Today, we have reached the end of our liturgical year. We celebrate a great fundamental truth of our Catholic faith in today’s celebration, that Christ is the King of the Universe, the Lord of all, the judge of the living and the dead.
In the context of Church history, this feast was declared by Pope Pius XI during the Jubilee year of 1925 as requested by many Bishops and many of the Catholic faithful around the world. In that era, many communist and nationalistic movements around the world in places like Russia and Mexico were trying to suppress the presence of Christianity and the practice of the Catholic faith. One Jesuit Catholic priest in Mexico, Father Miguel Pro, whose feast day is celebrated today (November 23), risked his life and wore different disguises in order to bring the sacraments to the Catholic faithful. When Blessed Miguel was arrested and brought before the firing squad, he shouted as the soldiers raised their rifles to kill him: “Viva Cristo Rey!” — “Long live Christ the King!”
We have had many kings rule on earth throughout history. So, we might ask the question, what type of King is Jesus? His kingdom and his rule as king defies many expectations. When Jesus was crucified on the cross with the two thieves, he certainly did not look like the king people expected. He was hammered to a cross, not seated on a throne. He was crowned with thorns, not with gold and jewels. To ridicule and mock him, an inscription was placed above his head: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” The crowds, the chief priests, and the Roman soldiers mocked him rather than pay him homage. The soldiers derided him, telling him that if he truly was a king, he should step off the cross and save himself, showing a type of kingly power that they could comprehend. The Jews thought that Jesus would rule as a king similar to his ancestor King David. They did not expect Jesus to come as a king would want to serve others and who would suffer a horrible death. Both the Romans and the Jews thought that kingship would be associated with military might and power. Instead, Jesus saw kingship as representing God’s truth and proclaiming that the meek would inherit the earth. Jesus tells his apostles that he as the son of man came to serve, not to be served, to give his life for the ransom of many. To be a part of Christ’s kingdom, we too are called to be servants, called to give of ourselves to others.
In Luke’s Gospel, the good thief turned to Jesus and asked that he be remembered when Jesus comes into this kingdom. Jesus promised him that he would join him in paradise. As we place our hope in the eternal life to come with Jesus in his kingdom, we are to recognize the loving communion that we are to forge with Jesus in the present.
I remember being at the shrine Lourdes in France at the Eucharistic procession. In the darkness of night, thousands of pilgrims come together to pray the rosary, each pilgrim praying the rosary in his own language. We did this not only to honor Mary at this holy pilgrimage site of her apparition, where she appeared to the St Bernadette back in 1858. We prayed with Mary and the other pilgrims as disciples of Christ, as Mary brought us closer to her son. I felt all the prayers of my parishioners and the inmates in our prison ministry accompanying me in the rosary procession in a very real way. Through that Lourdes pilgrimage, I really felt that I was honoring Christ as our Lord and Savior, honoring Christ as our king.
This is the last weekend in our liturgical year. Next week, we start a new liturgical year in our Advent journey as we prepare for the coming of Jesus of Christmas. May the reality of Christ the King permeate our hearts today as we continue on our journey of faith.
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