HE is THE KING of KINGS!!!!!

Today is the Feast of Christ the King. This feast was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925. He gave the reasons for the establishment of the feast in his encyclical Quas primas which was issued on 11 December 1925. The feast was initially celebrated in the Latin Rite on the last Sunday of October but moved to the last Sunday of the Church year after Vatican II.

What did Pope Pius XI hope to accomplish by "the public veneration of the Kingship of Christ"? As he wrote in paragraph 33: "The faithful, moreover, by meditating upon these truths, will gain much strength and courage, enabling them to form their lives after the true Christian ideal. If to Christ our Lord is given all power in heaven and on earth; if all men, purchased by his precious blood, are by a new right subjected to his dominion; if this power embraces all men, it must be clear that not one of our faculties is exempt from his empire. He must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things, and cleave to him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls."

This is reflected in the answer to question 107 in the Compendium of the Catechism (CC): "All are invited by Jesus to enter the Kingdom of God. Even the worst of sinners is called to convert and to accept the boundless mercy of the Father. Already here on earth, the Kingdom belongs to those who accept it with a humble heart. To them the mysteries of the Kingdom are revealed."

So how do we live as subjects in the Kingdom of God? Origen in a sermon on prayer said "(L)et us pray without ceasing, our souls filled by a desire made divine by the Word Himself. Let us pray to our Father in heaven: hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come." He goes on to say "There is something important that we need to understand about the kingdom of God: just as righteousness has no partnership with lawlessness, just as light has nothing in common with darkness and Christ has no agreement with Belial, so the kingdom of God and a kingdom of sin cannot co-exist. So if we want God to reign within us, on no account may sin rule in our mortal body but let us mortify our earthly bodies and let us be made fruitful by the Spirit. Then we will be a spiritual garden of Eden for God to walk in. God will rule in us with Christ who will be seated in us on the right hand of God — God, the spiritual power that we pray to receive — until he makes his enemies (who are within us) into his footstool and pours out on us all authority, all power, all strength."

This is a strong challenge to each of us to look at our lives & see how we are living. This isn't a once for all thing but a daily thing. Everytime a person sins he takes Christ off the throne of his heart. & the only way to restore Christ to the throne is to repent & return to Jesus. The sacrament of Confession is a tool that Jesus gave us to give us the graces we need to not only turn from sin but to be able to resist temptation. & of cource the greatest source of grace is the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

But not sinning & praying is not enough. There is more that each of us needs to do in response to the call we have from Jesus to live in the Kingdom. Every aspect of how we live our lives needs to reflect the reality of the Lordship of Jesus in our lives. How do I treat others? If I own one, how do I run my business? How do I do my job if I work for someone else? Do I fight to end abortion? How am I helping the poor?, those in prison? etc? The Compendium of the Social Doctrines of the Church (CSD) is a sure guide to living this call out.

In living out the teachings of the Church we bring the Kingdom of God to others. "(T)he Church has a single intention: that God's kingdom may come, and that the salvation of the whole human race may come to pass. For every benefit which the People of God during its earthly pilgrimage can offer to the human family stems from the fact that the Church is "the universal sacrament of salvation", simultaneously manifesting and a rising the mystery of God's love." (Gaudium et spes 45) "The transformation of social relationships that responds to the demands of the Kingdom of God is not fixed within concrete boundaries once and for all. Rather, it is a task entrusted to the Christian community, which is to develop it and carry it out through reflection and practices inspired by the Gospel. . . . . The dynamics of this renewal must be firmly anchored in the unchangeable principles of the natural law, inscribed by God the Creator in each of his creatures (cf. Rom 2:14-15), and bathed in eschatological light through Jesus Christ." (CSD 53)

Each generation has its responsiblitiy to do its part to bring about the Kingdom of God. But the ultimite fullfillment of the Kingdom won't occur until Jesus returns. Some day as we heard in todays readings we will say: "Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, every one who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him." (Rev 1:7) As Daniel prophecied: "I saw One like a son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; When he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, He received dominion, glory, and kingship; nations and peoples of every language serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed. " (Dan 7:13-14)

Jesus won this right to rule not by accepting an earthly crown made of gold & jewels, but by accepting a crown of thorns. He didn't accept an earthly throne he mounted the throne of the cross. In doing so he transformed them into a crown & throne much more glorious than any here on earth. He has begun this reign in Heaven & will some day return. Until that time things are as described in Psalm 110 where the Father says to Jesus “Sit at my right hand while I make your enemies into your footstool.” As Paul explains: "For he must be king until he has put all his enemies under his feet and the last of the enemies to be destroyed is death, for everything is to be put under his feet. – Though when it is said that everything is subjected, this clearly cannot include the One who subjected everything to him. And when everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subject in his turn to the One who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all." (1 Cor 15:25-28)

What is my response to God's call to let Jesus be King in my life, what is yours? Each of us has a choice. Do I let Jesus reign as Lord of my life? Am I letting Him transform me by the power of the Holy Spirit? Do I allow Him to use me to bring about the Kingdom of God here on Earth? How about you?