This weekend, as we head into Thanksgiving week, we celebrate the solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, honoring his supreme authority over all God’s creation. Pope Pius XI first established this celebration in 1925 in a world that was seeing increasing secularism, atheism, and dictatorship governments forming around that tried to push religions to the sidelines. When first established, this feast day was celebrated on the last Sunday in October, but Pope Paul VI moved it in 1969 to the last Sunday in the liturgical year right before the beginning of Advent.
We have seen different world leaders and different empires come and go, but the kingdom of Christ that we celebrate at Mass today is eternal. We are called to surrender us to Christ and his rule. Our practice of our faith is not just to be on certain occasions, such as when we go to Mass each weekend. Our public life and private devotions are all to the be reflections of our faith life and our life of discipleship, aligned to the values of Christ’s kingdom.
Commenting on today’s feast day, Pope Francis stated that often, the kingdoms of this world are characterized by rivalries, arrogance, and oppression, very different from Christ’s kingdom of justice, peace, and love of God and love of neighbor. When the world thinks of power, it often thinks of vengeance and military might. When we think of power in the context of our Christian faith, we are to think about the power of the cross and the strength of Christ’s love for us. That love is always stedfast and complete, even when faced with rejection. Christ’s love is the fulfillment of his life of complete surrender for the benefit of humanity and of our salvation.
Pope Benedict XVI comments about Christ the king build upon the words of Pope Francis. He sees with power of Christ as being very different from the power of our earthly kings and governmental leaders and the powerful leaders of commerce and industry. Christ’s power is the divine power to give us eternal life, to liberate us from sin and the forces of evil in the world, and to defeat the domain of death. The power of Christ can draw good from evil and can liberate us from anger and hardness of heart. The power of Christ can bring peace to the harshest of conflicts and can be a light shining in the midst of so much despair and darkness. Yet, the Kingdom of Grace is never imposed upon us. Christ’s kingdom invites us in and always respects our human freedom.
When I think of all of you men here at CMCF, I think of how it is so easy to get caught up in anger and sarcasm, to be in denial of the love of Christ’s kingdom that is being offered to us. It is easy to feel separated from Christ’s kingdom within this world of CMCF. Thus, it is important to make the decision to open our hearts to Christ’s kingdom, and I know that this might seem like an impossibility some days. It is easy to get complacent. In the free world, it can play out in the same way. If we separate ourselves from God’s kingdom and from a life of prayer and the values of our faith, all those things can seem far away and our lives then go in a different direction far away from Christ’s kingdom. It is a choice I have to make each day, even as a priest, to be in the world of Christ’s kingdom. It is a choice that all of us have to make.
Our readings on Christ the King today, focus on the image of the Good Shepherd, both in the 23rd psalm, and in the Gospel, where Jesus will separate his flock into the sheep and the goats. And Christ the King and Christ the Good Shepherd will separate his flock based on how we fed the hungry, clothed the naked, gave drink to the thirsty, and visited the sick and the prisoner. We can think of our own needs here in CMCF, but how our we reaching out to our neighbor and those who are needier than we are? Christ the King will open our hearts and will help us be true disciples, he will help us to live out the values of his kingdom, but we too have to make the effort, even when it seems impossible at times.
Let us pray these words to Christ our King: Christ Jesus, I acknowledge you to be the King of the universe. All that has been made is created for you. Exercise over me all your sovereign rights. I renew today the promises of my baptism, as I renounce Satan and all his works and his empty promises. I therefore engage myself to lead henceforth a truly Christian life. In an especial manner, I undertake to bring about the triumph of the rights of God and his Church to the best of my abilities. Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer you my humble actions to obtain the acknowledgment by every heart of your sacred kingly power. May the kingdom of your peace be firmly established throughout all the earth. In the name of the Father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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