OUR LORD JESUS
CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE
19-20 November
2022, Madison
2 Sm 5:1-3
Col 1:12-20
Lk 23:35-43
Praised be
Jesus Christ, King of Endless Glory!
Maybe it is an exaggeration to say that
I find it providential that our parish 40 Hours Devotions begin on Christ the
King Sunday. But I will say it anyway. Another Church year has come to an end.
We are talking about the last things, the only things which ultimately count. It
is time to draw conclusions before starting over again with a new Church year. Advent
is only a week away! This coincidence with the end of the Church year and our reflection
on the Kingship of Christ is important to me, especially given the topics I have
chosen for our 40 Hours this year with your pastor’s approval. If it is not
providential, then at least agree with me that it is a happy coincidence, that
proclaiming Christ as Sovereign King makes perfect sense for what we are going
to be about in these couple days as we focus on the presence of Christ in our
midst in the Blessed Sacrament, right here in Madison, in our parish church.
The titles of
my three 40 Hours talks (Sunday afternoon, Monday, and Tuesday – check your
schedule!) are: 1) Our Goals for the Three Years of Eucharistic Revival; 2)
“Set Ablaze” – Parish Goals for Eucharistic Recommitment; 3) Eucharistic
Adoration in Our Parish, What can We Strive to Accomplish Spending Time with
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. All three topics and my talks on them have
in some way to do with putting Jesus first in our lives as Catholics, as
members of this parish. It is fundamentally about making Christ, Who is present
in our midst in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, about making Him and Him alone,
God’s Chosen One, His Anointed, the Christ, about making Him alone to be Who He
truly is, namely Our King, the only One Who can and must rule in our lives.
Although the Church in its prayer, life,
and worship has always recognized Jesus as our King and even though from the
beginnings of the Church in apostolic times the Gospel accounts of Christ’s
Crucifixion make eminently clear what is at stake when we say we recognize
Jesus as our King, this liturgical feast is relatively new in the history of
the Church. The feast of the Kingship of Christ celebrated on the last Sunday
of October in the universal calendar was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925. With
the revision of the Church calendar after Vatican II it was moved to the last
Sunday in Ordinary Time (somewhere between November 20th, like this
year, and November 26th, at the very latest). The Holy Father’s
intention for the feast was that it should help us as Catholics to set our
priorities aright. To use scriptural language, the Pope intended to move us from
focusing on an earthly king, like Saul or David or Solomon in the Old Testament,
to move us away from the idea of one of the Kings or Emperors in Europe who
disappeared after WWI to focusing in our lives on the only King Whose Kingship
can endure, to focusing on Our Lord and only God, Jesus.
The great Old Testament prophet Samuel
was furious with the children of Israel for wanting a king like every other
nation. Since the Exodus, Israel had been ruled and led directly by God through
His prophets and judges. In his frustration at their request for an earthly,
visible king, Samuel explained to them, scolding them really, that this would
not work out and of course he was right (every one of Israel’s kings abused
God’s people in some way or another). After WWI the Pope, as his inspiration
for instituting the Feast of Christ the King, faced a world once more torn
loose from its moorings, a Europe deprived for the most part of its crowned
heads. For our appreciation, Europe was a world generally looking sort of like
England and the British Commonwealth today, not really sure what to do now that
Queen Elizabeth is no longer there. With politicians, whether presidents,
chancellors, or prime ministers back after WWI, Europe knew, and we still know today,
that we cannot live. Not so much as a substitute for the lost royalty, but as
an ultimate teaching, the Feast of Christ the King is there to say in another
and important way that not even earthly kings and queens can be that anchor for
society, that rock foundation for us going through life.
In the second reading from Paul to the
Colossians, we read: “Let us give thanks to the
Father, who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in
light. He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the
kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
In the Gospel, the rulers of the people
sneered at Jesus upon the Cross, saying, “He saved others, let him save
himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God.” The solitude, the
abandonment of Christ lifted up upon the Cross, judges our world and finds us
lacking in all our social institutions. Christ lifted up upon the Cross draws
the world to Himself, and to the extent that people turn away from Him, reject
Him, it divides our world and condemns all who refuse to bow our heads to His
Holy Name. It is the Cross of Christ the King which separates the sheep from
the goats.
The question
obviously for us involves an examination of conscience. Where do we stand
regarding Christ’s Kingship? How do we see Him? Do we see Him as did the good
thief to whom Jesus promises paradise or just Who is Jesus for us?
Let me give you a 40 Hours assignment,
regardless of whether you can join us here in church for one or all three of
the talks, whether you can make at least a Holy Hour on each of the three days
of this our parish retreat, regardless of whether you are able to make a truly
good confession during these days! The assignment is this: Find a quiet corner
and kneel or sit there with Jesus! His sacramental presence here in church is
real and true, but if weakness, age, or ill health keeps you from a public
appointment to spend time before Him the King here in church, then seek the
King in the depths of your heart and in silence confess Him as your Savior and
your Love.
Now that may sound terribly simplistic,
almost chaotic, but if you do so honestly, truly seek the Lord’s Face, then you
will be miles ahead of all those in our world who neglect the King, who ignore
Him, who deny Him that first place, the anchor position in our lives. Give
yourself, here in church, at home, at school, at work, wherever, to seeking
Him. The Good Shepherd does not leave His flock untended. He has not nor will
He abandon you. Just turn to Him, in adoration, in petition, and in penitence.
“Let us give thanks to the Father,
who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light. He
delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of
his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Praised be
Jesus Christ, King of Endless Glory!
PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI
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