Christ the King

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

“When the Son of man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another, as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right hand, ‘Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take as your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you made me welcome” (Matt. 25:31-35).

Today is the Solemnity of Christ the King. It's a feast that was established by Pius XI in 1925 and later, after the Second Vatican Council, it was placed at the close of the liturgical year.

We finish the liturgical year in a strong fashion, proclaiming Christ as Our King. In many places in Scripture, Our Lord talks about His kingdom, specifically in the parables of the kingdom:

The kingdom of heaven is “like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field.” It's like a “leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal.” It's like a “treasure hidden in a field.” It's like “a merchant seeking good pearls, who, when he finds one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” It's like “a net cast into the sea, gathering all kinds of fish.”

Our Lord gives us all sorts of images about His kingdom (Matt. 13:31-33,44-47).

He also says in various places: “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). Interesting phrase for us to remember from time to time. We're passing through. Here we have no permanent city.

We are here to bring about the Kingdom of God on earth, but then to go and enjoy His Kingdom forever and forever in the company of the King.

St. Paul says to the Corinthians, “Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. … For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. For each in his own order: Christ, the first fruits; then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Cor. 15:20-25). We are children of God, but we're also children of the King.

When Psalm 2 says to us, “Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, the very ends of the earth for your domain” (Ps. 2:8), Christ speaks about a kingdom, but He also tells us that “the Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). God comes to live in our soul in grace.

He will come and make our abode in you (John 14:23). God, who is love (1 John 4:8,16), comes to live in our heart in grace and to reign in our heart; and in that way to reign in the world, to exert His social influence, in my marriage, in my family, in my office, in my environment, in my club. This is the basis of the apostolate of the ordinary person in the middle of the world.

In the Preface of Christ the King, it describes what type of kingdom it is that Christ wants to bring about: “a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love, and peace.” Beautiful things.

The feast of Christ the King is very beautiful. The image of Christ reigning in the world, reigning forever. Christ conquering. Christ came into the world to live and to die, but through that death, to learn how to reign in hearts, in minds, in souls, in society.

The vocation and role of the layperson is very much to help Christ to reign in all temporal matters.

Many years ago, the King of England was going on a visit to a small rural village and all the primary school children were out to greet him, lined along the road. After the King had passed by a little six-year-old girl was found crying.

The teacher asked her, “But what's the matter—did you not see the King?” And she said, “Yes, I saw him all right, but he didn't see me.” She was crying because she hadn't been seen by the King.

With Our King, we know that doesn't happen. We're carried in the palm of a hand of a God who loves us, of a King who loves us. He's looking at us all the time. Our name is tattooed on His hand. Every time He looks at His hand, He sees our name. “I will call you by your name” (Isa. 43:1). The Good Shepherd calls the sheep by their name (John 10:3).

Pope Benedict has liked to mention how Christ is a King who dominates with love. He does not impose himself but rather respects human freedom. His royalty is not like the great ones of the world. It's the power to defeat evil and death and to awaken hope, even in the hardest of parts.

The Feast of Christ the King is also a feast of hope. We know that He will come to judge the living and the dead. His Kingdom will last forever. And we want Christ to reign. We try to express that with our words, with our actions every hour of our working day.

The power of Christ is the divine power to give eternal life, to free from evil, to overcome the reign of death. Ultimately, what Christ reigns over, and what He conquers, is sin. He conquers the devil, the two ugliest realities in the world.

The only things we have to hate are sin and the devil. Sin is the greatest evil in the world. All the other things the world may present to us as evils are not real evils—lack of material things, lack of health, lack of money, all sorts of traumas or contradictions—all these things are means for us to reach the King when we sanctify them, when we offer them up, when we unite them to the Cross, the instrument of His reigning.

The power that the King has is the power of love that knows how to bring good out of evil to soften a hard heart, to bring peace to the most bitter conflict, to awaken hope in the most impenetrable darkness.

We can thank Our Lord today for His Kingdom. We can tell Him: ‘I want to be in that Kingdom: I want you as my King. I don't want to be reigned over by all sorts of earthly ambitions and desires, or by a lust for material things.’

The title of King in the Gospels is a very important title. It allows a complete reading of His figure and of His mission of salvation. We're able to see progress in this regard.

First, there is the expression, King of Israel. Then we arrive at the concept of the universal King, Lord of the cosmos of history; therefore, far beyond the expectations of the Hebrew people themselves. Christ's reign is on a different plane.

“Before the grandeur of this loyalty,” Pope Benedict liked to say, “the Cross is a paradoxical sign.” A choice becomes necessary for every conscience: Whom do I want to follow, God or the evil one? The truth or the lie?

Choosing Christ does not guarantee success according to the criteria of the world, but it assures that peace and that joy as only He can give.

