Many Christians do not realize that the Catholic Church is and claims to be the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, in the Kingdom’s nascent stage. They mistakenly think of the Kingdom as either entirely invisible, entirely spiritual, or entirely future. Lumen Gentium specifically affirms that the Church is Christ’s Kingdom:
The Church, or, in other words, the kingdom of Christ now present in mystery, grows visibly through the power of God in the world.49
By “present in mystery” the Council meant that the Catholic Church is the Kingdom of Heaven in its beginning or seminal stage, i.e. the stage prior to the return of Christ. We do not now see the fullness of the Kingdom. But the Catholic Church is the present rule of Christ on the earth. Jesus did not say to Peter, “I give you the keys of the Church, but I retain the keys of the Kingdom.” Rather, Jesus said to Peter, “I will give to you [singular] the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.”50 The keys of the Kingdom of Heaven are the apostolic authority over the Church. That is why the Catechism says,
The Church is the seed and beginning of this kingdom. Her keys are entrusted to Peter.51To fulfill the Father’s will, Christ ushered in the Kingdom of heaven on earth. The Church is the Reign of Christ already present in mystery.52The Church is ultimately one, holy, catholic, and apostolic in her deepest and ultimate identity, because it is in her that the Kingdom of heaven, the Reign of God, already exists and will be fulfilled at the end of time.53
In the Gospels Jesus refers to the Kingdom of Heaven (or Kingdom of God) over eighty times. He compares the Kingdom to a mustard seed that grows into a tree, and to leaven that comes to leaven a whole lump.54 Those examples do not fit with a merely eschatological conception of the Kingdom. Nor does Christ’s teaching that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17) Nor does His claim that the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence at the hands of violent men. (Matthew 11:12, Luke 16:16) Nor does His claim that the Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to the parable of the wheat and tares, (Matthew 13:24ff) or to the laborers in the vineyard. (Matthew 20:1ff) Christ’s teaching that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet that gathers fish of every kind is paralleled in the account in John 21 where the disciples catch 153 fish and draw the net upon the land. That account clearly refers to the Apostles, as fishers of men, bringing all the nations into the Church, and in this way we again see that the Church is the Kingdom in its present stage. That is why Jesus says, “I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Luke 7:28), because John was martyred before Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom, i.e. the Church.
A number of “Kingdom” passages in the Gospels refer to the Kingdom in its final state, but some interpreters mistakenly conclude from that fact that all Gospel references to the Kingdom are eschatological. One Protestant reading of Jesus’ statement, “For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:21), interprets the Kingdom as something in itself internal, spiritual, and invisible, in our hearts. But the notion that the Kingdom must be either internal or external is a false dilemma. Christ now governs His people through His Church, through the Apostles and the bishops they appointed.
Quote from Fr Angel http://fatherangel.tumblr.com/
The “kingdom of God” is central in the preaching of Our Savior. “The time is accomplished, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel” Mark 1:15. “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom: and healing all manner of sickness and every infirmity, among the people” (Matthew 4:23). Jesus said, “To other cities also I must preach the kingdom of God: for therefore am I sent” (Luke 4:43).
The “kingdom” is a new reality for sinners, whereby they decide against Satan, sin and injustice and they choose the freedom of the children of God. They begin the change of heart which will allow them to fully submit their lives to the Lordship of Jesus, to the sovereignty of God over all things.
For the individual, it is the relationship of grace with God which begins with the act of faith and reaches culmination, fruition in the Beatific Vision of heaven. For the community, it is first he establishment of the Church as the seed/beginning of a new world which reaches culmination, fruition, in the Judgement of the world and the overthrow of all earthly and sinful rule.
The “Kingdom of God” is upon us already with the victory of Jesus over the devil, first in his exorcisms, deeds of love, miracles, and finally the triumph of the Cross which overthrows Satan on a spiritual level. Then the Kingdom breaks forth every time a person comes to grace and grows in this life. Finally, the advance, triumph, and exaltation of the one, true Faith is the sign of the ongoing march of history towards the complete establishment of the Kingdom at Judgement.
So the Kingdom is here, within us individually, and among us as a Mystical Body of Christ, but it is inchoate, beginning, germinating, growing, like the mustard seed. At the same time, the Kingdom is “not yet” in the sense that we are in expectation of its fullness with the Parousia, or Second Coming, so the Church, the Bride prays “Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:17).
God bless and take care! Fr. Angel
a more detailed writing on all of this can be found here http://www.readability.com/articles/vjpsml6x or http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFUNICI.HTM
a more detailed writing on all of this can be found here http://www.readability.com/articles/vjpsml6x or http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFUNICI.HTM
DECLARATION "DOMINUS IESUS":ON THE UNICITY AND SALVIFIC UNIVERSALITY OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE CHURCH
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| CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH |
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