Saturday, November 21, 2009

Homily for the Solemnity of Jesus Christ the King!

Hail Rex! Unless you arrived here from out of town, chances are you have welcomed the arrival of a king. Rex is called the king of carnival. The man picked to hail as the king of this organization is simply called Rex since this is the latin word for king. Practically all of us have watched a Mardi Gras parade and enjoyed the pomp and circumstance of the approaching king’s float. Even a casual Mardi Gras fan waits to hear the name of the new celebrity king of Bacchus every year.

Outside of our Mardi Gras traditions, most of us really don’t buy into the concept of a king. After all, we live in America; our founding fathers fought a war and helped give birth to a new nation. The idea of America being ruled by a king was repulsive to the first Americans.

As people of faith however do we rejoice that we are ruled by the King whose solemnity we celebrate today: Our Lord Jesus Christ the King?

As the liturgical year comes to a close and we prepare for Advent, the Church gives us this awesome celebration of Christ the King whose kingdom does not belong to this world. We hear Jesus reply with these very words to the inquisition of Pilate. This begs the question then, where is this Kingdom of Jesus? First, we can identify what His Kingdom is not. It is not limited to territory or space, it is not confined to a period of time, and it is not based on power and is not supported by wealth. It is, in fact, the antithesis of what many expect of a king.

When Jesus declares His Kingdom does not belong to this world, He is declaring a kingdom that is identified by our relationship to Christ the King. He is declaring a kingdom that we share here on earth and can share in Heaven. He is declaring a kingdom based on virtue, steeped in service and full of grace. It is a kingdom where the King says I will save you by loosing my very life for you!

The kingdom of Jesus is one that belongs to the truth; the truth that makes us free. The kingdom of Jesus, which does not belong to this world, does indeed transform the world.

How then are we to respond to Christ the King? We first must live our lives by the example of this benevolent King. We too are to live a life of virtue, a life of service, a life filled with grace. We too are to live our life in service to Him, our Lord and King and to His subjects who happen to be our brothers and sisters; our neighbors. As Christ, He is worthy of our worship and as King, he is deserving of our service!

In today’s Gospel Jesus declares: “for this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth”. For what were we born? Jesus tells us that we belong to the truth if we listen to His voice. So we respond by serving Him, by becoming a disciple and serving our fellow man. We seek Christ the King in all we do, including the everyday trials and difficulties we face throughout our lives. And we worship Him as the prophet Daniel describes His worship; receiving dominion, glory and kingship! And we worship Him by declaring as we hear from Revelation: to Him be glory and power forever. For He truly is the Alpha and the Omega!

Hail Rex! Hail Bacchus! Yea, that’s part of our culture and plenty of fun too. But it’s fleeting and those kings pass by in a blink of an eye. Hail Christ the King! More than beads and trinkets and fun; the King who reigns forever and asks us to live with Him in His Kingdom forever!

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