SYNTHESIS PAPER

What is the Kingdom of God? Is the kingdom in the present or future? A key

element of Jesus’ teachings in the New Testament is the good news of the Kingdom of

God. What I learned is that the Kingdom of God does not refer to a particular place like

heaven or church but it is where we accept God, love him with our whole being and let

him rule our hearts. It does not ask us for a performance or something the we must do

in order to enter and it is also offered to everyone including our enemies as long as we

share the love of Christ in our hearts to everyone around us. For Jesus, the kingdom is

already present in us now but it is not fully completed yet and it will only be completed in

the future.

Vocation or a calling, it is God's personal individual invitation to carry out the unique

task he has for us. The Kingdom of God begins when when we accept him

wholeheartedly and a way to do that is responding to his call and accepting what he has

planned for us. We recognize our calling as we use the gifts and talents given to us by

God to serve others through time, we discover certain things we do feels right no matter

what comes along with it. Whenever we do it, it just brings us a deep sense of fulfillment

and happiness. It feels so natural and makes us feel so good that we know that this is

god’s special task for us; this is what we were meant to do. But sometimes just because

it feels good doesn’t mean it’s really our calling. Maybe it is close to our calling but it’s

not really it. To make sure we are responding to the right calling, we must be aware of
all the commitment, choices and decisions we have to make and all of its outcomes. I

think an answer to a calling with awareness is when you do something and you feel

nothing but fulfillment and happiness. While answering a calling without awareness is

when you do something and it makes you feel fulfilled and happy but there are still

doubts and you have thoughts of leaving it for something. Like in the film, Keeping the

Faith, Brian Finn is a dedicated priest, he is strong believer in the power of faith, but he

began to doubt the strength of his own will when his old friend Anna comes back into his

life. I think he should’ve thought more about the commitment, the choices, things he

wouldn’t get to do, the things would lose and everything before choosing his vocation.

He should’ve thought harder of the possibility of falling and love. I think him feeling

doubts means that maybe he’s happy with what he’s doing but he not entirely. For me,

it’s not what God has planned for you if you don’t feel fully happy and fulfilled when

doing it.