Deacon Tom Writes,
“Christ the King”
Pope Pius XI
established the Feast of Christ the King in 1925 in response to the growing
sense of secularism that arose in the early 20th century. Germany was
experiencing the rise of Nazism and exaggerated nationalism. There were
populist movements toward Communism, atheism and totalitarian governments
elsewhere that demanded total sovereignty over people, substituting a nation or
an ideology in place of God. This led Pius XI to institute today’s Feast as a
way to make us aware that nations can never have complete sovereignty over
people, only God can.
Yet, we know from
Sacred Scripture that Jesus rejected the notion of being an earthly king. St.
John tells us that when asked by Pilate if he was a King, Jesus answered,
"My kingdom does not belong to this
world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting
to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not
here.” (John 18:36)
So, just what does
Jesus’ kingdom that is “not of this earth” look like and how do we show our
fidelity to it? The answer to this may be hidden in the choice of today’s
gospel that is taken from St. Luke’s account of Jesus’ death on Calvary. (Luke
23:35-43) In Jesus’ perfect surrender of himself on the cross, we get a glimpse
of the kingdom to which we have been called, a sense of the nature of the
Christ’s Kingship. His is a kingship of suffering the insufferable, a kingship
of forgiveness in the face of terrible injustice, a kingship of surrendering
self and any authority or power we may have in this life into the hands of God
the Father. Christ is king for those
who live the beatitudes; he is king for
everyone who suffers with those who suffer injustice, persecution,
victimization, or deprivation; he is king
for those who side with the immigrants, refugees, widows, the powerless,
afflicted, disenfranchised; he is king for
anyone who attempts to bring a sliver of hope to our world where hope is so
desperately needed.
It is fitting that
the Feast of Christ the King marks the end of our liturgical year. It enables
us to move into the Season of Advent anticipating the day when God’s justice
and peace will break forth upon the earth. That time when all the kings and
prime ministers, chancellors, and presidents, all the rulers who have ever
ruled this world, will pay homage and tribute to the one from whom they have received
their power and to whom they too must one day render an account.
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
Image credit: inapenafrancia360.weebly.com/
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