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Solemnity of Christ the King
23 November 2008
Dear Friends in Christ,
The new Year of Grace will begin next week with the First Sunday of Advent, and on each of the four Sundays of Advent we will gather at 4 pm to sing the psalms and canticles of Vespers or Evening Prayer. Please join us at 4 pm on the Sundays of Advent, and bring a friend, to prepare with peaceful prayer for the coming celebration of Christ’s birth.
But on this last Sunday of the liturgical year we close the old Year of Grace with the Solemnity of Christ the King. Each year on this feast, the Church throughout the world acclaims Jesus Christ as King, and describing the Lord Jesus as our true King is, of course, an analogy to a form of earthly authority with which we Americans are not well acquainted. More than from the tortured history of European kings, however, we should learn the pattern of Christ’s kingship from the Sacred Scriptures, and in the Old Testament we find several types or prefigurings of Christ the King – chief among whom is David, the simple shepherd who became King of Israel. For this reason, the Scripture lessons appointed for this Solemnity of Christ the King are about the Good Shepherd who protects his flock, who seeks out the lost sheep, and who cures the sick sheep. But we also read that the Son of Man will exclude from his everlasting kingdom those who neglect the “least of his brethren” and thereby neglect him.
St. Matthew records in Chapter 25, verses 31-46, that the Lord Jesus commands us to feed the hungry, and welcome the stranger, and visit the sick and imprisoned, and clothe the naked if we are to be numbered among his flock at the End of Days. These sober words of the Word made flesh should inspire us to find practical ways to shape our lives according to the Gospel and so put flesh on the bones of our profession of faith. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 7:21). And in this liberating truth we learn the connection between the priesthood of Christ and the kingship of Christ: to serve is to rule. Let us then resolve to serve one another and all of our brothers and sisters in love, that we may be gathered at the Day of the Lord into the eternal Kingdom of Christ. The Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer for this Solemnity draws together all of these strands:
“Father, you anointed Jesus Christ, your only Son, with the oil of gladness, as the eternal priest and universal king. As priest he offered his life on the altar of the cross and redeemed the human race by this one perfect sacrifice of peace. As king he claims dominion over all creation, that he may present to you, his almighty Father, an eternal and universal kingdom: a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love, and peace.” Amen. Alleluia!
Praised be Jesus Christ! Now and forever!
Father Newman