Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Mt 6:10).
Many, especially in a not insubstantial part of the Catholic Church in America (particularly among the laity), are expecting and desiring a visible coming of the Kingdom of God on earth. But this is false and akin to the notion that Judas Iscariot originally had in desiring Christ to establish His kingdom on earth by overthrowing the Romans from their positions of power over Israel. It is the same mistake, the same fallacy; the same error.
It does not come from God.
The coming of the Kingdom in this intermediate time of humankind’s salvation history is internal, not external. There will be no flashing chariots of fire and visible multitudes of angels riding the clouds, with the King of Kings descending openly from the skies to, at last, separate the sheep from the goats. The coming at this point in time will be quiet, without fanfare.
It will be the descent of the Kingdom of the Divine Will upon humanity; a gift of grace originally possessed in full by Saint Adam and that will be accepted by some, but rejected by others. And those who insist on deliberately rejecting this gratuitous gift of mercy from God will suffer – more so than those who accept it. None, however, will have any doubt as to what is happening, even though some will still attempt to ‘explain’ it away.
It will be the commencement of the eighth stage of the process of deification as outlined by Saint Peter of Damascus and the first two stages (of this eighth stage) as elaborated by Saint Gregory of Palamas. It will be the period that Saint Louis de Montfort referred to when he used the metaphor about the cedars of Lebanon towering above the little shrubs with regard to emerging saints of the period. Every single person on earth will see God within themselves, will know He is God, and will be free to either accept or reject Him.
Everyone will be given this chance, this choice. Believers and unbelievers alike.
Above all, however, the coming of the Kingdom will mark the process whereby Jews and Christians will at last be united. All the Churches will similarly re-unite and become One Church, as it was at the beginning of its history, under One God and Father; One Savior, the Redeemer, Jesus Christ; through the Holy Spirit. And the whole world shall witness the stupefying phenomenon, never before manifested, of
Let all of them be one as We are One (Jn 17:21).
The reign of the Divine Paternal Heart will come openly on earth.
What the Catholic Church is going through right now, both inside and outside of Herself, is just a necessary prelude to the above. No more, no less.
