SPIRITUALITY 101
SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 102
Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

A young man wishing to grow in virtue went to see a celebrated servant of God and said to him, "Where can I feel nearer to God?" The holy man took hem to a deserted spot and replied, "Here you will feel God very close to you." With that he left him in that lonely place. So it is: we can feel God when we find ourselves away from the world and its attachments. The Holy spirit speaks thus to us in Hosea 2:16, when He says, through the prophet, "So I will allure her (our soul) ; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart." It is good to find a place of solitude, in which there are no other voices except that of God. It is there that we will discover that the kingdom of God is within our soul.

DEVOTION - Growth in love- 3rd stage DEVOTIONALS- MEDITATION-SACRAMENTALS-THE ROSARY-29 
OUR FATHER-5 

The second petition of our Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom come," refers to the establishment of God's kingdom on earth. There is much often through the ages been much ado concerning the end of time. It usually involves discussion about when Christ comes again in His Holy parousia. It is commonly assumed that the faithful who are alive at that time will be caught up into a whirlwind and carried aloft into heaven. This being caught up is referred to as the "rapture." The idea comes from Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians 4:16-17, where Paul writes, "For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord." Paul uses similar imagery in 2 Corinthians 12:2 to describe a heavenly journey he experienced in the third heaven or paradise. The phraseology used in 1 Thessalonians represents Paul's attempt, by means of apocalyptic imagery to describe the indescribable reward of being transformed from an earthly into a heavenly sphere. The text of Paul is therefore not so much as being carried aloft into the sky as to being enveloped, or "caught up" in the holiness of God's presence. This being "caught up" is often descriptive of what happens in prayer when we allow God to carry us into an ecstasy of rapture or into the "clouds" of His presence.

Although we may speculate concerning what will happen when Christ comes again at the last judgement and establishes His reign on earth, no one except God knows when this will happen. Even Jesus, in His human intellect, did not know when this would happen. He assured us that even the angels in heaven were not privy to this knowledge. Now to what it has to do with the Lord's prayer. The second coming of Jesus will occur when God wills it, and we do not pray to change Gods will, but to change our own. Since God determines when the end of time will occur we may wonder why Jesus asked us to petition the Father for the coming of the kingdom. The answer lies in what happened to the Christian Church on Pentecost. On that day, a small, faithless group of apostles were hiding from the Jews for fear of their lives. Upon the descent of the Holy Spirit into their souls, they were caught up in ecstasy and were empowered to begin an active participation in the establishment of God's kingdom (reign) on earth. Their success speaks for itself. Today the Christian Church has a presence in nearly all parts of the world.

Our contribution to the establishment of the Kingdom of God in when He reigns in all aspects of human life in this world, is a response to that same Holy Spirit. Jesus assures us that the kingdom of heaven can be acquired only through violence. The violence results from our response to a battle between the grace of the Holy Spirit and the sins of the flesh, Satan within us and in the world. The Christian is called to assist in the building of God's kingdom through a discernment of Gods grace and assuring that God's will is accomplished in the ongoing progressive changes that take place in society and culture. Our prayer, "Thy kingdom come," is a mandate to ourselves to reconfirm our lives to the establishment of justice, peace, happiness and above all love in the communities in which we live.

Article 306 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church provides us with a useful insight into the meaning of this petition. It states, "God is the sovereign master of his plan. But to carry it out he also makes use of his creatures,' cooperation. This use is not a sign of weakness, but rather a token of almighty Gods' greatness and goodness. For God grants his creatures not only their existence, but also the dignity of acting on their own, of being causes and principles for each other, and thus cooperating in the accomplishment of his plan."

The petition, "Thy Kingdom come," might best be expressed, "My dear beloved Holy Father in heaven, help me to live the beatitudes in my daily life so that I may become your special beatitude in the world in such a way that the whole world will give you glory".

NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM 
ARTICLE NO. 1074 

The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the font from which all her power flows. It is therefore the privileged place for catechizing the People of God, "Catechesis is intrinsically link with the whole of liturgical and sacramental activity, for it is in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, that Christ Jesus works in fullness for the transformation of men." (Pope John Paul II, Catechesi Tradendae 23)

LITURGIES ANDROGENY
Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Throughout the years of history 
The church has taught of mystery 
And revealed great symmetry 
Of order in celebrated liturgy

Grace with source sacramentary 
Summit of faiths activity 
Source of holy zealotry 
Bane of worlds idolatry I
s sharing in blessed liturgy

Sacred font of capacity 
Power for ascendancy 
Strength for our dependency 
The echo of Christ's androgeny 
Is the transforming catechist of liturgy

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS