Tag Archives: Feast of Christ the King

The King who sings the new song – The Feast of Christ the King

23 Sunday Nov 2025

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Image may be subject to copyright

In his writings, St. Augustine never used the title, “Christ the King” (today’s feast was not established until 1925) but Augustine often wrote of the kingship of Christ and the Kingdom of God. 

In his sermon of Psalm 32, St. Augustine reflects on what it means to sing to God a new song.  “Rid yourself of what is old and worn out, for you know a new song.  A new man, a new covenant – a new song.  This new song does not belong to the old man.  Only the new man learns it: the man restored from his fallen condition through the grace of God, and now sharing in the new covenant, that is, the kingdom of heaven.  To it all our love now aspires and sings a new song.  Let us sing a new song not with our lips but with our lives.” 

To be a Christian is to be freed from the old and worn-out ways of sin and know the newness of life found in Christ.  To be a Christian is to sing a new song – the new song of our life in the Kingdom of God.  Jesus knew this song.  Jesus lived this song.  Jesus is the new man – man as God intended – obedient to the Father and in full relationship with the Father, the man never broken and never isolated by sin.

Sin always tries to disrupt our song with God.  Sin always tries to introduce disharmony and discord.  What we hear in today’s gospel is an echo of the disharmony evil tried to introduce at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry in Luke’s gospel.  The rulers sneer and say, “…let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God.”  The soldiers jeer and say, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.”  At the beginning of our Lord’s ministry, after fasting in the desert, the Devil comes to Jesus saying, “If you are the Son of God…”

Sin and the devil do not want us to ever sing the new song and it will do whatever it can to introduce disharmony and discord into this song.  Disharmony that seeks to make us doubt God’s love and discord that seeks to make us doubt our and everyone’s dignity as a child of God. 

Jesus never allowed this disharmony and discord to enter his song, even to the cross.  Because he sang this new song, now we – in him – can also sing it.  The one thief who simply asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom was caught up into this new song and how beautiful his own song must have been and continues to be as he abides with Jesus in Paradise. 

Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King – the King who sings the new song and who invites us into the song.  How do we best sing this new song and give honor to the king?  By our lives – by continually welcoming God and his mercy, by serving as Jesus served, by seeking to be truthful and humble just as Jesus was.  To follow Jesus is to learn this new song and to sing it in the uniqueness of our own life.

The Father, “delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son…”  The Father has brought us into the true harmony of the song of his Son, now we also sing this song of Christ our King. 

The King who wants us to see the least among us

25 Saturday Nov 2023

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Image may be subject to copyright

Once, when I was assigned in Chattanooga, I had the experience of driving by the regional airport just as Air Force One took off in flight.  The president had been in the city promoting an industry and now he was leaving for his next destination.  The sight of the plane filled my car window as it was directly in front of me and only a couple of hundred feet above me.  Air Force One certainly grabs your attention and this is intentional.  The plane is a visual statement about the power and the authority of the President of the United States. 

This is what we expect from the ruling powers of our world, whether it be the office of a president, a king or queen, a royal family, a dictator or a tyrant.  These authorities want us to look toward them and for the whole world to see in the trappings of their office – whether that be a plane, a crown, a missile launch – a statement of their power and authority.  The ruling powers of the world want us to see them.  They want our attention, and they want to be noticed. 

Our faith and today’s gospel (Mt. 25:31-46) tell us that when Christ returns in glory all nations and peoples will be assembled before him but until that great and final day, our humble king wants us to turn our attention elsewhere.  Our Lord wants us to look upon our brothers and sisters in need.  Jesus wants us to see the least ones.  Both those persons judged righteous and those persons judged unrighteous in today’s gospel ask the same question, “Lord, when did we see you…”  Jesus’ answer is that when we allow ourselves to look upon the one who is hungry, thirsty, the stranger, naked, ill or in prison and then act in compassion we encounter him and we are judged righteous.  When we do not allow ourselves to see, when we do not act in compassion then a harsh judgment follows. 

It all starts with seeing and Jesus proclaims the importance of being willing to see the other, especially the least among us, throughout his ministry. 

In the midst of the crowded Temple with people moving back and forth and all sorts of commotion, we are told that Jesus spotted the poor widow giving not from her surplus but from her poverty (Lk. 21:1-4). He saw her and he points her out to his disciples who were there present with him, and he points her out to us. Jesus saw her.

Jesus asks Simon the Pharisee (Lk. 7:36-50), “Do you see this woman?” referring to the woman who had come into the dinner party uninvited, a woman seeking mercy who was bathing the feet of Jesus with her tears.  Simon did not “see” the woman because in his heart he had already judged her a sinner not worthy of his attention.  Jesus forgives the woman her many sins and tells her to then, “go in peace” while it seems Simon and the other guests at table remain locked in their inability to see.   

