Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
One
of the great things about being Catholic, is that we have form prayers to
say. If you’re at a meal and
you’re asked to pray, you can fall back on “Bless us, O Lord…” If you can’t find the words because of
joy or sorrow, you can always seem to get out, “Hail Mary, full of grace…” Or maybe you’re trying to find the
perfect prayer, so you use the one the Jesus taught us: “Our Father…” The blessing is that when we can’t find
our own words, we can use words that others have given us over the
centuries. But the difficulty is
that sometimes when we say a prayer so often, we miss the words that are in the
prayer, because it is so easy to rattle off the memorized formula.
In
the Our Father, for example, we pray, “thy kingdom come.” If we go to Mass every Sunday and
Holyday like we should, we pray that prayer at least 57 times a year. My guess is we’ve said it many, many
more times than that. And yet,
each time we say it, we are affirming that we want God’s kingdom to come. Not the kingdom of the world. Not even my own kingdom. But God’s kingdom.
Today
we celebrate Christ the King of the Universe. Not just king of a part of the world. Not just the king of one faith. He is the King of the Universe, of all
things, whether His kingship is acknowledged or not. Whether we like it or not, Jesus’ kingdom will come. Whether we mean it or not, Jesus’
kingdom will come. But, our
judgment will be much easier if our will is already approaching the will of our
king, and if the words we speak in the Our Father do not merely come from our
vocal chords, but from our heart.
In
the end, there are only really two kingdoms: the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom
of the Evil One. Dichotomies don’t
usually hold true. Life is rarely
as simple as either A or B. And
yet, at the end of time, there will be those for Christ, or those against Him;
those in Heaven or those in Hell. Our
life work, the sign that we are faithful citizens of the Kingdom of God, is
that our will is lined up with, and really subjected to, the will of God. The more we insist on our own will over
and against God, the less we are true subjects of the King of Kings, at least
beyond in name only.
Jesus
never forces us to be a part of His kingdom. And His reign often doesn’t look very enticing. In our Gospel, Jesus is reigning from
the cross. He is being sneered at
and mocked. This isn’t the way
we’re used to seeing kings. Yet
the good thief, whom tradition names St. Dismas, recognizes Jesus and says,
“‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’” And Jesus, the good King, offers
salvation to St. Dismas that very day.
Jesus’ kingdom sometimes doesn’t look so appealing. It is sometimes hidden in external
failure. It is clothed in
meekness. And it is never forced. If we want to build our own kingdom
that is against God, Jesus will let us, because He allows us to use the gift of
free will that He gave us, so that His Kingdom is not forced on us, but
welcomed with love.
To check
ourselves, to examine the conscience, we can ask ourselves whether or not we
want Jesus’ kingdom to come. We
can ask ourselves if the words of the Our Father ring true in our hearts, or
are just empty words. And we can
see the beginning of that in how we respond to the teaching of the Mystical
Body of Christ, the Church. In
particular, the parish council and Fr. Jerry are asking all of us to focus on
the Church’s teaching (therefore, Jesus’ teaching) on social justice.
That
term is pretty loaded. I don’t
think I would shock anyone to say that this location in our one parish tends to
be associated, accurately or inaccurately, with a particular political
party. And the other location in
our one parish tends to be associated, again, accurately or inaccurately, with
another political party. Social
justice tends to be associated more frequently with one political party. But, as far as our faith goes, there is
neither Democrat, nor Republican, Libertarian or Socialist. Christ calls all of us to practice
social justice.
The Compendium to the Catechism of the Catholic
Church states, “Society ensures social justice when it respects the dignity
and the rights of the person as the proper end of society itself. Furthermore, society pursues social
justice, which is linked to the common good and to the exercise of authority,
when it provides the conditions that allow associations and individuals to
obtain what is there due.” In
practice: how do I assist the poor?
How do I ensure that I do not value capital over the human person? How do I show solidarity with those who
have less than me? How do I
promote the dignity of work and encourage others to use their gifts for the
benefit of the city, State, and country?
How do I defend the innocent, especially the baby in the womb and the
elderly? How do I defend the
family as the building block of human society, and promote a culture that
ensures that children have the best environment in which to develop: a loving
father and mother? How do I vote
so as to promote the Gospel? How
do I work for peace?
In our
parish we have people who work hard for social justice, on both sides of
Burcham. We have business leaders
who leave extremely generous tips to waitresses who didn’t think they would be
able to provide Christmas gifts for their children. Our Food Bank at St. John feeds many people. The Giving Trees, organized by the St.
Vincent de Paul Societies, and that will soon be up, provide necessities and
niceties for families in need. Our
school children have had the opportunity to work in soup kitchens. Our right to life group marches in DC
as a witness to our legislators to defend life in our laws. There are so many other ways. St. John Church & Student Center
does not have a monopoly on social justice. St. Thomas Aquinas does not have a monopoly on social
justice. We each do things well,
and we each need to be challenged in the areas in which we can grow. As one parish family, united in one
Kingdom of Christ, we need to work together to work for social justice: not as
one side of the faith, or the work of a political party, but as members of the
Kingdom of God who are called to do our best to make this City of Man look more
and more like the City of God.
Will we
cooperate with the grace of God, without which we cannot build the City of God,
that city that only Christ can truly complete? Will we be members of Christ’s Kingdom? Or will we rather build our
kingdom? May our hearts and our
actions reflect the words we say today: thy kingdom come.