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Sts. Joseph & Paul Catholic Church |
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Feast of Christ the King – C
If someone asked you how old this
Feast of the Solemnity of Christ the King is,
you would probably say centuries old. You might speculate that it came
some years after the crucifixion -- perhaps after Christ had shown
himself as the true King through the cross and the Resurrection, when
he took his seat on the heavenly throne. If this is the case, you may find it surprising that the Feast of Christ the King is no more then 80 years old. Pope Pius XI set it as a liturgical feast in 1925. Such a recent feast tells us something about the culture of that recent time. At that time, the uncertainty of power with Nazism, socialism, and communism loomed over Europe. Pope Pius XI feared that these new powers, that could be called “isms,” would become the new royalty and that they would rob people of their faith in God. He wanted to ward off such a calamity should these develop into new kingdoms. The pope reminded people that their ultimate power comes from God, whose true throne is in heaven. Then he proclaimed the feast of the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King. We do not have to look far in Sacred Scripture to find readings that support this feast. From today’s gospel, we hear one of the criminals, who hung beside Jesus, say to him, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus responds, “This day you will be with me in paradise.” In many ways, we find the kingdom of “isms” that Pope Pius fought changed through this kingship with Christ, yet, in some ways, they remain the same. History books and heroes from that day and time tell us the stories of how their belief in God’s kingdom was their redeeming grace. If that was true then, then it must remain the same for today. The struggles of life remain difficult and “isms” of a different kind and name continue. Two big “isms” -- materialism and individualism -- present themselves as kings and challenge us today. I fear a certain sense of doubt present in our world today. We reach and grasp for that which will save us from our emptiness, loneliness, and even despair, and so we fill ourselves up with self- will and lots of possessions. We must remember that the opposite of doubt is faith, and our faith lies in Christ, the true King. If we are struggling in life, remember that it was through the struggles of Christ, who accepted a cross of suffering that we have come to know of the unconditional love of God. When we place our faith in God’s unconditional love, we believe it can enfold us, and surround us, and see us through any tragedy, challenge or pain. When we doubt, the invitation is to simply look at the cross and see there the true throne from which the kingdom of God came. As Christians, we place our hope in the cross. I will close with this story; maybe you have heard it before. A holy woman, who suffered from arthritis, lived with her son. Her son was anti-religious and out of his church. Daily she prayed for relief from her pain and for her son’s return to his faith. For years, she desired a relic of the “true” cross. Her son thought she was crazy. So one day on his way home from work, he saw a fence post with a large splinter, which he pulled off and brought home. At home, he took the inner workings our of his gold pocket watch and placed of piece of red velvet in the casing and the splinter on the velvet. He then took it to his mother and presented to her. He told her that it came from Rome, that it was a relic of the “true” cross. She was overjoyed and set up a corner table in the living room as a shrine; she surrounded this relic with candles and flowers. Soon her living room became a neighborhood shrine, where people came to pray before this “true relic” of the cross. The relic had a power that relieved people from their pain, and the woman’s arthritis seemed to get better. Her friends and neighbors experienced miracles and cures as they prayed in the presence of the cross. After some days her son was again on his way home from work and stopped at a bar. After a few drinks, he told his buddies the joke that he had pulled on his mom. They laughed and told him that he should go home and tell her the truth – that the relic was a joke. The thought delighted him, but when he opened the door to go home, he found himself face to face with Jesus Christ. Jesus looked him squarely in the eye and said stop, “the splinter you gave to your mother is truly a part of my cross!” And, at that moment, he found faith.
Jesus Christ is our true King. Our
faith and belief in Salvation comes to us through the cross that
remains a throne over all humanity. May the miracle of the true cross
redeem us and set us free. |
