New Evangelizers Post: The Lord’s Prayer, Part 3 – Thy Kingdom Come

I have a new article up at NewEvangelizers.com.  

Continuing our reflection of the “Our Father,” it is now time to turn our attention to the phrase “Thy Kingdom Come.”

Essentially there are two things we are praying for when we say these words.

First, we are praying for the Kingdom of God to be made manifest in our lives. As Pope Benedict XVI pointed out in his book Jesus of Nazareth, the Kingdom of God is the reign of God on Earth. It is a time when God would be recognized as the true ruler of the world and we would abide by His laws and His ways.

Jesus centers much of His preaching on the Kingdom of God. When people ask Him about when the Kingdom will come, He says “the Kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Luke 17:21) The reason that He says this is that the King has come: Jesus was born in the world. And because we have the presence of the King, we have the Kingdom.

When we pray for the Kingdom of God to come, we are praying that the presence of the King will become manifest in our own lives. Jesus says that “the Kingdom of God is not something that can be observed,” (Luke 17:20) meaning that it is less an external, material thing. Instead it is an internal spiritual revolution. Imagine in the center of your soul is a throne. That which sits on the that throne is what rules your life. Has our soul been “conquered” by the King? Do we place our hearts and our minds at the service of the Sovereign?

You can read the entire article here.