Jesus, in the parable of the rich man and the poor beggar Lazarus (Lk. 16:19-31), tells us that the rich man easily did not see the poor beggar lying at his doorstep and only after they both die does the rich man finally notice Lazarus, now at rest with Abraham, and then it is only to request that Lazarus be sent on an errand for him!  The rich man, both in life and then in death, did not “see” Lazarus and this led to his ruin.

Our Lord, who will come again in glory and before whom all the nations will be gathered, is quite clear regarding our pilgrimage through this world and where we should direct our attention – the royal road for entrance into the fullness of the Kingdom of God is found in being willing to see the least among us and to then act in compassion. 

The answer is in your hands – Feast of Christ the King

21 Saturday Nov 2020

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

There is a story told in the Lakota tribe of the Man who Spoke Softly.  (Taken from The Lakota Way by Joseph M. Marshall III.) 

In a certain village there was a leader, a headman, who was respected for his quiet ways and good decisions.  He never sought to become a leader but as a young man he proved that he could think clearly and act calmly on the battlefield.  He was a good provider for his family and he took care of the helpless ones.  For these reasons the people asked him to be their leader and he reluctantly agreed.  As leader, he made good decisions and always spoke the truth in council meetings and under his leadership the village prospered and grew strong.

Two generations grew up under his leadership and the man was getting on in years.  There were a few young men in the village who yearned for a new leader.  They wanted someone with more daring and flair – more fitting to their prosperous village, they thought.  They had forgotten it was the headman’s leadership that grew their village. 

The young men formed a plan.  They would catch a small bird and one of them – in front of the whole village – would question the headman.  “Grandfather, I have a bird in my hand.  You are wise.  Is the bird dead or alive?”  If the headman answered “alive” then the young man would crush the bird and kill it before opening his hand.  If the headman said “dead” then the young man would open his hand and the bird would fly free.  Either way, they thought, the headman would be shown to be weak and uncertain. 

So, on the morning of an important tribal gathering when all the people were gathered, one of the young men called out in a loud voice to the headman. “Grandfather, I have an important question.  I have a bird in my hand.  Since you are wise, is the bird dead or alive?’

A hush fell over the people.  They knew that some of the young men were wanting new leadership and some wondered if the young men were right.  They waited for the headman’s answer. 

The old headman approached the young man with the question.  He stood quietly, seeming to study the ground as the people whispered.  Finally, the headman turned to the young man and smiled patiently and spoke firmly and gently as he always did when something important was to be said.

“Grandson,” he said, “the answer is in your hands.” 

In a sense, the same answer is given to us on this Feast of Christ the King.  Yes, Christ is King.  Jesus is the Son of the Father.  He is risen from the dead – the firstborn.  Jesus is king of all creation.  This is truth and whether people like it or not, whether people or nations acknowledge it or ignore it does not really matter.  Jesus Christ is King!

But what resides in our hands, what we can either crush or let live, is whether we choose to live our lives in such a way as to acknowledge Christ as King.  This is what is within our power.  Grandson/Granddaughter, the answer is in your hands. 

Jesus, himself, gives us the criteria by which we will show forth our answer to this most fundamental of questions before all of creation when he returns as King of all nations and just judge. 

When I was hungry, did you feed me?  When I was thirsty, did you give me drink?  When I was a stranger, did you welcome me?  When I was naked, did you clothe me?  When I was ill, did you care for me?  When I was in prison did you visit me?

Jesus Christ is King!  This is truth and no power in earth or heaven can alter it.  God has willed it.  What is within our power is how we choose to live our life in relation to this truth. 

Grandson/Granddaughter, the answer is in your hands. 

Christ the King and we, His people.

19 Saturday Nov 2016

Posted by in homily, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

christ-the-kingThis past week I was able to visit with a parishioner who, as a hobby, makes wine.  At one point during the visit he showed me the room with all his wine making equipment.  He took me to a table on which sat two large buckets.  He pulled off a cloth cover on each bucket and in one was a batch of blueberries fermenting and in the other were blackberries fermenting.  What I found interesting was that you could actually hear the fermenting process occurring as the juice was in the process of being changed into wine.  

In today’s second reading taken from St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians (Col. 1:12-20) we find Paul writing that, “(God the Father) 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.”  Paul then goes on to share a beautiful hymn which states that Christ is the “firstborn of all creation” and that now all things are held together in him!  We are part of the body of Christ and we are citizens of the Kingdom of God where Christ is our King!  Just as we have been transferred into the kingdom of the beloved Son, so are we meant to help transform our world and the times in which we find ourselves.  

If there is a king then there must be a kingdom and there must be subjects loyal to the king and the kingdom.  