So with reason today, we can address the most Sacred Heart of Jesus and say, Grant us peace.

Most Merciful and Sacred Heart of Jesus, grant me peace; peace in my marriage, peace in my family, peace in my soul, peace in my heart. Financial peace. All sorts of peace. A peace that this world cannot give. A peace that we know can only be found in God and in the things of God, in having our life directed along its proper course to reach its proper end, which is to enjoy the wedding feast of the Kingdom forever.

That also means that when we lose a loved one or we see other people around us passing to that Kingdom, it's an occasion for obvious sadness because we've lost someone we love. But then very quickly we recover our joy, because we know that now that person has gone to enjoy eternal peace and eternal joy, with the Kingdom of God that lasts forever, that does not pass away, unlike so many things in this world.

In John's poignant trial scene of Pilate and Jesus, we see a great contrast between power and powerlessness. “My kingdom is not of this world; I could summon a whole host of angels to defend me in this moment” (John 18:36).

Our Lord is teaching us about His Kingdom. There's the pseudo-power of Pilate and the authentic power of Christ. His Kingship is a Kingship that leads Him to serve: “I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27). “As I have done to you, so do you also to others” (Matt. 7:12).

Christ reigns in and through humility. He invites us to become small. He became a small baby in Bethlehem. He entrusted Himself to the care of two human persons, vulnerable, Joseph and Mary; entrusted Himself to a vulnerable journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem; to experience all the trauma that was there in Bethlehem— rejection, inhospitable hearts—but then only to open our eyes to the beauty of the stable in Bethlehem, the focal point of family life for all eternity, where Our God becomes a man.

The great mystery of the Incarnation takes place before our eyes. Our King comes to be with us, to be like us in all things but sin; subjecting Himself, living in a human family for a large part of His life; teaching us so many things about ordinary life; and teaching us with His virtue how to live out that Kingdom in an ordinary way.

The Gospel of St. Luke presents the royalty of Jesus at the moment of His crucifixion, as in a great painting. The leaders of the people and the soldiers deride “the firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:15). They test Him to see if He has the power to save Himself from death. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself. If he is the Christ of God, the chosen one, save yourself, come down from the cross” (Luke 23:35-37).

It's the words of the devil: hatred for the cross, hatred for the Kingdom. The devil continues to say those same things to the Church: Come down off that silly cross. That silly cross of your belief in the dignity of every human life or in the dignity of human procreation—that every marriage act should be open to the transmission of human life—or in the sanctity of marriage or a whole pile of other things. Come down off all those silly crosses and then we will believe.

But Christ doesn't come down from the Cross. It's the instrument that God has given Him to bring about the Kingdom. It's precisely on the Cross that Jesus is exalted to the very height of God, who is love. “Greater love than this no man has, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

Fulton Sheen likes to point out that Christ was crucified, not between two candles, but between two thieves. There's a good thief and there's a bad thief.

But the good thief, like a model for all humanity, looks across and sees a King. The other bad thief just looked across and saw another criminal like himself, and derides Our Lord with those same words, Come down off that silly cross.

But the good thief looks across and he sees a different reality. The crown of thorns has become a royal crown. The nails in His hands have become the scepter with which He reigns. A cross of wood has become a royal throne. He says those very beautiful words, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42).

Your kingdom? But this is just a criminal who's being crucified with you!

Over and above the human reality, the good thief saw the divine reality. He discovered Christ the King on the Cross. His last words were words of hope: “Remember me.”

We are all in need of saying those same words, because we've all stolen something. We've stolen other people's time, or their energy, or their love, or their goodness. We're all a bit of a thief.

Fulton Sheen says, “Heaven can be stolen again.” We can say to Our Lord, “Remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

Immediately Our Lord replies. He doesn't say, Let me look at your exam results, let me check out my file on you, let me ask around and see what sort of a person you are.

Immediately, He says, “In truth, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

The King talks in short periods of time. He doesn't say, Wait till the vision 2030 is fulfilled, or, ...till all the millennium goals have taken place. Christ speaks in terms of hours, in terms of days.

With these words, Our Lord from the throne of the Cross receives every man with infinite mercy. St. Ambrose comments, “This is a beautiful example of conversion to which one should aspire: forgiveness is quickly offered to the thief and grace is more abundant than the request, because Our Lord always gives more than what is asked for. Life is being with Christ because where Christ is, there is the Kingdom.”

If on some occasion you go to, or you see a picture of, St. Peter's Square in Rome, you may see the big obelisk, the big stone monument that stands in the center of the square. It's a single block of marble, almost 100 feet high and weighing about 330 tons. It's an ancient Egyptian obelisk but it has quite a history.

It was built and erected in the year 1850 BC as a monument to the Pharaoh of Egypt. After the time of Christ when Rome conquered Egypt, the Roman Emperor Caligula brought the obelisk to Rome as a sign of Rome's superiority to Egypt. Imagine, they transported 330 tons from Egypt to Rome.

