Jesus uses the expression “at hand,” as in “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” It’s a phrase meaning “just around the corner, immanent, right over the horizon”

Feeling its pull, we can sense ourselves standing in expectation – head up, eyes open wide, straining to catch that first hint of what’s still on the way.

The phrase suggests staying alert and anticipating what comes next, not just living in the present.  Although conventional wisdom often encourages living in the present rather than focusing on a hazy future, the Scriptures consistently advocate looking ahead.  And that is, to stand at the edge of the now and then lean over its brink to catch vibrations of what’s ahead.

This is “Kingdom attentiveness,” alertness to places where:

• the hungry are being fed.
• the truth is being told
• the homeless are being sheltered
• women are being given equal rights
• compassion is outdistancing self-interest
• populations are resisting autocracy/oligarchy
• selflessness is making inroads against selfishness

These align with Jesus’ phrase “at hand;” i.e., something just breaking through, coming around the bend.

To attune ourselves to Jesus’ proclamation that the Reign of God is at hand, we’re challenged to develop a more focused sensitivity to places where that Kingdom is beginning to appear. Then reacting to that graced pull, doing what we can to coax those dawning realities back from their future and into the service of the here and now.

In a conference given toward the end of his life, Vincent visualizes God’s Kingdom as a beckoning lamp that steadily shines within us.

So then, let’s have this constant desire that the Kingdom of God may be extended, and the zeal to work with all our might at it so that, having obtained the Kingdom of God on earth, we may go to enjoy it in heaven. Let’s keep this lamp always lit in our hearts.

(Volume: 12 | Page#: 116) Seeking the Kingdom of God, 21 February, 1659 added on 6/28/2011