Introduction: Today’s gospel reminds us that the man on the cross is not an object to frighten naughty kids, but our king and savior who died for us, promising us eternal life. Today we are celebrating the feast of Christ the King. The Franciscan Order was instrumental in establishing this feast and extending its celebration to the universal Church, following the lead of its great thirteenth century theologians St. Bonaventure and Blessed Duns Scotus. It was Pope Pius XI who introduced this feast in the liturgy in 1925 because the people of the day had “thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law out of their lives” and “these had no place in public affairs or in politics.” Although emperors and kings now exist mostly in history books, we still honor Christ as the King of the Universe, by enthroning him in our hearts and allowing him to take control of our lives.
Exegesis: Kingship of Jesus the Messiah in the Bible. In most of the messianic prophecies given in the Old Testament books of Samuel, Micah, Isaiah and Jeremiah, Christ the Messiah is represented as a king. Seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, the Prophet Micah announced His coming as king. "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrata, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days" (5:1). Daniel presents "one coming like a human being ... to him was given dominion and glory and kingship that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed."
The New Testament tells us that Jesus is the long awaited king of the Jews. In the Annunciation, recorded in Lk.1: 32-33, we read: “The Lord God will make him a king, as his ancestor David was, and he will be the king of the descendants of Jacob forever and his kingdom will never end.” The magi from the Far East came to Jerusalem and asked the question: (Mt; 2:2) “Where is the baby born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star… and we have come to worship him.” During the royal reception given to Jesus on Palm Sunday, the Jews shouted: (Lk.19: 38) “God bless the king, who comes in the name of the Lord.” When Pilate asked the question: (Jn.18: 33) “Are you the king of the Jews”? Jesus made his assertion, “You say that I am a king. I was born and came into this world for this one purpose.” Today’s gospel tells us that the board hung over Jesus’ head on the cross read: “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews,” and that Jesus promised paradise to the repentant thief on the cross who made the request: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Before his ascension in to heaven, Jesus declared: (Mt. 28:18) “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.”
A unique king with a unique kingdom, Jesus Christ still lives as king, in thousands of human hearts all over the world. The cross is his throne and the Sermon on the Mount is his rule of law. His citizens need obey only one law: “Love others as I have loved you." His love is selfless, sacrificial, kind, compassionate, forgiving and unconditional. That is why the preface in today’s Mass describes Jesus’ kingdom as a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace. He is a king with a saving and liberating mission: to free mankind from all types of bondage so that we may live peacefully and happily on earth and inherit eternal life in heaven. His rule consists in seeking the lost, offering salvation to those who call out to him and making friends of enemies.
The Kingdom of God is the central teaching of Jesus throughout the Gospels. The word kingdom appears more than any other word throughout the four Gospels. Jesus begins His public ministry by preaching the kingdom. "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:14). In Christ's kingdom, “we are all a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” According to the teachings of the New Testament, the “kingdom of God” is a three-dimensional reality: the life of grace within every individual who does the will of God, the Church here on earth, and eternal life in Heaven. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that the Church is the kingdom of Christ already present in mystery. It is the mission of the Church to proclaim and establish the kingdom of Christ in human souls. This mission takes place between the first coming and the second coming of Christ. The Church helps us to establish Christ’s kingdom in our hearts, thus allowing us to participate in God's inner life. We are elevated and transformed through sanctifying grace. This supernatural life of grace comes to fulfillment in the eternal life of Heaven.
Messages: 1) Fight against the enemies of Christ’s kingdom: Terrorism has affected the entire world. The Kingdom of Christ is also under attack by Satan's terrorists. These terrorists continue to slaughter the unborn; to engage in a frontal attack on the modern family through provocative television shows, movies, and music; to eradicate any recognition of God from public display. These terrorists have infiltrated even the ranks of the Catholic Church through the scandals among the clergy. Hence Jesus the King needs convinced apostles prepared and ready to fight against the enemy. Through Baptism all of us are called to be dynamic members of the Kingdom, to be active witnesses of the Kingdom, thereby uniting our forces in order to remedy the decline of institutions and the moral confusion of the world. Thus and only thus will the Kingdom of Christ come to reign in the hearts of all peoples. The battlefield is the home, the school, the place of employment, the neighborhood, and the parish. These provide new and exciting challenges, new opportunities to stand up for what is right and to defend the truth of Jesus Christ our King. To ensure that Jesus is always the king of our hearts requires great commitment, sacrifice, conviction, hard work and a lot of prayer.
