The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-11-04
THY KINGDOM COME"

In the second petition of the Our
Father, Thy Kingdom Come" We.
pray that God may reign, by his grace,
in our own hearts, and i'll the hearts
of all men; and that He may make it
possible for us to reign with Him in
eternal glory when III S~OjOurn OF pro
baton on earth shall have been COM
pleted. Gods rule over His creation
can be considered III three ways: the
rule of nature; the rule Of grace; and
the rule of glory, When we speak of
the rule or reign of nature, we mean
Gods exercise of Ills sovereignty over
all the objects Of His creation which
He has brought into being and con
tinues to preserve; which He governs
and directs absolutely by His infinite
wisdom: Thy reign, 0 Lord, is the
same i'll all ages, and reaches to all
places and all generations" This
domination of the Almighty is certain
and inevitable: it i'll no way depends
upon us, for we are necessarily sub
jeCt to it and unable, eve If we would,
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is not, then, for the realization of
Gods rule Of nature that we pray in
the second petition of the Our Father.
When We speak of Gods rule of
grace We mean His dominion over us,
in the sense that He reigns over our
minds by His truth; over our will by
His law; over our sense by His sane
tity; over II entire being by His
grace. Our Lcrd says: The King
dom Of God is within you" God
dWells within us, not only as in a
temple that He sanctifics, but as in
a body that He animates, WHITES and
preserves. His divine grace, that is to
say, His life, is in our souls; il gives
us light and strength to live our lives
as creatures Of God aided and abetted
by Gods helping grace; it is the rule
and principle of our thoughts and emo
tons; it directs and governs us,
marking all the actions of our soul
With the seal of divine grace.
This is the rule or reign of grace;
and it is for this that we pray in the
second petition of the Our Father.
We beseech God that we may be the
servants of His divine grace i'll every
thing we think, or do, or say: that we
may be willing subjects of Gods
dominion over us, that we ma con-
cedc to Him full and ~unreserYed dom
nation over all our faculties. Our
petition is that God may keep us al
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that we ourselves may do our part by
cooperating with the Creators good
ness in bestowing upon us whatever
helps are necessary to prevent our
ever transferring the allegiance and
service of our souls from Almighty
God to Satan, Prince of the devils;
and that if VT are unfortunate enough
to fall under the tyranny of the demon,
we may quickly. with Gods help, re-
turn to the reign of grace. That the
grace Of God may possess and protect
our souls, whole and entire, is the OBJ
ject of our second petition of the Our
Father.
Yet, our petition does not exclude
our prayer for the third rule or reign
of God, the reign of glory. The
dominion Of divine grace over our
souls is always incomplete and pre-
carious; we, only too often, place OBJ
stacles to its action upon US; we re-
sist the good thoughts and emotions
it suggests; we are in constant dan
ger of expelling it from our soul and
introducing in its place, by sin, the
dominion Of the power of darkness.
We do beseech God, then, that the
reign of glory may one day be real
lied for Us, that we may be in eternal
and secure possession of Heaven, to
live forever under the glorious domin-
ion of the Creator Who made us. We
yearn for that perfect Kingdom, when
God shall be all in all to US: when
all the fibers of our hearts shall love
Him: when sin shall be no longer
possible: when the perilous struggles
of this life shall give place to an
eternity of triumphant glory safe from
the slightest uneasiness or alarm:
when W e shall be crowned with I'M
fading laurels of eternal and immortal
JOY and honor; when we shall stand
close to the throne of the Almighty,
in the company of the saints, in full
enjoyment of the reign of glory for
which we have prayed SO often in the
second petition of the Our Father.
Thy Kingdom Come" is our prayer
for the coming of Gods Kingdom OF
grace within US, and our coming to
Gods Kingdom Of glory in Heaven.
Much depends upon ourselves as to-