From the responsorial psalm: "Blessed they who dwell in your house! continually they praise you. Blessed the men whose strength you are! They go from strength to strength. Here God lives among his people."
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 21:28)
Jesus told his disciples a parable. “Consider the fig tree and all the other trees. When their buds burst open, you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near; in the same way, when you see these things happening, know that the Kingdom of God is near. Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
Jesus describes what the coming of the kingdom of God looks like in a tender comparison of the fig tree and all other trees. It buds and yet is to bud. Already here and yet to be, its coming looks like all the opening up to warmth and new life that summer brings. The generation in which Jesus spoke these words has passed away, but the kingdom was present then, is here now, and is yet to open wider. "Jesus Christ," Saint Paul says, "is the same yesterday, and today, and forever."
God, just as the buds of the fig tree burst open, let the coming of your kingdom work in me to bud and bring new life. The psalmist prays "Here God lives among his people." Already here and yet to come, your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Let me remember throughout the day to radiate your love and praise you. Give me the opportunity to show others whose strength it is—from strength to strength—that finds a home in a soul that cries out for the living God. Lord, keep me in your kingdom as I seek to remain in you for eternal life.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
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