Solemnity of Christ the King

Today is the last Sunday of the Church’s liturgical year and we gather to celebrate this great feast of Christ the King. The Church wants us to reflect upon what the whole of all creation is ultimately about. Our Faith tells us that Christ will return to establish the Kingdom of God and when that time comes, the world as we know it will be transformed. This is not something to be feared but rather something we long for because it means the complete fulfillment of God’s will.

For us today, the meaning of the feast day may be a little less clear than it was some centuries ago when there were many kingdoms in the world, each ruled by a monarch with total authority over the lives of the people who lived there. The people were called “Subjects” because they were subject to the will of their King. Today, such monarchs no longer exist as all Kings and Queens today are Heads of State in democracies and so are pretty much figureheads. For Catholics of a few centuries ago, the image of Christ the King would have been a very real and easy concept to understand; it would be the time when Christ would surpass even their own earthly King and reign forever over their lives.

As if to emphasize the point even more, the readings for the coming weekday Masses all come from the last book of the Bible, The Apocalypse, or as it is also called, The Book of Revelations. The readings highlight the struggle between good and evil that goes on in our daily lives even today, but which will come to a climax in those last days. What we must remember is that victory will be for the Lamb of God, the one we celebrate today as Christ the King.

Have a great week!

Fr. Chester