2) Use your authority for Jesus’ message. This feast is an invitation to all those who have power or authority in the government, public offices, educational institutions and in the family to use it for Jesus. Are we using our God-given authority so as to serve others? Are we using it to build a more just society rather than to boost our own egos? Are parents using their God-given authority to train their children in committed Christian living?
The Solemnity of Christ the King is not just the conclusion of the Church year. It is also a summary of our lives as Christians. On this great feast day, let us resolve to give Christ the central place in our lives and to obey his commandment of love by sharing our blessings with all his needy children. Let us conclude the Church year by asking the Lord to help us serve the King of Kings as he presents himself in those reaching out to us. "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.” Amen. Christus vincit! Christus regnat! Christus imperat!
Blessed Miguel Pro of Mexico, a priest of the Society of Jesus, lived during a very trying time for the Mexican people. The Catholic Church was terribly persecuted. A popular uprising of Catholic laymen called the Cristeros rose to the occasion to free the Church from oppression. Blessed Miguel Pro died as a martyr, executed by a firing squad of federal soldiers on November 23, 1927. As he stood, waiting for the shots that would end his earthly life and begin a new life in the kingdom of Heaven, he forgave his executioners, and spreading out his arms in the form of a cross he cried out “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” “Long live Christ the King!”
Full Version: Christ The King
Jesus Christ, King of the Universe and of Hearts
Gospel Commentary for This Sunday
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap
ROME, NOV. 23, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The solemnity of Christ the King was instituted only recently. It was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 in response to the atheist and totalitarian political regimes that denied the rights of God and the Church. The climate in which the feast was born was, for example, that of the Mexican revolution, when many Christians went to their deaths crying out to their last breath, “Long live Christ the King!”
But if the feast is recent, its content and its central idea are not; they are quite ancient and we can say that they were born with Christianity. The phrase “Christ reigns” has its equivalent in the profession of faith: “Jesus is Lord,” which occupies a central place in the preaching of the apostles.
Sunday’s Gospel passage narrates the death of Christ, because it is at that moment that Christ begins to rule over the world. The cross is Christ’s throne. “Above him there was an inscription that read, ‘This is the King of the Jews.'” That which in the intention of his enemies was the justification of his condemnation, was, in the eyes of the heavenly Father, the proclamation of his universal sovereignty.
To see what this feast has to do with us, we need only recall to our minds a very simple distinction. There are two universes, two worlds or cosmoses: the “macrocosm,” which is the whole universe external to us, and the “microcosm,” or the little universe, which is each individual man. The liturgy itself, in the reform that followed Vatican II, felt the need to accent the human and spiritual aspect of the feast over the, so to speak, political aspect of the feast. The prayer of the feast no longer asks, as it once did, “that all the families of nations, now kept apart by the wound of sin, may be brought under the sweet yoke of [Christ’s] rule” but that “every creature, freed from the slavery of sin, serve and praise [Christ] forever.”
Let us consider again the inscription placed above Christ: “This is the King of the Jews.” The onlookers challenged him to manifest his royalty openly and many, even among his friends, expected a spectacular demonstration of his kingship. But he chose only to show his kingship in his solicitousness for one man, who was, in fact, a criminal: “‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ He replied to him, ‘Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.'"
From this point of view, the most important question to ask on the feast of Christ the King is not whether he reigns in the world but whether he reigns in me; it is not whether his kingship is recognized by states and governments, but whether it is recognized and lived in me.
Is Christ the King and Lord of my life? Who rules in me, who determines the goals and establishes priorities: Christ or someone else? According to St. Paul, there are two ways to live: either for ourselves or for the Lord (Romans 14:7-9). Living “for ourselves” means living like someone who takes himself to be the beginning and the end; it is a life closed in on itself, drawn only by its own satisfaction and glory, without any perspective of eternity. Living “for the Lord,” on the contrary, means living for the Lord, that is, with a view to him, for his glory, for his kingdom.
