Today is the 34th and last Sunday in ordinary time, the Feast of Christ the King.  It brings to conclusion our liturgical year, our year of reflection, our year of worship.  Every year, we ponder the mystery of our salvation as we try and mature as disciples.  

During Advent, we reflect on the promise of a coming saviour.  During Christmas, we meditate on the incarnation, the good news that our saviour is our God come to us in the flesh.  During Lent, we have a time of purification and renewal.  During Easter, we ponder the redemption, the death the resurrection of Christ and what it means for us.  In Pentecost, we celebrate the gift of new life in the Holy Spirit.  And during ordinary time, we learn how to live in this spirit, building the kingdom of God.  

And today in the Feast of Christ the King, we celebrate and anticipate the fulfillment of that kingdom when Christ will be all and all in heaven and on earth.  So here’s the really important question.  We finished another liturgical year, another church year, of worship.  And so the question is are you any holier today than you were 52 weeks ago on November 26, 2006, when we celebrated Christ the King last year?  How have you grown as a disciple, a child of God?  What have you done for the kingdom of God this past year?  

In seminary, one of the professors gave a sermon and he preached in the sermon, “We are a kingdom, people.  We are a kingdom, people.”  And as seminarians do, that became our inside joke for a while.  So if somebody would do something nice, you would say, “Oh, that was a very kingdom thing of you.  Oh, you’re being very kingdom today.”  So it was our little inside joke, but there was much truth to that, that we are each day, day by day, to enhance the kingdom of Christ.  

Preaching on Christ the King actually is a little difficult for Americans given the whole thing that happened in 1776 with George III.  But it’s interesting to know that Israel also had very ambivalent feelings about kings.  They lived under the heavy hand of pharaoh in Egypt.  And when they finally got their freedom, they said, “That’s enough of kings for us.  We’re gonna be different from all the other people’s on the earth.  We’re gonna be the one people in which God alone is our king.”  And for about 200 years that’s what they did, except the problem was they lived as a very loose federation of 12 tribes, which meant that the other kings found them kind of easy pickings to attack and to harass and to conquer.

And so they began to desire that they would be strong.  “Yeah, that we could have a king that would pull us together and make us a strong army as well.”  And they began to desire a king.  Now the profit Samuel said, “Wait a second, you don’t know what you’re asking for.  I have to tell you that these kings come with strings attached.”  But the people said, “We don’t care.  We’re tired of being weak.  We want to be strong.  We want a king as well.”  And so they were granted their first king, Saul, who started out okay, but ended up pretty bad.

But their successor, his successor, was King David, as we heard in the first reading today.  He was – you know, he wasn’t perfect, but he was pretty good as far as kings go.  Sad to say that the nearly 40 kings that would follow him really in many ways weren’t much better than pharaoh.  There was only a couple of good ones that stood out in next, say, 400 years.  

But in the hearts of the people of Israel, they began to long for the day in which they’d have a really good king.  “If we just had a really good king, he could lead us into a better kingdom, even better than the time of David.”  And they called this person the “Messiah.”  It’s the Hebrew word for the “anointed one.”  So I think we heard in the first reading that they anointed, they poured oil over the head of David and anointed him their king.  He was anointed.  So Messiah, the anointed one.  

We flip over the New Testament.  And in the Gospel of Luke when the archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was chosen to bear the saviour, the angel said, “The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David.”  When the angels announced to the shepherds the good news of the Lord’s birth, they said, “I bring you good news of great joy, for to you is born this day in the city of David a saviour who is Christ the Lord.”  The word “Christ” is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah.”  When we say “Jesus Christ,” what we’re saying is “Jesus is the Messiah.”  

Jesus clearly understood himself to be the Messiah.  In his teachings, in his healings, he was fulfilling all the different prophecies that were given of the Messiah.  In Luke 22, Jesus said to his apostles, “I confer on you just as my Father conferred on me a kingdom.”  When he stood before Pilate in John 18, he said, “My kingdom is not of this world.”  And Pilate goes, “Oh, so you are a king?”  So clearly, Jesus saw himself as King and Messiah.  

In the Epistles, for instance, the second reading we heard today from Colossians, St. Paul teaches that we have been rescued from the power of darkness and been transferred into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.  So St. Paul clearly saw Jesus as King and Messiah.  

Though it is fascinating to see the contrast between our second reading in our Gospel today, in our second reading we see the cosmic Christ who rules all the universe.  He is the image of the invisible God.  In Christ, all things in heaven and on earth were created.  In Christ, all things hold together.  In Christ, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell for through Christ, God reconciled all things on heaven, on earth.  So we see the glorious exalted.   

But then we flip the page to the Gospel and we see Christ upon the cross, how un-kingly.  Mocked and beaten, insulted, and powerless, and yet even from the cross, he exercises his kingly prerogatives.  It is the prerogative of the king to pardon.  Even the governor can commute a sentence.  Our president can pardon certain people.  And there, Jesus is on the cross, yet still exercising his kingly powers.  He pardons his persecutors, “Father, forgive them.  They know not what they do.”  He turns to the man to his side and pardons him as well.  In the Gospel of John, the cross is portrayed almost as the throne of Christ our King.  

