Week 3 – Thy Kingdom Come
Royal Psalms
Messianic - 2, 18, 20, 21, 45, 72, 89, 101, 110, 132, 144
Canticles – 46, 48, 76, 84, 87, 122
Hymns of Yahweh’s Kingship – 47, 93, 96, 97, 98, 99
What does it mean to say God is king in our democratic society? God is not the president, elected by people with limitation on his power. God is king, it is his birthright; there are no restrictions on his power.
Our psalms for today explore kingship. They include the Messianic Psalms that refer to earthly kings, pointing to Jesus, the Messiah; Canticles of Zion which speak of God’s presence in his holy city Jerusalem and favoritism towards Zion; and psalms that praise God as the one true king.
Jesus tells us that the kingdom is both present among us and yet to come. These psalms speak of a king on earth as well as God in heaven. The earthly king, in that he is of David’s lineage and anointed by God, is God’s representative and yet not the one true king. We pray for kings on earth, for our leaders, that they may lead well, following God’s ways. There are prayers for Jerusalem, an earthly city that foreshadows the New Jerusalem, the holy city in God’s kingdom, heaven.
St. Ignatius Loyola in his spiritual exercises asks us to choose, under whose banner do you march? Are you under God’s banner or the world’s banner—the banner of Satan? You need to make a choice. Who is king of your life? Who do you follow? Even if you made that choice years ago, it needs to be looked at over and over again to see if you have remained true to that choice. Are you living that choice in reality or only in words? Do you say God is king, yet let the cares of the world distract you from serving God?
Jesus tells us to pray, thy kingdom come. That implies that God’s kingdom has yet to arrive. This week we reflect on: what does it mean to say God’s kingdom is now and yet to come? What does it mean to say God is king? And what are we called to do to bring about God’s kingdom?
God's Kingdom is here...The Church and all it's member compose God's Kingdom here on earth. When Jesus established the Church He brought the Kingdom here to earth, when He returns and unites us with all the angels and saints in heaven, the Kingdom will come...I guess right now we have a divided Kingdom since here on earth we are not enjoying all that God has promised us. We look forward to the earthly Kingdom being perfected with the second coming. right now, i think we mostly focus on the Heavenly kingdom and striving to ultimately get there. The fact that God reaches out to us from on high and that He is exalted leaves us striving to one day join Him. We are in awe of his power and all He has created. When we pray we look up to the heavens...where God dwells. We are blessed that He is present among us and that we have the opportunity to receive His Son in the Eucharist. The kings of earth are like nothing compared to our God. All praise, honor and glory to our God on high. with the Psalms and the Our Father we give Him praise.
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