What we have here is truly a new existence, in the face of which, death itself has lost its definitiveness. The greatest contradiction that man has always experienced -- that between life and death -- has been overcome. The contradiction is no longer between “living” and “dying” but between living “for ourselves” and living “for the Lord.”
[Translation by ZENIT]
* * *
Father Raniero Cantalamessa is the Pontifical Household preacher. The readings for this Sunday are 2 Samuel 5:1-3; Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 23:35-43.
Gospel Commentary for This Sunday
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap
ROME, NOV. 23, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The solemnity of Christ the King was instituted only recently. It was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 in response to the atheist and totalitarian political regimes that denied the rights of God and the Church. The climate in which the feast was born was, for example, that of the Mexican revolution, when many Christians went to their deaths crying out to their last breath, “Long live Christ the King!”
But if the feast is recent, its content and its central idea are not; they are quite ancient and we can say that they were born with Christianity. The phrase “Christ reigns” has its equivalent in the profession of faith: “Jesus is Lord,” which occupies a central place in the preaching of the apostles.
Sunday’s Gospel passage narrates the death of Christ, because it is at that moment that Christ begins to rule over the world. The cross is Christ’s throne. “Above him there was an inscription that read, ‘This is the King of the Jews.'” That which in the intention of his enemies was the justification of his condemnation, was, in the eyes of the heavenly Father, the proclamation of his universal sovereignty.
To see what this feast has to do with us, we need only recall to our minds a very simple distinction. There are two universes, two worlds or cosmoses: the “macrocosm,” which is the whole universe external to us, and the “microcosm,” or the little universe, which is each individual man. The liturgy itself, in the reform that followed Vatican II, felt the need to accent the human and spiritual aspect of the feast over the, so to speak, political aspect of the feast. The prayer of the feast no longer asks, as it once did, “that all the families of nations, now kept apart by the wound of sin, may be brought under the sweet yoke of [Christ’s] rule” but that “every creature, freed from the slavery of sin, serve and praise [Christ] forever.”
Let us consider again the inscription placed above Christ: “This is the King of the Jews.” The onlookers challenged him to manifest his royalty openly and many, even among his friends, expected a spectacular demonstration of his kingship. But he chose only to show his kingship in his solicitousness for one man, who was, in fact, a criminal: “‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ He replied to him, ‘Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.'"
From this point of view, the most important question to ask on the feast of Christ the King is not whether he reigns in the world but whether he reigns in me; it is not whether his kingship is recognized by states and governments, but whether it is recognized and lived in me.
Is Christ the King and Lord of my life? Who rules in me, who determines the goals and establishes priorities: Christ or someone else? According to St. Paul, there are two ways to live: either for ourselves or for the Lord (Romans 14:7-9). Living “for ourselves” means living like someone who takes himself to be the beginning and the end; it is a life closed in on itself, drawn only by its own satisfaction and glory, without any perspective of eternity. Living “for the Lord,” on the contrary, means living for the Lord, that is, with a view to him, for his glory, for his kingdom.
What we have here is truly a new existence, in the face of which, death itself has lost its definitiveness. The greatest contradiction that man has always experienced -- that between life and death -- has been overcome. The contradiction is no longer between “living” and “dying” but between living “for ourselves” and living “for the Lord.”
[Translation by ZENIT]
* * *
Father Raniero Cantalamessa is the Pontifical Household preacher. The readings for this Sunday are 2 Samuel 5:1-3; Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 23:35-43.
QUOTE(cappie @ Nov 24 2007, 03:31 PM) 
Jesus Christ, King of the Universe and of Hearts
Gospel Commentary for This Sunday
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap
ROME, NOV. 23, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The solemnity of Christ the King was instituted only recently. It was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 in response to the atheist and totalitarian political regimes that denied the rights of God and the Church. The climate in which the feast was born was, for example, that of the Mexican revolution, when many Christians went to their deaths crying out to their last breath, “Long live Christ the King!”
