Blessed is the Kingdom…

What does it mean to bless the kingdom?  It means that we acknowledge and confess it to be our highest and ultimate value, the object of our desire, our love and our hope.  It means that we proclaim it to be the goal of the sacrament–of pilgrimage, ascension, entrance–that now begins.  It means that we must focus our attention, our mind, heart and soul, i.e., our whole life, upon that which is truly the “one thing needful.”  Finally, it means that now, already in “this world,” we confirm the possibility of communion with the kingdom, of entrance into its radiance, truth and joy.  Each time that Christians “assemble as the Church” they witness before the whole world that Christ is King and Lord, that his kingdom has already been revealed and given to man and that a new and immortal life has begun.  This is why the liturgy begins with this solemn confession and doxology of the King who comes now, but abides forever and shall reign unto ages of ages. Fr. Schmemann, The Eucharist (pp. 47, 48)