Homilies | Father Nathan

Father Nathan | Homily

Christ The King Sunday

34th Sunday Of Ordinary Time

Introduction:

This week is the last week of the ordinary time, as we close the current liturgical year and move on to the liturgical New Year, we honor Christ as our King.

We honor him best by helping to spread the news of his kingdom.

We should do this collectively, as members of the church, and also individually.

Christ wants each of us to be messengers of his love to others, but especially to the poor and the needy. 

We are called to deliver the messenges of Christ — to be forgiving, to be merciful and to be loving.

Scripture lessons summarized:

The first reading (2 Samual 5:1-3)  David had already been anointed king of Judah. Here we read how the northern tribes also acknowledge him as king. Thus David became the king of a united country.

In the second reading (Colossians 1:11-20) St. Paul gives thanks to God for having delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his son, who is not only head of the church but head of all creation.

Today’s Gospel (Luke 23:35-43) Tells of the mockery Christ suffered as he hung on the cross, and how in the midst of it he brought hope and salvation to one of the thieves crucified with him.

The Feast of Christ the King is, as Catholic feasts go, a relatively recent one. It was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925, to remind Catholics (and the world generally) that Jesus Christ is Lord of the Universe, both as God and as Man.

Pius XI announced the feast in his encyclical “ Quas Primas”, which was delivered on December 11, 1925. At the end of the encyclical, he declared that he expected three “blessings” to flow from the celebration of the feast: first, that

first, that “men will doubtless be reminded that the Church, founded by Christ as a perfect society, has a natural and inalienable right to perfect freedom and immunity from the power of the state”;

 

second, that “Nations will be reminded by the annual celebration of this feast that not only private individuals but also rulers and princes are bound to give public honor and obedience to Christ”;

 

and third, that “The faithful, moreover, by meditating upon these truths, will gain much strength and courage, enabling them to form their lives after the true Christian ideal.”

The KINGDOM of CHRIST is wherever love and justice prevail. Christ citizens are YOU and ME. His THRONE is the CROSS. His ideology or caption for his kingship is LOVE. His CROWN is CROWN of THORNS,

Christ wanted to be king of LOVE and MERCY.

His message is not spread by force, but rather by the power of the love of Christ that draws all things to himself. The Church does not impose the Gospel on anyone, but we propose it to all, inviting them by the love of Christ to experience the fullness of life as his subjects.

The kingdom of God changes the status of all human kingdoms.  When Christians proclaim Christ as Lord, no other lord can claim their undivided loyalty

Christ is a different and new kind of king. We normally think of kings as covered in jewels and fine clothes. We imagine them followed by a great entourage. Christ the King is stripped, beaten, and crowned not with jewels and gold, but with thorns. His only attendants are his sorrowing Mother, his young friend, and a few women devoted to him.

Christ teaches us that his Kingdom belongs not to those who seem to have power in this world, but to the poor and humble who embrace the cross. It is when we walk with Jesus and when we unite any of our suffering to his that we come to experience his glory and life in resurrection.

Life Messages:

1) We need to assess our commitment to Christ the King today.  As we celebrate the Kingship of Christ today, let us remember the truth that

he is not our King if we do not listen to him, love him, serve him, and follow him. 

We belong to his Kingdom only when we try to walk with him, when we try to live our lives fully in the spirit of the Gospel and when that Gospel spirit penetrates every facet of our living. 

If Christ is really King of my life, he must be King of every part of my life, and I must let him reign in all parts of my life.  We become Christ the King’s subjects when we sincerely respond to his loving invitation:

 

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29). 

By cultivating the gentle and humble mind of Christ in our lives, we show others that Jesus Christ is in indeed our King and that he is in charge of our lives…

Have a Blessed Week,

Fr. Nathan