A century later, about the third or fourth century, the barbarians invaded Rome. The city fell into disrepair and the obelisk fell. What was a great symbol of the power of the Roman Empire came tumbling down!

Ivy grew around it. It was half buried near the Basilica of St. Peter. But then the Christians converted the barbarians and when a new Christian culture emerged and flourished, St. Peter's was rebuilt and expanded.

Pope Sixtus V had the obelisk erected in the center of St. Peter's Square where it still stands today. It's no longer a reminder of the long-perished empires of Egypt and Rome and the barbarians.

Now it's been put at the service of the Kingdom of Christ. It's topped with a bronze cross. And inside that bronze cross is mounted a small fragment of the true Cross, the Cross on which Christ was crucified. His throne.

If you look at the base of the obelisk you'll find there's an inscription there to remind us that this throne is different from that of Pharaoh or Caesar. A part of the inscription facing out, facing the rest of the world, says in Latin, but in English it means: Behold the Cross of the Lord, that His enemies flee. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered.

The part of the inscription facing St. Peter's Basilica reads: “Christ conquers, Christ rules, Christ reigns.” Christ the King has conquered indeed and His Kingdom will last forever.

Christ is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Throughout His teaching, Christ talked about His Kingdom. We're here to perpetuate that Kingdom. Eventually, He will come to judge the living and the dead.

The Kingdom is supreme, extending not only to all peoples but also to their princes and kings, elders and chiefs.

It's universal: it extends to all nations and places.

It's eternal: “the Lord shall sit as King forever” (Ps. 29:10).

It's spiritual: Christ's Kingdom “is not of this world” (John 18:36) and that Kingdom has come to wield peace.

We can struggle to find many practical consequences from our divine filiation, increasing our awareness of the fact that I'm a child of God. It can bring me peace of mind. Peace of mind in this pandemic, when, maybe, others are not so strong in peace of mind.

It gives us a positive outlook about people, about things at hand. It helps us to maintain our serenity and our peace when maybe others around us are losing it a little bit, because God is my Father. He will never abandon me. He looks after me. He looks after the Church. “The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want” (Ps. 23:1).

Our crucified King hangs in our midst, arms outstretched in loving mercy and welcome. Lord, may we have the courage to ask you to remember us in your Kingdom, the grace to imitate you in our own earthly kingdoms, and the wisdom to welcome you when you stand knocking at the door of our lives and of our hearts.

Christ stood and waited and knocked. He never responded to violence with more violence. He was Truth Incarnate and never imposed Himself on others.

We have many wonderful things to learn from this King. How does He reign? Well, He reigned from a donkey. It was His throne coming into Jerusalem. He reigns through service. Christ came “not to be served but to serve” (Matt. 20:28).

In The Forge, we're told, “Keep turning this over in your mind and in your soul: ‘Lord, how many times you have lifted me up when I have fallen and once my sins have been forgiven, have held me close to your heart!’ Keep returning to the thought...and never separate yourself from God again” (Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, Point 173).

“When you have fallen or when you find yourself overwhelmed by the weight of your wretchedness, repeat with a firm hope: ‘Lord, see how ill I am; Come and heal me, Lord, you who died on the Cross for love of me.’ Be full of confidence. Keep on calling out to His most loving heart. He will cure you as He cured the lepers we read about in the Gospel” (J. Escrivá, The Forge, Point 213).

We can turn to Our King with great hope. We know He's going to triumph. He doesn't rule like earthly rulers. He rules out of love. He rules with order. “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of goodwill.”

Every time we say those words in the Mass, we can address them with our heart to Christ Our King, asking Him to reign a little more in that interior kingdom. Reign in my heart, in our hearts. He is the King of hearts by reason of His charity which exceeds all knowledge. By His mercy and kindness, He draws all men to Him. He never turns anybody away.

“Never has it been known, nor will it ever be known, that man be loved so much and so universally” (Pius XI, Encyclical, Quas primas, December 11, 1925). On many occasions, people thronged about Him in admiration and would have acclaimed Him King. He shrank from the honor and sought safety in flight.

The Gospels present this Kingdom to us as one which men prepare to enter by penance. We cannot actually enter except by faith and baptism, which signifies and produces an interior regeneration. The Kingdom is opposed to none other than to that of Satan and to the power of darkness.

Pius XI has as his motto: “The Peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ.”

Because Jesus is King, His Mother is the Queen. She is the Queen of Heaven. In all of the aspirations of the Litany where we address Mary as the Queen, she can lead us to remember Christ the King.

Mary, in looking at your Queenship, may you always bring us to be more aware of your Son the King, and bring Him into everything we do.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

OLV