Luke 23:35-43 November 24th, 2019 Solemnity of Christ the King.

Today, in the Sacred Liturgy we celebrate the great feast of Christ the King. Our Lord is King and ruler of heaven and earth; and today, in this solemn Liturgy, we acknowledge this fact with our whole heart, mind, soul, strength, with our bodies and with our voices as we with great effort struggle to enter into full, actual, conscious and fruitful participation in this Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in which the King becomes present not only spiritual in our midst, but sacramentally, physically present.

Over the centuries devotion to Jesus has taken many forms. In the early centuries of the Church, we see this devotion very much directed to Jesus as the King of Kings. However, with the revelations of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 1800’s devotion to Christ became centered less on his Kingship and more on his Sacred Heart. With the Divine Mercy Revelations, this trend continues, but one could say with a more universal emphasis on the individual begging God’s Mercy not just on himself but one the whole world. With these two beautiful devotions, the Sacred Heart and Divine Mercy, which are surely mutually enhancive of one another and both of which point to heart of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist beating in love there for all men and woman, one could argue that devotion to Jesus as King of the Universe seems, at least in practice, to have been set aside for a more personal devotion. But when we look at the history of devotion to Jesus within the Sacred Liturgy we find it is always center on Christ as King, as the King, no matter the liturgical season.

Unfortunately, us moderns have a hard time with the notion of kingship; especially us Americans, we can understand it only in light of tyranny and the loss of our freedom. After all, our own independence as a country was from the monarchical rule of England. Jesus, however, is not a political King, nor is He a president. He is not a Democrat or Republican nor is He an Independent; in fact, His visible Kingdom on Earth--the Catholic Church, from which He rules, is not a democracy at all; it is a strict monarchy with only one King, Jesus Himself, with full dominion and power.

Jesus the King, therefore, is not a military or revolutionary leader; He is not a socialist or totalitarian. He is not a king of material wealth or worldly power. In fact, He came to the earth as King not to be served but to serve. He wants subjects, not of forced loyalty but subjects who follow him in the freedom of authentic love and truth
The Kingdom of God then does not mean food and drink, or economic prosperity, but instead righteousness and true peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For Jesus’ kingdom is “the kingdom of Truth and Life, the kingdom of holiness and grace, the kingdom of Justice, love and Peace. The Kingdom of Jesus is a kingdom of true love, the essence of which is a man laying down his life for love of his friends.

In this, we discover that true love must be through Jesus, in Him, and with Him or else it is not true, for Jesus is the Truth. Love apart from Jesus and His truth results in our ideas quickly taking charge and then we end up creating our own version of a kingdom, the kingdom of man without reference to the kingdom of God. Consequently, it becomes just our made-up kingdom with a puppet on the throne—with an idiot king of our desire and making. What results is the dictatorship of relativism which our pope emeritus Pope Benedict continual warned against, for in this pseudo kingdom, the false kings will turn against the very people who put them in power and in the end they themselves will be destroyed by their own ideology—but not until the good themselves will have much to suffer.

Jesus’ loyal subjects, show their acceptance of Christ’s rule over them and His Father’s will for them and so accept God’s love and mercy for the world. Jesus became man to make this truth about the Father's love for man known and to enable men to accept it and live it, through the grace He won through his death on the cross and his subsequent victory over death in his resurrection.

Those who recognize Christ’s kingship and sovereignty, accept his authority given to His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. By doing so, they allow Jesus to reign over them in His eternal and universal. And these faithful subjects live their lives on this earth by following His Way, the only true way, which is the royal way of the cross, which is the way of self-denial and sacrificial love, loving and serving God above all things and their neighbor as themselves for love of God.
The Solemnity of Christ the King ends ordinary time and thus the liturgical year. We now enter into the Season of hope--advent. Our readings take on the tone of the last things, death, judgment, heaven, and hell, topics that don’t at first appear to be hopeful. But the Holy Spirit wants us to be ready, not only for the coming of Christ at Christmas but for His Second Coming in glory at the end of the world. “Behold Jesus is coming amid the clouds and every eye will see Him even those who pierced Him.”

But the Holy Spirit reminds today not to think this event as happening somewhere off in the distance future. Behold He is coming soon!!. This is the theme of Advent. For those souls who die this day, the second coming will happen today, and for each of us, our death is the second coming, for on that day we shall see the King face to face and He will question us about our love…

However, think about it, for you and me He comes even sooner; he comes this very day, on this very altar in the Holy Eucharist, sacrificing Himself anew, in order to totally and completely offer himself to us in love. He longs to enter fully into our hearts at our Holy Communion with Him if we but open our self to allow him to reign over us, for he will not stay by force.

Beginning today, let us as the Holy Spirit to help us more deeply acknowledge Christ as our King; let us start by offering our Hearts in an act of true thanksgiving at this Holy Mass, which makes the King Himself, His royal throne of the cross, His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension and His Kingdom truly present on earth, right here in this Church and in every Catholic Church around the world.

As we prepare to receive the fruit of the Crucifixion and Resurrection at this Holy Mass--Jesus Christ our King in the Holy Eucharist, the Kingdom of God personified, let us ask Him for the grace to hear His voice and to heed his words in testimony that we are committed to the truth of His Kingdom with every fiber of our being.
Let us ask Him through His Holy Mother to help us keep His Authority and the Holy Will of His heavenly Father and our Father, as the driving force of our life. Holy Mary, Queen of the Kingdom of Christ, Queen of our hearts, pray for us helps us to give our heart totally in love and fidelity to Jesus the King.


To Gain a Plenary Indulgence for the Feast of Christ the King
• Be in a state of grace
• Receive Holy Communion (should be easy, since this is Sunday, but you can receive within a few days so if you already received at Saturday vigil you can use that one)
• Go to Confession within 20 days before or after today
• Pray (out loud) for the intentions of the Holy Father (one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be is sufficient)
• Be free from all attachment to sin (just do the best you can there)
And Publicly Recite the following prayer. It is sufficient if you read it out loud softly in a church open to the public.

Act of Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Most Sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before Thine altar. We are Thine, and Thine we wish to be; but to be more surely united to Thee, behold each one of us freely consecrates ourselves today to Thy Most Sacred Heart.
Many indeed have never known Thee; many too, despising Thy precepts, have rejected Thee. Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to Thy Sacred Heart. Be Thou King, O Lord, not only of the faithful children, who have never forsaken Thee but also of the prodigal children, who have abandoned Thee; Grant that they may quickly return to their Father’s house lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.
Be Thou King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof, and call them back to the harbor of truth and unity of faith, so that there may be but one flock and one Shepherd.
Be Thou King of all those who are still involved in the darkness of idolatry or of Islamism, and refuse not to draw them into the light and kingdom of God. Turn Thine eyes of mercy towards the children of the race, once Thy chosen people: of old they called down upon themselves the Blood of the Savior; may it now descend upon them a laver of redemption and of life.

Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give peace and order to all nations, and make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry; praise to the Divine Heart that wrought our salvation; To it be glory and honor forever. R. Amen.