be? What images come to mind? Because how we understand the final day of this world and what our new life in Christ will be will determine our approach to it and disposition. Perhaps we find ourselves imaging that final day as if we were standing outside watching an appending storm. As the cloud continues to get darker and darker and come closer and closer, we find ourselves preparing for that moment when we’re actually in the storm. Or maybe we imagine that final day as one big explosion where all that is simply is no more, and we are one in Christ. That final day: how do you image that to be? 

What we think of that final day will tell us whether we approach it out of fear or out of love.  

Origen, who was an early church scholar, (he was born around the year 185 and died around the year 253) had some interesting things to say about the kingdom of God. And even though he lived so many centuries before, in a time quite different than our own, I always marvel at the fathers of the church and their writings and the wisdom that extends from age to age and is always true. matter what time we find ourselves living in. So of the Kingdom of God, Origen said it is not going to be something that people see. It is not going to be, “Oh, behold, it's coming," or "There it is." And he said the reason for that is that the Kingdom of God is within us. It is within you. And he says that, as our Lord says, my word is close to you. It's already in your mouth and in your heart. All you have to do is believe it and embrace it. The Kingdom of God similarly is already in us. And he goes on further to say that when we pray "thy kingdom come," we're not praying just for some external reality to one day happen. We pray "thy kingdom come" that it comes into our hearts and souls; that we own it. It becomes one like us.  

When we're baptized, we know that we are baptized in the image of Christ to be another Christ. That our spiritual lives are a continual transformation into Christ, so that I begin to live and act not as myself in the world, but as God in the world. And so what he says makes a lot of sense. The kingdom of God is within. So anytime we act and think and move more like Christ, the Kingdom of God increases within us. As you go about the business of our lives, we basically have two resources to follow as we establish our priorities, solve problems, and encounter life challenges: we can reach for the resources of the kingdom of the world, or we can reach for the resources of the Kingdom of God. And really in a very practical way, it all comes home when we ask ourselves a question such as this: where is our faith  when we find ourselves sitting in a mess? Where is our faith when we find ourselves sitting in a mess?  

One of the things that Origen also emphasized is that the Kingdom of God cannot exist along with sin. So, if you have sin in your heart and in your soul, you must rid yourself of that first in order for the Kingdom of God to shine forth with light, for God to use us as a vessel.  

Jesus found himself sitting in a mess when he was before Pilate. It was the mess of injustice. And life's messes come to us in many different ways through the death of someone we love, when we encounter illness, when something happens expectedly. And we find ourselves bumping up against injustice as well. We live in a world in which fear is increasingly growing. Where every day we hear of someone else being shot, of another act of violence, of more children who don't have enough food to eat. So, life's messes take on many different faces, and when we sit in a mess, where is our faith?  

Well, Jesus simply looked at Pilate and said, you can do whatever you wish with me because you are not the kingdom I belong to. My kingdom is bigger and greater than you. It matters little what earthly powers have to say about who I am. Jesus says, I know who I am and I testify to that truth. And that really is the wonder that Jesus brings to this experience with Pilate. He simply stood firm and testified to the truth, and was faithful, testified to the truth, and was faithful.

A young man by the name of  Carlo Acutis. He was beatified recently. He's scheduled to be made a saint in April of this coming year by Pope Francis. Blessed Carlo Acutis was a 15-year-old boy, one of our youngest saints=to-be. As a young man, young boy, his mother remarked that there was always something particularly special about him. He used to love to find himself in church in front of the blessed sacrament. Carlo had a great devotion to the Eucharist, and this special character that he brought was different from some of the other kids, and he had this intuitive awareness  of God's presence. Interestingly enough, a story is told by his Polish nanny about when Carlo was a young child playing with other children with his toys. And quite often, other children would steal and take Carlo's toys and Carlo would just let it happen. And the nanny was very concerned about this because she thought he should have more resistance. And so, she tried to teach him how to defend himself, and reminded him, those are your things and you have a right to have them, and they shouldn't take them from you. You have to develop this resistance and resilience.  And Carlo always resisted her urgings and promptings. And one day he said to her, no, no. And she said, why not? Because Jesus would not be happy with me if I lost my temper. 

Carlo is called “God's Influencer” because he had quite a presence on the internet, chronicling Eucharistic miracles and the like. And when Carlo was diagnosed with leukemia and facing those challenges, he never wavered in his faith. He always continued to testify to the truth,  and always remained faithful. And even when he was dying, his mother and friends had conversations with him and he said, "I have no fear of death." (This) 15-year-old boy had no fear of death. He said, I've done what God wanted all my life. And he said, death is like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Don't be afraid of it. And so in and through this young man, God worked. God was able to use his soul as his own mouthpiece. Carlo had a direct connection to the Kingdom of God and lived that out in his life by testifying to the truth and remaining faithful.  

And so when we find ourselves sitting in life's messes, can we also find ourselves testifying to the truth  and remaining faithful? When someone hurts us, can we truly do as Jesus asks and offer the other cheek? When someone wants something from us, can we respond to that need and offer them even more? When someone wrongs us, can we be forgiving? When we're facing our enemy, can we forgive them as well? And when we consider the plight of our own life, do we see ourselves within that larger picture of life? To live in the Kingdom of God and to prepare ourselves for its eventual coming in the fullness of time means that I, in all things, testify to the truth of who I am, of who God is, and what this world is all about, and remain faithful, anchored, and firm in those convictions and beliefs. In doing so, it's a wonderful image to consider that final day if we are ready and we've done our homework and try to free ourselves of as much negativity and sin as possible, to simply find ourselves interiorly, transform from a caterpillar into a butterfly. If we imagine that final moment, we can approach it with eagerness, with devotion, and with a depth of love. 

Father Mark Suslenko is the pastor of SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Learn more about our parish community at www.isidoreandmaria.org. And follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Our music comes free of charge from Blue Dot Sessions in Fall River, Massachusetts. I’m Carol Vassar. Thanks for joining us.