On this Wednesday of the third week of Advent in the calendar year A of the liturgical cycle, we come to a very beautiful and powerful theme: the Kingdom of God that endures forever. My brothers and sisters, in the first reading from Genesis, Jacob’s blessing over Judah is not merely a paternal blessing, but a royal and prophetic blessing. He says, “The scepter shall never depart from Judah.” And this establishes Judah as the enduring royal tribe, which was the principal indication by God to reveal his plan of the kingdom that lasts forever.