Kingdom of God | As A Little Child

“A Christian is called to commit himself concretely to human and social realities without opposing “God” and “Caesar”; to oppose God and Caesar would be a fundamentalist attitude.” – Pope Francis at yesterday’s angelus address

Meanwhile, yesterday I wrote a post literally titled Caesar vs. God.

Of course, Pope Francis wasn’t speaking infallibly, so I’m not obliged to change my mind. But still, I really don’t like to disagree with the Pope, nor to be called a fundamentalist. And yet on the other hand, I really can’t help feeling that the interpretation I gave makes far more sense, given all we know.

Pope Francis doesn’t seem, in the quote, to mean Tiberius Caesar himself, but rather the world, which helps a little. And I don’t believe that Christianity is at war with all the world. But I do believe that worldly power (all the forces of control and destruction) and divine power (which is love and humility and service) are utterly incompatible. I believe the cross itself reveals this.

I’m not saying that Jesus came to overthrow any government. Whatever government is in power, however good or bad, is part of God’s plan, in which, ‘We know that all things work together for God, for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.’ [Rm 8:28].

I won’t even go so far as saying government is always bad. But I will say, that the power that is according to the world, the power that is power over, is contrary to God and to all goodness.

I don’t know if this makes me a fundamentalist…

What do you think? Am I missing something?

Thank you, and God bless

The Resurrection should be understood as a challenge to the world. Death has been overcome, and now, the children of God have nothing left to fear.

There’s a lot to leave us feeling hopeless in the world today. There’s war, poverty, loneliness, abortion, hatred, murder, human trafficking, racism, addiction, euthanasia, exploitation, ignorance, terrorism, sexual abuse, genocides, corruption, divorce, torture, and the list just goes on and on. We live, undeniably, in a culture of death and indifference.

And of course, a culture of death requires and creates for itself a culture of indifference. When we’re surrounded by so much death, the easiest way to deal with it is simply to die inside, closing our eyes and hearts. We package away the suffering in little boxes, which we’ll return to occasionally, to cry a little, give some money, and so relieve what’s left of our consciences a little bit. If we let our hearts open to all the misery and death around us, we’d be unable to let it go on. We would be compelled to stand against the forces of death that surround us.

But what use is it? Who can fight against the empire of death and win? Especially when death reigns even in our own hearts?

ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! ALLELUIA!

You cannot kill a Christian! We cannot die! God is on our side! God has justified the crucified! Nothing can ever overcome the children of God. Nothing can stop the Kingdom of God.

Therefore, we must live in a new manner. The dying things of the world no longer matter. Nothing matters, except the true life we have been given, the life of absolute love, the life of the children of God, the life of heaven.

Jesus is vindicated, and His way is proven right. And so we can accept Him, His love, His truth, in all His weakness. His death is only half the story.

And so we can and must walk in His ways, taking up our crosses, the pains and injustices around us, and entering them, transforming them, with a fearless love. Nothing, not even death, can stop the children of God, and that is what we are.

This is the freedom we must live out in the face of all the death surrounding us on every side. We must live in the victory already won.
God bless you! Christ is risen!