I was asked a few weeks ago by a student, “What do the letters I-N-R-I stand for?”  You see the little plaque over our crucifix here.  And what it stands for is it’s the first four letters, the first letters of four Latin words.  It says in the Gospels that Pilate had written over Jesus what his charge was.  And he had it written in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew so that everyone could clearly understand.  Now those letters I-N-R-I, the first I – okay – there’s no J in the Latin, so they use the letter I.  So the first I is “Iesus,” Jesus.  The N, “Nazarenus,” of Nazareth.  The R is “Rex.”  Little boys know Tyrannosaurus Rex as the king of the dinosaurs.  Or if you have a pet named Rex, it must be the king of your house, let’s say.  I-N-R-I, “Iudaeourum,” Judaeourum, of the Jews.  

INRI is “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”  And how ironic that Pilate kind of engages in the first work of worldwide evangelization as he declares to all the world that Jesus is “Rex” in Latin.  King.  He is Christos, Greek, Christ for the gentiles, and Messiah for the Hebrews.  

So what is the kingdom of God and where is the kingdom of God?  The kingdom of God is where God reigns.  The kingdom of God is where God’s will is done.  As we pray in the Our Father, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  The kingdom of God is where God’s influence is felt, where God has sway on the face of the earth.  

Let me use this example.  I think we’re all aware that our president, the chief executive officer of our government, is George Bush, and we’re all aware of that.  We can answer the question if someone stops us on the street.  But how much influence does he have on our day-to-day life?  For most of us, not too much.  Your boss has more influence.  If you are a child, your parents have more influence.  

But if you happen to work, let’s say, in the White House, if you work for the president, if you were on his staff, then your whole life is dedicated to fulfilling his mission.  You’re very attuned to his will.  And I think that’s what – most Christians probably live that first scenario where we’re kind of vaguely aware that Christ is our king.  But it doesn’t have a lot of day-to-day, moment-to-moment impact.  What we need to strive is to reach that second scenario where we really are aware that we’re on this earth to help in his mission, fulfill his will.  

St. Paul says, “There’s only two ways to live your life.  You either live your life for yourself or you live your life for the Lord.”  The challenge is for us – is to learn how to take that crown off of ourself and place the crown upon Christ.  To step down off the throne of our life and to enthrone Christ in our hearts.  To live no longer a self-centered life, but a Christ-centered life.  No longer a self-serving life, but a Christ-serving life.  No longer a self-pleasing life, but a Christ-pleasing life.  No longer a self-glorifying life, but a Christ-glorifying life.  Our life is a constant struggle to allow Christ to have more authority over us, to extend his rule farther and farther within our hearts.  

The Feast of Christ the King is a relatively recent feast.  It was only in 1925 that Pope Pius XI declared this feast in the church calendar.  Why did he do it?  Well, Europe was still rebuilding, still reeling from the trauma of World War I, where there supposedly Christian nations attacked each other with unimaginable savagery.  And something new is on the horizon, the rise of atheistic communism, which began in Russia in 1917, the rise of Mussolini and fascism in 1922 there in Italy, the rise of Hitler in Germany.  There was a bloody persecution of the church in Mexico by an atheistic president.  So there was the rise of a militant atheism.  

But there was, and continues to be, also what I call “soft atheism,” such as secular humanism that says that, “Even if there is a God, he has no part in public live.  Even if there is a God, we act as if there wasn’t.”  At their core, these ideologies try to organize human life without God, to organize human life apart from God.  

Let me read from you the words of Pope Pius XI when he established this feast.  He said and explains, “Why am I doing this?”  He says, “The chief causes of the difficulties under which mankind is laboring is due to the fact that the majority of man had thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law out of their lives, that these had no place either in private affairs or in politics.”  As we said further that, “As long as individuals and states refuse to submit to the rule of our Saviour, there would be no really hopeful prospect of a lasting piece among nations.”

If you remember at this time, they were trying to organize League of Nations, Woodrow Wilson’s – what is it – four points.  They thought they could create a system that could create peace.  And so they’re being reminded that peace goes much deeper than just a political system.  

Let me continue.  With God and Jesus Christ excluded from political life with authority derived not from God, but from man, the very basis of that authority has been taken away.  The result is that human society is tottering to its fall because it no longer has a secure and solid foundation.  In other words, without God, there is no higher authority than the state, a kind of idolatry of the state.  Without God, there is no conscience to restrain the will to power.  Without God, there’s not force, no grace, no spirit to overcome the pull of selfishness and sinfulness that every human heart in every human society struggles with.  And man is left defenseless to his base or instincts.  

