Are You A Kingdom Builder?

We should all long for one thing, that is Eternal Glory with Jesus Christ. Most Christians if asked would most likely say that if they were to die they would go to Heaven. However, Jesus himself says in Luke 13:24 that the gate into Heaven is “narrow”, He continues saying “many will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” 

St. John Vianney once remarked to his parishioners: “O my dear parishioners, let us endeavor to get to heaven! There we shall see God. How happy we shall feel! If the parish is converted we shall go there in procession with the parish priest at the head. … We must get to heaven!”

St. Vianney suggests that to get to heaven is an “endeavor”, meaning that one must work hard to attain Eternal Glory. Quite literally everything that we do should lift our souls up to God, we should strive to unite ourselves closely to God in this world, so that in the next we may be even closer. Therefore, we should strive to daily work for God’s Kingdom and build it up! 

It may be easier for us to already point out the elements of our lives that build up the Kingdom of God and raise our minds towards Him. However, we must strive to unite ourselves with Christ in all that we do. Therefore we must bring Christ into all of our conversations, actions, activities, work, and perhaps most importantly into our time of leisure. By completing a thorough Examination of Conscience many of the times we fail to bring Christ into our lives should be made visible. It is then through the Sacrament of Reconciliation that we renew to Christ our Baptismal Promises and pray to stay closely united to Him and to His Church. 

The secular culture today makes it rather hard, however, to bring Christ into all the moments of our lives. There is a constant infiltration of secularized opinions that make their way into our homes and daily life. While these opinions and ideas may look attractive, the Church through the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that in all things we must remain faithful to Christ, and not to an idea or an opinion. We should build up the Kingdom of God in our homes and conversations, assuring that the secularist culture does not infiltrate our union with God. Being in union with Christ isn’t an ignorance of these opposing opinions, rather it is acknowledging that these opinions go against Christ and His Church, and we must remain faithful to Christ.

There is an urgent need for the sake of our Eternal Salvation and those around us that we become “kingdom builders” so that in all things we do we may grow closer to Christ, and in return share Christ with the world. We shouldn’t fear our eternal destination due to the words of Christ in Luke 13:24, rather we should live daily in imitation of the life of Christ, so that one day we may share in the Eternal Glory with the saints in Heaven. Few will enter, may we be in that select few to be welcomed by the eternal embrace of God.