Doing, Not Being
“The important question to ask,” Ken said, “is not what we are as a Church, but what we are to do!  This is nothing short of the renovation of the entire world.”  The Church, and on the local scene, the parish, “is to act as the instrument for bringing about the Reign of God in all of creation.”  Each parish is to work at bringing about justice for all, any and every way possible.  He explained that during the Eucharistic Prayer the gathered assembly, and the priest praying on its behalf, was not reverencing Jesus.  Rather, during this special prayer, the Whole Christ was being offered to the Father.  Every word of that Prayer is being addressed to the Father.  The priest is talking to God on behalf of all of us, offering a “toast to God,” as Ken put it.  We together are saying to God the Father, as the Eucharistic Prayer reaches its climax, “We’re with him (Christ), and we are giving ourselves completely to God as Jesus did on the cross.  “Through him, with him, in him, . . . all glory and honor is Yours . . . “  At this moment we are standing with Christ in his work of bringing all creation to the Reign of God.  At this moment the assembly commits itself to keeping alive the wonderful message of Christ bringing about the transformation of all creation.  

Rising to a New Level
“This Reign of God will take shape,” Ken went on to say, “when we rise to a new level.  Instead of hating our enemy, we absorb the evil and love our enemies.”  In so doing, we bring goodness to the whole world.  This is what every parish is meant to do.  It is not a collection of individuals but a community of believers who together gradually seek to move the human race to a new awareness, a new way of acting and behaving.  The only way we are going to make this happen is by living this “new way” ourselves.  We try to live a life that brings us closer to the Reign of God; we are leaven in the larger mass of humanity.  Each individual plays a part in this effort because the human race can be saved through each person’s “immediate experience of God, over and over again.”  We are all called to be mystics in our prayer and in our actions.  But this can not be accomplished on our own.  We need each other.  The efforts at communal bonding are essential.  The parish may not be an effective entity on its own, but with prayer, faith and unbounded hope in the Spirit’s work among us, each parish community can make a difference, can help nurture the Reign of God in its midst. 

The Meaning of Hope
Ken concluded his talk with an emphasis on hope.  “This is not a feeling,” Ken mentioned, “but an infused virtue from the Spirit.  It comes from God and goes back to God, taking everything with it.”  All creation has a destiny and our role is to transform it through our undying hope.  That means we must take risks at the present time because we hope in a future full of God’s Reign.  We are called to “pull goodness out of all evil,” hoping for a new way of acting, a new way of relating.  This is what we do in all aspects of the parish, with the Christ alive in the parish community, we bring about the Reign of God, always through him, with him, in him, and it starts right now!