A few years ago while he was still cardinal, Ratzinger, before he became Pope Benedict, Cardinal Ratzinger was quoted in an interview.  He said this, he said, “God has been put on the sidelines.”  In political life, it seems almost indecent to speak about God as if it were an attack on the freedom of those who do not believe.  The world of politics follows its norms and paths.  Excluding God is something that does not belong to this world.  The same thing is happening in the world of business, the economy, and private life.  God remains marginalized.  To me, it seems necessary to rediscover that even in the political and economic spheres, they need more moral responsibility, a responsibility that is born in man’s heart, and in the end, has to do with the presence or absence of God.

Now listen to this.  He says, “A society in which God is completely absent, self destructs.”  We saw this in the great totalitarian regimes of the last century.  So who rules the world, man, money, the state, elites, the media?  We proclaim that Christ is king of this world, not just in a vague symbolic way.  Christ is king of heaven and earth, a higher authority than the Roman Empire, the United Nations, the European Union, and even the government of the USA.  We declare that he’s not just Lord of this building and other similar buildings, but that he is Lord of heaven and earth.  They are his.  He made them.  This is his world.  In him, all things were made.  

St. Paul said in the second reading, “We are citizens of our land, yes, but we are citizens of God’s kingdom first.  Our first and highest allegiance lies with God.”  Has the threat that inspired Pope Pius XI in 1925, has threat passed?  Are we safe now?  

An Italian professor published some research in the year 2002.  He calculates that in the 2,000 years of Christianity, 70 million people have been killed because of their faith, 70 million people in 2,000 years, and two-thirds of them lost their lives in the 20th century.  The genocide of the Armenians in Turkey in 1915, the persecution in Mexico in the ‘20s’, in Spain in the ‘30s, Germany in the ‘40s.  Yes, 6 million Jews were killed, but also 5 million Christians.  The persecutions and policies in the Soviet Union, communist China, the unrest in Central American in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the Islamic resurgence in the ‘90s, the Sudan and other places.  

The British Secret Service, MI6, calculates that today, on this day, 200 million Christians are at serious risk of persecution.  Today, November 25, 2007, 200 million Christians are at serious risk of persecution, 10% of all believers, generally, due to two ideologies either in the communist lands of China, North Korea, Vietnam, or the Muslim lands, Pakistan, Gaza, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia.  

It is important to that we are aware of what is going on in our world.  It is important that we be concerned about what our fellow brothers and sister in Christ are going through.  When one part of the body suffers, the whole body needs to be affected.  

But now it’s time to go from the global to the personal.  On the Feast of Christ the King, the most important question I can ask is does Christ reign in your life?  Does Christ reign in your heart?  How does he influence your emotional life?  Does Christ reign in your mind?  How does he influence your intellectual life?  Does Christ reign in your home?  Is he a palpable presence in your marriage, your family life?  Does he reign over your TV and over your computer?  In your conversation and speech, in your relationships, in your free time, in finances, in your values, at work, at school, is he lord over all of you, or just parts of you?  

Is there any part in your life that you have made off limits to Christ?  If Christ has had just partial reign over you, then today is the day to grant him an all access paths to every part of you, to every part of your life.  The kingdom of God is found wherever people have placed themself under the lordship, the dominion of Christ.  

Today, again, we pledge our allegiance to Christ our King, and we ask God that you grant us the grace to live as his loyal subjects.  Such a king we have.  Has there ever been such a king?  He took our cross and gave us his throne.  He takes on our weakness and bestows on his greatness.  He takes our death and grants his life.  He was emptied so that we could be filled.  He accepted our punishment so that we could receive his forgiveness.  He did not save himself so that he could save us.  What king has ever been like this king, who is not ashamed to stoop to wash the feet of his disciples and to carry their cross?  

And even in his final moments of agony, he tends to the condemned man at his side.  What a king.  “Oh, Lord, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  Jesus, remember us when you come into your kingdom.  Viva Christo Rey.  Long live Christ our King.  

On this Feast of Christ the King, the church grants an indulgence to her children who pray this prayer of dedication to Christ the King.  I invite you to kneel and pray along with me in your hearts.  

Loving Jesus, redeemer of the human race, look down upon us as we kneel before you on this feast day.  We belong to you, and we wish always to be yours.  In order that we may be more closely united with you, we consecrate ourselves today to your most sacred heart.  We pray, Lord, that you will be king, not only of the faithful ones who have never abandoned you, but that you will be king also of those who have abandoned the faith.  We pray especially for them that they may soon return to their father’s house and to their fathers love.  

We pray also that you will be king of those who are kept away from the church because of false opinions or misunderstandings.  Call them back, Lord, to the truth and unity of the faith so that there may soon once again be one flock and on shepherd.

Grant to your church, oh, Lord, assurance of freedom and immunity from harm.  We pray for peace and tranquility among all the nations of the world.  May all people’s praise your divine heart, which has loved us and saved us.  To you, be glory and honor forever.  

Amen.