In his new book, "Seek First the Kingdom," Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl calls on Catholics to seek God's kingdom and then reflect it in their everyday lives. When Catholics deepen their own faith, their hearts are transformed, and when they share it with others, they can change their community, their nation and their world, the cardinal wrote in his book, which is subtitled "Challenging the Culture by Living Our Faith. To be in the kingdom is to be with Christ always, and to be for Christ always, in season and out of season, in private and in public, on the job and on our days off," he wrote in the book, which was published in November by Our Sunday Visitor. At a time when many people only know kingdoms from history, fairy tales and royal weddings, Cardinal Wuerl points out how God's kingdom "forms the heart of the Gospel," and as Pope Benedict XVI has noted, the phrase "the kingdom of God" appears 122 times in the New Testament, including in 90 quotes from Jesus in the Gospels. Cardinal Wuerl's new book emphasizes the importance of Catholics taking up Pope Benedict's call for the new evangelization, to learn their faith, to live it and share it with others, especially family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers who may have drifted away from the faith or never heard the good news of Jesus. The book also encourages Catholics to reflect their faith at home, in the workplace, in their community and in the public square. "You could make a very strong case that 'Seek First the Kingdom' is a response to the question, 'How do we do the new evangelization?'" the cardinal said in an interview with the Catholic Standard, Washington archdiocesan newspaper. In his book, Cardinal Wuerl noted that, in the face of the world's secularism, materialism and individualism that distract people from Christ and from true happiness, Pope Benedict has called on Catholics to be engaged in the work of the new evangelization, "to re-propose the perennial truth of Christ's Gospel."

Prayer should not center just on asking God to fulfill one's hopes and desires, but must include praise, thanks and trust in God's plan which may not match one's own, Pope Benedict XVI said. The way Jesus prayed to his Father "teaches us that in our own prayers, we must always trust in the Father's will and strive to see all things in light of his mysterious plan of love," he said during his weekly general audience. In his catechesis to nearly 6,000 people in the Vatican audience hall, Pope Benedict continued a series of talks on Christian prayer. Everyone should seek to understand that when asking something of God in prayer, "we mustn't expect the immediate fulfillment of what we are asking for, of our will, but rather trust in the will of the Father," the pope said. Requests, praise and thanks must be included in every prayer. "even when it seems to us that God is not living up to our real expectations," he said. Prayer is a dialogue with God and entails "abandoning oneself to God's love," he said. The most important thing to discover, the pope said, is that the one who answers humanity's prayers is more important than the actual prayers answered. Jesus showed that before grace is received, one must "adhere to the giver" of that grace, that is, align oneself and comply with God, the pope said.

We are constantly hearing of the ways in which new technologies are denigrating our lives. So it was with joy that I read the following story. Most colleges require students to put away their cellphones during class. However, for one class at The Catholic University of America, not bringing a cellphone to class can result in loss of points from their participation grade. Cellphone photography is a new class at Catholic University in Washington that allows students to see photography in a fresh way and explore a device they carry with them every day in a different way. Students are told to turn their everyday lives into a book of photographs. For example, one assignment was to take photos on their phone at their Thanksgiving dinner celebration with their families. Only a handful of other universities offer a class like the one taught at Catholic University. The class encourages students to post the photos taken in class on their social media sites and is taught by professional photographer Matthew Barrick. "The goal of this class is to show the true creative art of photography using a cellphone. You have your camera with you 24 hours a day," Barrick said. The class assignments consist of weekly blog entries that must include pictures students took that week on their phones, as well as ongoing work on their final project. The class's final project is called "100 photographs in 100 days," and the students can take pictures of anything they want with their phones over the course of the semester. Then, they pick the best photos and put them into an online photo book for the professor to review and grade. Barrick emphasizes that it does not matter what type of phone students use, as long as it has a camera. He thinks the most important part is that students use their eyes and imagination to take the best photos possible. I encourage you to do the same thing. Use your phone to capture the good int eh world. Put the things that you find that remind us that God is at work in a picture and then post that picture online. It just might reveal the face of God to someone who really needs to begin a relationship with our Holy Father.

Are you aware that we are presently living in the Millennium described to us in the Book of Revelation? This may come as a surprise to many of us, especially those of us who have read the Left Behind series or other premillennial works like it. The Church adheres to the prevailing idea that we are currently living in the Christian age. Now that raises some very important questions about what is going on with our world. As with anything, it all depends on perspective. Before the Millennium, Satan was able to block the sharing of the Gospel. People were not able to share in the Good News. Very few people in fact even knew about God and His message. After Jesus Christ came to defeat death, the message of salvation offered through our loving God was revealed to all. The destruction of death involves the resurrection of the dead—all of the dead, not just some dead, or death would not have been destroyed. This occurs in Revelation 20:13–14, which is after the Millennium (cf. Rev. 20:1–6). So what does that have to do with the modern day world? In a word, everything. The promise is not that the world will be free of temporal problems but that the Devil will be bound in such a way that he cannot deceive the nations. That has happened. He has been bound in such a way that he cannot stop the proclamation of the gospel. As Jesus himself said when reflecting on the results of the disciples’ ministry, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18). Today a third of the human race is Christian, and fully half of the human race worships God in one way or another. The remainder has—with few exceptions—at least heard of the true God, and by the standards of biblical history, knowledge of the Lord does indeed cover the earth like the waters cover the sea. The light has dawned, and the darkness been dispelled. The biblical prophets would have wept for joy at the unimaginable prospect that so much of the human race would have embraced the worship of God. This was simply unthinkable in their time, and they would have regarded the current age—for all its problems—as unquestionably golden. Does this mean that we are done with our work? Absolutely not. There are many people who have not realized the majesty of God. There are people all around the world who have not heard about Jesus Christ. Many of our close friends, co-workers, and even family members have not embraced the salvation that God offers. They do not realize that the Holy Spirit resides in them and is available to them at all times. So this Christmas season is about your responsibility to open their eyes. It doesn't only have to occur in words. You can reveal the face of Christ to people through your actions. You can show them that God loves them by allowing Him to use you. After their eyes are opened, you can then begin to share all of your faith with them. It is such a powerful journey. Don't you want to share it?