One day, everything will converge in this single point: His face.

And what we once sensed will become brilliantly clear. In Jesus Christ, God has summed up all things—everything in heaven and on earth. All life flows from Him and finds its meaning in Him. He is the source of goodness, wherever it is found.

At a critical moment in the journey, Jesus asks: «Who do you say the Son of Man is?» He does not ask for clever answers. He asks us to put into words who He is—for us.

Long before we seek Him, He seeks us. To restore our true humanity, the Son of Man stoops down to meet our thirst. «Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink,» says Jesus.

To seek Him means giving Him what is precious—our attention. It means listening for His voice: in the words of faith and the life of the Church; in all that lives; in the face of our neighbor; in the silence of the heart.

Those who seek will be found. And those found by Christ are united with Him in the struggle for life in the world.

Wherever community is built, wherever life is lived more simply, and wherever justice is promoted—there Christ takes form in the world. There, the Kingdom of God breaks forth.

One day, He—the One crowned with thorns—will lift the earth up to God. Reconciled.

It is in the encounter with a «Thou» that the «I» comes into being. It is through the people we meet that life meets us—in a child’s play and the warmth of friends, in the resistance of colleagues and the protest of a teenager. Here, the longing is born: to belong, to be seen, to be included; to embrace and to be embraced.

We are created in God’s image for life and community. The One who created us is the archetype of community: Father, Son, and Spirit. This image of togetherness is what Christ came to call forth within us.

We live in an unfaithful age. It institutionalizes a different image: you are the creator of your own life. Your freedom is a freedom *from* others—from the boundaries they set. Relationships become something we can use for our own ends. This image reinforces our fundamental brokenness—our tendency to turn inward upon ourselves. The consequences spread like frost among us: broken relationships, indifference, and overconsumption.

Building community means allowing oneself to open up. It means turning toward something so vast that it can only be grasped by many, together. We build it by meeting, by keeping shared dreams alive, and through a willingness to commit.

Community also entails pain. Nothing lays bare weaknesses, antipathies, and vulnerabilities quite like community does. Thus, we are torn between our need for belonging and our reluctance to face the pain that community brings. Community is built in families and neighborhoods, in friendships, at work, and in society—in encounters with strangers and in working for worthy causes.

Jesus is the vine; we are the branches. He is present within this holy diversity. He says: «Apart from me you can do nothing.» Therefore, we seek Him, who is the root of the Church’s community. Together with “all the saints,” we can “grasp the breadth and length, the height and depth of Christ’s love.”

One day, far more of us than we realize will sit together at the table in the Kingdom of God and celebrate.

Simplicity is a slow process of shedding layers—around a core of joy.

Such is the dynamic of simplification: It is about finding the pearl of life. It is about the great freedom that opens up in the pearl’s luster, and about what we must let go of to grasp it. Jesus calls the pearl the Kingdom of Heaven. And the Kingdom of Heaven is He Himself, and all that He transforms.

We live in an age that weighs us down. Our footprints upon the earth have become heavy and vast. We trample the fields of the poor, empty the oceans, and destroy the earth. Consumer culture appeals to our fears and our greed. It eats into our self-image with its seductive dreams. It fills our time with impressions while draining it of true presence. We are seduced into professing that it is what we own that gives life. We put our faith in money and console ourselves with God.

To live more simply means putting first things first. It means refusing to settle for what is insufficient. We are called to let go of small securities for the sake of the great one; to abandon the superficial for that which endures.

Simplicity is a slow process of shedding layers—around a core of joy. When the shells crack open, it may taste of loss and death. Yet, whoever loses their life shall find it.

Injustice cries out from the earth to the heavens. And God has chosen a side.

Where people are trampled upon, where lives are laid waste, where human dignity is violated—there, too, God is violated.

The cries are many. From people discriminated against for their race, their faith, or their gender. From slave laborers. From prisoners held without due process. From the abused and mistreated. From the landless. From refugees. From people deprived of their daily bread.

The power of money spreads. It takes from the hungry and gives to the well-fed. It lays claim to us with its cold laws. Profitability has become the god and supreme standard of our time.

Through Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God breaks forth. Where this Kingdom spreads, both poor and rich are set free. Redistribution takes place. Equality, justice, and peace are fostered. Oppressive forces and systems are combated. Counter-structures are built, and hope is kindled.

God has chosen a side. He calls us to choose between right and wrong.

We do not fight alone. We are part of a community spanning two thousand years and every continent. The Kingdom of God has already drawn near.