As we come to the end of the Novena "Thy Kingdom Come", let Nicola Slee introduce us to the King of The Kingdom.
Matthew 25.31-46
I walk in your streets as the worker
the shirker
the youngster
the prankster
the heckler
the helper
the stumbler
the raver
the foreigner
the angel
the fool
the friend
I come to your door as the caller
the neighbour
the borrower
the lender
the maker
the mender
the carrier
the sender
the Bible-basher
the well-wisher
the angel
the fool
the friend
I sit at your table as the nearest
the dearest
the unexpected
the weary
the worried
the hassled
the hurried
the talkative
the taciturn
the angel
the fool
the friend
I speak in your heart as the courted
the cursed
the lonely
the silent
the searching
the discovering
the wounded
the wise one
the angel
the fool
the friend
Where you walk I am walking
where you open I am arriving
where you gather I am meeting
where you listen I am speaking
So welcome stranger and angel
the friend, foe and fool
to your homeland
to your kinfolk
to your lodging
to your table
to your chamber
to your hearth
to your heart
Embrace the stranger in yourself
meet yourself in the stranger
greet your God in the discovery of strangers become friends
and other becoming sisters and brothers
May we share in the Lord's kingship by serving him in the poor and the humble:
God, Father of the poor, your Son Jesus was born among us poor, humble and dependent. Open our eyes and our hearts and our hands to honour him now as our Lord and King by welcoming him in those who are hungry and thirsty, in all who are abandoned and lonely, in refugees, in the poor and the sick. Let our love become free and spontaneous, like the tenderness you have shown us in your Son. Welcome us in the everlasting Kingdom prepared for us through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
