Today is the last day in our Church’s liturgy
year. Today, we say goodbye to the
English translation of the mass that we’ve been using for many decades, as next
Sunday we will receive the New Roman Missal that we have been anticipating for
many months. This last Sunday of the
liturgical year is the day we celebrate Christ the King. When we think about a king in our secular
world, we think about the leader of a nation who has great power and
might. In our modern world, most of our
countries are ruled by elected leaders, so the image of a king perhaps is not
as powerful as it was a few centuries ago or in Jesus’ day. Today, as followers of Jesus, by the grace of
God at work in our lives, we are able to say that Jesus is our king, the true
ruler that we have in our lives. We are able to recognize Jesus as our king
even though he came as a king who had a crown of thorns instead of crown of
gold and jewels, as a king who was crucified on a cross rather than having a
seat on a grand throne.
Jesus is a king who confronts and challenges our
earthly stereotypes. Jesus fulfills
Ezekiel’s prophecies, for he is also the shepherd who tends his flocks, who
finds his sheep that are scattered and that have lost their way, who takes them
out to pasture and who will give them rest.
Jesus himself tells us in today’s Gospel that in the end times, he will
come to us seated in glory on his throne in God’s heavenly kingdom, where he
will preside over the final judgment as he separates the sheep from the
goats. And just what will the criteria
be? We will not be judged as to how
successful we were in our careers, not on the riches or possessions we’ve
accumulated, not on how powerful and intelligent we are, but rather how we’ve
reached out to those in need: to the prisoner, to those who are thirsty and hungry,
to those who are ill and in the hospital, to those without clothing.
We can talk about and learn about our Catholic
doctrine and dogmas, about God’s laws and the foundational beliefs of our
faith, but at the heart of all of those things we must have an experience with
God and an encounter with the divine mystery in our lives. And it is only through this experience, this
encounter, that we can truly say that Jesus is our king and our shepherd, and
really live out our faith in our lives.
Father Ron Rolhesier and other spiritual writers
challenge us not just to see Jesus as a noun, but also as a verb. There is so much about our faith that perhaps
we don’t understand. But, Jesus as our
shepherd, as our king, is a verb of action that calls us to a way of life, to
an active, life-giving relationship with our Lord and Savior. In living out the spirit of Christ’s
presence, the spirit of the Eucharist that feeds and nurtures our faith, we are
to bring our faith into action as well, to reach out and serve our brothers and
sisters, especially the least in our society.
We are called to be welcoming and hospitable, to be a good listener, to
be a witness who is willing to share his own story and who encourages others to
tell their stories as well. We are
called to share the concerns of our hearts with others, to follow the ways that
the Spirit is calling us, to make the connection between Jesus’ life and
ministry and our own lives.
Heeding Jesus’ call is not always easy
for us to do. It may invade our comfort
zones that we have in place in our lives.
We may see ourselves as good people who care and who try to live out our
faith. But when we see a child on the
streets who is hungry and uncared for, do we think, “Well, that’s not my
child.” When we are confronted with the
widow who is lonely and crying out for her loss, do we think, “Well, that’s not
my mom.” When we see the homeless man
who is all dirty and unshaven, standing in line at the soup kitchen to get
something to eat, muttering something incomprehensible under his breath, do we
think, “Well, that’s not my dad.” We can
say that we don’t care, that we are oblivious to all of the hurt, the pain, the
human misery that is around us. In the Gospel, both the righteous and those who
just don’t care, ask the question, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or
thirsty, sick, imprisoned, or naked?”
Yet, through our faith, through our spiritual creativity and
imagination, we hear the call from our God to see the world in a new way, to
see Christ’s presence in so many different ways in our world. God’s gives us this gift. Then, we respond.
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