As disciples of Christ in the world we live by a different norm, a different understanding than that which is often proclaimed in the world.  After all, our king hung on the cross, mocked by everyone and viewed as a total failure.  But Christ was obedient not to the world and it’s message of seeking self and power but to the will of the Father who says life is found in letting go of self and seeking to serve.  By following our king we are meant to be a leaven that transforms the world just as we, ourselves, are transformed.

Like many people I believe, I also have been disheartened by this recent election cycle.  I do not want to get into the two candidates.  The election is over and that is done.  What has disheartened me most is the vitriol, the divisiveness, the half-truths and even lies paraded as fact (by all sides) displayed during this election cycle.  This election has demonstrated to the whole world the division within our society.  The division is there and it is deep. 

What do we do as Church?  We seek to be what we have always been called to be – citizens of the Kingdom of Christ and by so doing be a leaven of unity within a divided and fractured world.  This is in our DNA as Catholics.  “Catholic” means universal – a universal where both uniqueness and communion is upheld.  It is possible to be pro-life and pro-woman.  It is possible to uphold the dignity of immigrants and refugees while also seeking the security of a nation.  It is possible to uphold the dignity of the poor and all races and seek to be good stewards of the creation God has given us while not demonizing other people.  Is this easy?  No, but it is possible.  It is not possible if we parade lies and half-truths as truth.  It is possible if we follow Christ our king and live as members of his kingdom in our world.

To the Hispanic and all immigrant members of our church – a special word.  I understand that there is fear and worry.  I do not know exactly what will happen.  What I do know are a couple of things.  The Church upholds the dignity of all persons and will always do so.  Second, no matter who sits in the White House or who controls the levers of power in Washington, D.C.; Christ is King and to him, first and foremost, is our allegiance due and it is through him that all men and women are delivered from darkness.

St. Paul reminds us and it rings through the ages, “(God the Father) 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.”  

“The Kingdom of God is justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  Come, Lord, and open in us the gates of your kingdom!”  (Hymn from the Taize community)  Lord Jesus, you are our king!  May we be your loyal subjects and may we be a leaven of unity, justice, peace and joy in our world! 

 

 

The Humble and Patient King

21 Saturday Nov 2015

Posted by in Christ, Christ the King, Christian living, Feast of Christ the King, holiness, homily, humility, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

jesus before pilateAt one point in his commentary on this Sunday’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps. 93), St. Augustine shares this observation: Humble people are like rock.  Rock is something you look down on, but it is solid.  What about the proud?  They are like smoke; they may be rising high, but they vanish as they rise. 

In the gospel for today’s Feast of Christ the King (Jn. 18:33b-37) we are given the humble and patient God.  Pilate (representative of all the powers of the world but powers that really have no authority of Jesus) questions Christ – a seemingly defeated and isolated man, abandoned by his friends and followers and mocked by his own people.

Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I?  Your own nation and chief priests handed you over to me.  What have you done?”  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.”  So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?”  Jesus answered, “You say I am a king.  For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”  

Today, we as Church, proclaim Christ is King yet, like Pilate, our understanding and idea of this title is often limited.  It is interesting to note on this Feast of Christ the King that our Lord, himself, never took on the title of “king”.  Even on this most final and bitter of stages; when the fallen pride of our human condition would eagerly grasp onto a title of assertion to throw back into the face of the powers of this world (how often we see this exalted on our movie screens in the myth of redemptive violence) our Lord chooses a different path.  “You say I am king.  For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Our Lord rejects the title “king” and by so doing he forswears the fallen world and all it has to offer – self-indulgent pride, sad divisions and triumphalism and all forms of violence.  Our Lord chooses a different path – the path of humility.  “For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”  

Humility has more in common with truth than does pride and power.  In fact, humility is essential if there is to be any real understanding of truth.  If we would know the truth then any temptation to put ourselves and our way of thinking at the center of creation (and these temptations come in all shapes and sizes: blue and red state, enlightened secularist and righteous religious, male and female, rich and poor, all colors of skin and shades of culture) must be put aside.  Everyone (I repeat “everyone”), needs to accept the purifying light of humility because the only constant, the only necessary is God – all else is contingent upon God’s will.  We are not necessary.  The more we realize this then the more we open ourselves to those moments when we catch a glimmer that God is indeed the “rock”, the only solid basis of all creation.  We also catch a glimpse of the infinite patience of God who submitted Himself to our illusions and misguided hatred.  Gratitude grows in our hearts when we honestly acknowledge and reflect upon the humility and patience of God.

Ours is a different type of king.  All is grace.

Do you want joy and gratitude?  Then look to the one we proclaim “king” yet who never sought that title for himself.  “For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”  Cultivate humility.  Humility leads us to truth and truth brings gratitude.