Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
The Kingdom Of God Is Near
In the famous chapter 7 of Daniel, a mysterious “Son of Man” (a human being) is announced. Is he an individual or a community? He belongs to both earth and heaven and will inaugurate a kingdom that comes as a gift from God, not as an earthly conquest. Jesus will apply this title to himself and purify it. Empires built on power and godlessness are ridiculed: they are likened to statues with feet of clay, or to monstrous animals. God will judge them, so they will disappear. The faithful should keep hope in patience: God’s kingdom is near. There are not only tensions and conflicts inside God’s people and from outside: there are also signs of hope, and we should see these signs.