But if the feast is recent, its content and its central idea are not; they are quite ancient and we can say that they were born with Christianity. The phrase “Christ reigns” has its equivalent in the profession of faith: “Jesus is Lord,” which occupies a central place in the preaching of the apostles.
Sunday’s Gospel passage narrates the death of Christ, because it is at that moment that Christ begins to rule over the world. The cross is Christ’s throne. “Above him there was an inscription that read, ‘This is the King of the Jews.'” That which in the intention of his enemies was the justification of his condemnation, was, in the eyes of the heavenly Father, the proclamation of his universal sovereignty.
To see what this feast has to do with us, we need only recall to our minds a very simple distinction. There are two universes, two worlds or cosmoses: the “macrocosm,” which is the whole universe external to us, and the “microcosm,” or the little universe, which is each individual man. The liturgy itself, in the reform that followed Vatican II, felt the need to accent the human and spiritual aspect of the feast over the, so to speak, political aspect of the feast. The prayer of the feast no longer asks, as it once did, “that all the families of nations, now kept apart by the wound of sin, may be brought under the sweet yoke of [Christ’s] rule” but that “every creature, freed from the slavery of sin, serve and praise [Christ] forever.”
Let us consider again the inscription placed above Christ: “This is the King of the Jews.” The onlookers challenged him to manifest his royalty openly and many, even among his friends, expected a spectacular demonstration of his kingship. But he chose only to show his kingship in his solicitousness for one man, who was, in fact, a criminal: “‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ He replied to him, ‘Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.'"
From this point of view, the most important question to ask on the feast of Christ the King is not whether he reigns in the world but whether he reigns in me; it is not whether his kingship is recognized by states and governments, but whether it is recognized and lived in me.
Is Christ the King and Lord of my life? Who rules in me, who determines the goals and establishes priorities: Christ or someone else? According to St. Paul, there are two ways to live: either for ourselves or for the Lord (Romans 14:7-9). Living “for ourselves” means living like someone who takes himself to be the beginning and the end; it is a life closed in on itself, drawn only by its own satisfaction and glory, without any perspective of eternity. Living “for the Lord,” on the contrary, means living for the Lord, that is, with a view to him, for his glory, for his kingdom.
What we have here is truly a new existence, in the face of which, death itself has lost its definitiveness. The greatest contradiction that man has always experienced -- that between life and death -- has been overcome. The contradiction is no longer between “living” and “dying” but between living “for ourselves” and living “for the Lord.”
[Translation by ZENIT]
* * *
Father Raniero Cantalamessa is the Pontifical Household preacher. The readings for this Sunday are 2 Samuel 5:1-3; Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 23:35-43.
Gospel Commentary for This Sunday
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap
ROME, NOV. 23, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The solemnity of Christ the King was instituted only recently. It was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 in response to the atheist and totalitarian political regimes that denied the rights of God and the Church. The climate in which the feast was born was, for example, that of the Mexican revolution, when many Christians went to their deaths crying out to their last breath, “Long live Christ the King!”
But if the feast is recent, its content and its central idea are not; they are quite ancient and we can say that they were born with Christianity. The phrase “Christ reigns” has its equivalent in the profession of faith: “Jesus is Lord,” which occupies a central place in the preaching of the apostles.
Sunday’s Gospel passage narrates the death of Christ, because it is at that moment that Christ begins to rule over the world. The cross is Christ’s throne. “Above him there was an inscription that read, ‘This is the King of the Jews.'” That which in the intention of his enemies was the justification of his condemnation, was, in the eyes of the heavenly Father, the proclamation of his universal sovereignty.
To see what this feast has to do with us, we need only recall to our minds a very simple distinction. There are two universes, two worlds or cosmoses: the “macrocosm,” which is the whole universe external to us, and the “microcosm,” or the little universe, which is each individual man. The liturgy itself, in the reform that followed Vatican II, felt the need to accent the human and spiritual aspect of the feast over the, so to speak, political aspect of the feast. The prayer of the feast no longer asks, as it once did, “that all the families of nations, now kept apart by the wound of sin, may be brought under the sweet yoke of [Christ’s] rule” but that “every creature, freed from the slavery of sin, serve and praise [Christ] forever.”
