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Saint Josemaria
Quotations from Saint Josemaria

The kingdom of heaven: what is it?

Tags: Heaven, Jesus Christ, Ascetical struggle, Holiness
Christ’s kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures through all generations (Dan 3:100).

The solemnity of Christ the King of the universe is celebrated on the last Sunday of the liturgical year. The kingship of Christ remained completely hidden until he was 30 years old, years spent in an ordinary life in Nazareth. Then, during his public life, Jesus inaugurated the new Kingdom which “does not belong to this world” (Jn 18: 36), and finally, with his death and Resurrection, he fully established it. Benedict XVI, 20 November 2005.


Christ’s kingdom is not just a figure of speech. Christ is alive; he lives as a man, with the same body he took when he became man, when he rose after his death, the glorified body which subsists in the person of the Word together with his human heart. Christ, true God and true man, lives and reigns. He is the Lord of the universe. Everything that lives is kept in existence only through him. Why, then, does he not appear to us in all his glory? Because his kingdom is “not of this world,” though it is in this world. Jesus replied to Pilate: “I am a king. For this I was born and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” Those who expected the Messiah to have visible temporal power were mistaken. “The kingdom of God does not mean food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Christ is Passing By, 180.

His kingdom will not achieve its perfection on earth. The definitive judgment of salvation or condemnation will not be made here. It is rather like sowing seed, like the growth of the grain of mustard seed. At its finish it will be like the net full of fish — they are all thrown out on the sand and sorted into those who led a just life and those who did evil. But as long as we live here the kingdom can be compared to yeast which a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour so that the whole batch was leavened.
Christ is Passing By, 180

Christ’s kingdom in everyday things
There is no human situation, no matter how trivial and ordinary it may seem, which cannot be a meeting-place with Christ and a step forward on our journey toward the kingdom of heaven.
Christ is Passing By, 22

In the middle of daily work, when they have to overcome their selfishness, when they are enjoying the cheerful friendship of other people, Christians should rediscover God. Through Christ and in the Holy Spirit, Christians have access to the intimacy of God the Father, and they spend their lives looking for the Kingdom which is not of this world, but which is initiated and prepared in this world.
Christ is Passing By, 116

Much more than all of that
Consider what is most beautiful and most noble on earth, what pleases the mind and the other faculties, and what delights the flesh and the senses. And the world, and the other worlds that shine in the night: the whole universe. Well this, along with all the follies of the heart satisfied, is worth nothing, is nothing and less than nothing compared with this God of mine! — of yours! Infinite treasure, pearl of great price, humbled, become a slave, reduced to the form of a servant in the stable where he chose to be born, in Joseph’s workshop, in his passion and in his ignominious death... and in the madness of Love which is the blessed Eucharist.
The Way, 432

You wrote: “Simile est regnum caelorum — the Kingdom of God is like a treasure... This passage from the Holy Gospel has fallen on my soul and taken root. I had read it so many times before, without grasping its meaning, its divine flavour.”
Yes, everything! The prudent man has to sell everything to obtain the treasure — the precious pearl of Glory.
The Forge, 993

In Christ we have every ideal: for he is King, he is Love, he is God.
The Way, 426

It is won by the holy battle of each moment
Some behave, throughout their lives, as though Our Lord had only talked of self-giving and upright behaviour to those who did not find it hard — they don’t exist! — or to those who don’t need to fight.
They forget that Jesus said, for all: the Kingdom of heaven is won by violence, by the holy battle of every moment.
Furrow, 130

It is for everyone
‘Here is an image of the kingdom of heaven; a rich man went out at daybreak to hire labourers for his vineyard.’ You know how the story continues. The man goes back several times to the marketplace to hire workers. Some were called at dawn, others almost at nightfall.
All receive a silver piece, ‘the wages that I promised you, in other words, my own image and likeness. For the image of the King is engraved on each silver piece.’ Such is the mercy of God. He calls each one bearing in mind their personal circumstances, because he wants ‘all men to be saved’. In our case, we were born Christians, brought up in the faith, and then we received a clear calling from Our Lord. The facts are undeniable. Therefore, when you sense he’s beckoning you, even if it is at the last hour, how can you think of lingering in the marketplace, basking in the sun as so many of those workers did, because they had time on their hands?
We should never have time on our hands, not even a second — and I am not exaggerating. There is work to be done. The world is a big place and there are millions of souls who have not yet heard the doctrine of Christ in all its clarity. I am addressing each one of you individually. If you have time on your hands, think again a little. It’s quite likely that you have become lukewarm; that, supernaturally speaking, you have become a cripple. You are not moving, you are at a standstill. You are barren, you are not doing all the good you should be doing to the people around you, in your environment, in your work and in your family.
Friends of God, 42

The door to Heaven
This is the key to open the door and enter the Kingdom of Heaven: qui facit voluntatem Patris mei qui in coelis est, ipse intrabit in regnum coelorum — he who does the will of my Father... he shall enter!
The Way, 754

Look: in the eyes of our Mother Mary we never cease to be little, because she opens to us the way to the Kingdom of Heaven, which will only be given to those who become little children. We should never separate ourselves from Our Lady. How should we honour her? By keeping close to her, talking to her, showing her that we love her, pondering in our hearts the scenes of her life on earth and telling her about our struggles, successes and failures.
Friends of God, 290