The Proclamation of the Kingdom. Pope John-Paul II added the “Luminous Mysteries” to the Holy Rosary. They cover five of the things that Jesus did between the Finding in the Temple and the Agony in the Garden.
Proclaiming The Kingdom of God is the Third Luminous Mystery. By that Proclamation, mankind was divided into those within the Kingdom and those outside. Some understood and moved into the Kingdom. Others were too mired in the things of Creation to break free.
The difficulty of moving into The Kingdom shows that God did a wonderful job programming us and Creation in such a way that only very special people could escape the mire.
We are made in such a way that we want the things of Creation very much. It helps to understand that they are merely a test to see if we can get beyond them. Just knowing that there is a “Kingdom of God” is a great help in getting to it.
The battle is daily. Hourly. We all want “just a little bit more”. We are all convinced that we need “just a little bit more”. With very little prompting, we can make a good case that we do, in actual fact, need “just a little bit more”. In most cases, it’s a fact. All of us, at any given time, do need “just a little bit more”.
The most important thing that all of us really will need is a little more time at the end to say “I’m sorry”.
In fact, it’s hard for us to look at things, and not think about having them. “I need one of those.” is one of our most common thoughts. It’s so frequent that it’s not much more noticeable than breathing.