Let us consider again the inscription placed above Christ: “This is the King of the Jews.” The onlookers challenged him to manifest his royalty openly and many, even among his friends, expected a spectacular demonstration of his kingship. But he chose only to show his kingship in his solicitousness for one man, who was, in fact, a criminal: “‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ He replied to him, ‘Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.'"
From this point of view, the most important question to ask on the feast of Christ the King is not whether he reigns in the world but whether he reigns in me; it is not whether his kingship is recognized by states and governments, but whether it is recognized and lived in me.
Is Christ the King and Lord of my life? Who rules in me, who determines the goals and establishes priorities: Christ or someone else? According to St. Paul, there are two ways to live: either for ourselves or for the Lord (Romans 14:7-9). Living “for ourselves” means living like someone who takes himself to be the beginning and the end; it is a life closed in on itself, drawn only by its own satisfaction and glory, without any perspective of eternity. Living “for the Lord,” on the contrary, means living for the Lord, that is, with a view to him, for his glory, for his kingdom.
What we have here is truly a new existence, in the face of which, death itself has lost its definitiveness. The greatest contradiction that man has always experienced -- that between life and death -- has been overcome. The contradiction is no longer between “living” and “dying” but between living “for ourselves” and living “for the Lord.”
[Translation by ZENIT]
* * *
Father Raniero Cantalamessa is the Pontifical Household preacher. The readings for this Sunday are 2 Samuel 5:1-3; Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 23:35-43.
Weird. Without even having read his homily, mine sounds very very similar.
Isn't it funny how the homilies always seem to address the problems you seem to be facing that week?
QUOTE(Called2theCross @ Nov 26 2007, 10:51 AM)
Isn't it funny how the homilies always seem to address the problems you seem to be facing that week?
But, it is not solely my problems but the larger church as a whole. I always see myself as an instrument of the Holy Spirit, and find myself saying some really strange things and things I would not normally say, but don't fight it, knowing that someone somewhere needs to hear it, and sure enough someone tells me that was exactly what they needed to hear.
QUOTE(Theologian in Training @ Nov 26 2007, 10:06 AM)
But, it is not solely my problems but the larger church as a whole. I always see myself as an instrument of the Holy Spirit, and find myself saying some really strange things and things I would not normally say, but don't fight it, knowing that someone somewhere needs to hear it, and sure enough someone tells me that was exactly what they needed to hear.
I know! I find it simply amazing that God is speaking to the entire Church through his gospel, but at the same time it seems like the message is individualized to answer my problems at that particular time. It just gives me the chills to know that God works in such mysterious ways. And, also, thank you for relaying the message of God in such an effective manner. Great things are accomplished when we preach according to what God intends.
QUOTE(Theologian in Training @ Nov 26 2007, 10:06 AM)
But, it is not solely my problems but the larger church as a whole. I always see myself as an instrument of the Holy Spirit, and find myself saying some really strange things and things I would not normally say, but don't fight it, knowing that someone somewhere needs to hear it, and sure enough someone tells me that was exactly what they needed to hear.
I know! I find it simply amazing that God is speaking to the entire Church through his gospel, but at the same time it seems like the message is individualized to answer my problems at that particular time. It just gives me the chills to know that God works in such mysterious ways. And, also, thank you for relaying the message of God in such an effective manner. Great things are accomplished when we preach according to what God intends.
QUOTE(Theologian in Training @ Nov 26 2007, 10:06 AM)
But, it is not solely my problems but the larger church as a whole. I always see myself as an instrument of the Holy Spirit, and find myself saying some really strange things and things I would not normally say, but don't fight it, knowing that someone somewhere needs to hear it, and sure enough someone tells me that was exactly what they needed to hear.
I know! I find it simply amazing that God is speaking to the entire Church through his gospel, but at the same time it seems like the message is individualized to answer my problems at that particular time. It just gives me the chills to know that God works in such mysterious ways. And, also, thank you for relaying the message of God in such an effective manner. Great things are accomplished when we preach according to what God intends.
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