Christ is Our King
ONE
Today is the Feast of Christ the King.
This is the end of the Church year. It begins with Advent and ends with the Feast of Christ the King, in which we are reminded that on Judgment Day at the end of the world, Christ will come in glory to achieve the definitive triumph of good over evil.
When he comes at the end of time to judge the living and the dead, the glorious Christ will reveal the secret disposition of all people and will render to each person according to his works and according to his acceptance and refusal of grace.
So this Feast is a reminder that this world and our life will end and then we will give an account for our lives.
What do we want that moment to be for us?
TWO
In the Our Father we pray: Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done.
If we want Christ to reign in our soul, it’s pretty simple – do His will. But what is His will for us? That seems to be the hard thing. Well, God did not leave us to wonder what His will was. He revealed His will for us in general, meaning how He designed us, through the Commandments and the teachings of Jesus found in Scripture and Tradition that is summarized in the CCC, especially in part II and III. If you want to know the will of God for your life in general – read the Catechism. Funny though, most people don’t read it.
The will of God for us in particular is known by a few key things:
The duties and responsibilities of our state in life as a –
Husband or Wife
Parent
Work outside of the Home
Work inside of the Home
Son or Daughter of elderly parents
What other commitments have you made?
Are you sure these other commitments are God’s will?
Our state in life comes with responsibilities that are the will of God for us. How are we doing in these?
THREE
We let Christ reign in our soul not only by doing the will of God, but even more by accepting the will of God.
This unconditional acceptance or surrender to the will of God is the most important. Yet it is the most difficult. Sunday I said; “Oh God, I surrender myself unconditionally to you.” Monday I had a stomach bug that prevented me from working with the energy I wanted and I said; “Oh God, what the heck are you doing, don’t you know what I have to get done.” He said in response, “I see, you want to reign and not me…”
So much for unconditional surrender!
Nothing can happen except what God wills or allows and whatever God allows He only does so to bring about our greatest good and the good of our loved ones. Here is where it gets really difficult to trust God. But that is precisely what we are called to do because He can see what we cannot see. I say to God; “This is bad. This looks really bad. God, you need to change this because it's bad.” But God says to me. “Michael, I can see what you cannot. Trust me – I am working this for the best.”
What we did not choose, do not like, cannot change and cannot understand – we accept with trust and offer to Jesus with love because this is His will for us. And it shall indeed be the best.
FOUR
The Final Victory of Christ the King is retroactive.
When we look at all the evil and injustice in the world, Christians often say; “Well, we know who wins in the end.”
Jesus does not just win in the end. Jesus is winning all along. Jesus is winning right now – we just don’t notice because we think like the world.
Let’s take the most important example – the death of Jesus on Calvary. Good Friday was not a loss, but then Jesus gets the victory in the rematch on Easter Sunday. No! Jesus was victorious over the devil's sin and death precisely on Good Friday. That is why it is called Good Friday.
Christ is King. He is the ruler of Heaven and Earth. This means that He is guiding everything that happens to result in the greatest triumph of God’s justice over all the injustices committed by His creatures and that God’s love is stronger than death.
And Christ is King because He can take your successes and your screw-ups and use them all to advance His kingdom.
That is so consoling.
When Christ the King comes to Judge the Living and the Dead, we will see just how God worked everything so that everyone received perfect justice and mercy. Pope Benedict wrote;
“The innocent sufferer has attained the certitude of hope: there is a God, and God can create justice in a way that we cannot conceive, yet we can begin to grasp it through faith. Yes, there is a resurrection of the flesh. There is justice. There is an “undoing” of past suffering, a reparation that sets things right.” Spe Salvi 43
That is what we place our hope in!
FIVE
When Christ Comes to Judge the Living and the Dead –
Luke Chapter 19
While the people were listening, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and they imagined that the kingdom of God was going to show itself then and there. Accordingly he said; “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to be appointed king and afterwards return. He summoned ten of his servants and gave them ten pounds. ‘Do business with these’ he told them ‘until I get back.’ But his compatriots detested him and sent a delegation to follow him with this message, ‘We do not want this man to be our king’. Now on his return, having received his appointment as king, he sent for those servants to whom he had given the money, to find out what profit each had made and to reward them accordingly…”
For, Jesus said; "I tell you, to everyone who has will be given more; but from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for my enemies who did not want me for their king, bring them here and execute them in my presence.”
This is a remarkable statement from Our Lord.
Fulton Sheen once commented that upon the return of Christ the King there will be a reward for the heroes, those who have loved God for His sake as well as and their neighbor for God’s sake.
There will be a purification for the cowards, who lived their life to fight for, protect and promote their own well-being more than the love of God the promotion of His kingdom. And there will be punishment for the traitors, those who joined the other side.
Am I loving God and others for His sake? Or am I just acting for my own self-preservation, comfort, ego, and vanity?
Christ is coming, the time is short, what do you need to do? Just do it now.