This magnificent Solemnity venerates Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God and Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Lord and our Savior as the King of the Universe.
Reflections on the readings for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus, King of the Universe (November 20, 2022): 2SM 5:1-3; PS 122:1-2,3-4,4-5; COL 1:12-20; LK 23:35-43
MISSIO offers “Mission In Scripture” to nurture a missionary heart, providing reflections on the missionary themes in the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
Christ the King wants to claim all of us to be His while we are on earth, and especially in heaven. Let us claim Him, too, as our King now and always.
Even as we celebrate Jesus Christ as King of All, we should not equate Him in any way with the leaders of the nations of the earth. Whether we call them kings or queens, presidents or prime ministers, they are human. Even those with immense power and influence are mortal and imperfect. We cannot think the way God does unless He reveals Himself and His designs to us. Only by entrusting ourselves to Christ can we embrace the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. He preached about this Kingdom often. And, while His followers only understood in part, they must have realized that this was an authority different from any they had known, where love and mercy reigned. At Jesus’ trials after His arrest, neither the religious leaders nor Pontius Pilate grasped anything about Him or His kingdom. Yet Pilate still had this title put on the cross; possibly he wondered -- just a little -- who and what Christ was. Hanging from the cross, Jesus heard the contemptuous voices of most of those around Him, including one of the criminals crucified with Him. But then, the second man admonished the first and “said in reply, ‘Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ He replied to him, ‘Amen, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise’” (Luke 23:40-43). So the man known two thousand years later as the Good Thief was invited by our Savior into His Kingdom.
Just a century ago, in 1922, Pope Pius XI began his papacy and took as his motto: “The Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ.” It was this pope who established the feast revering our eternal King in order to call the faithful, indeed, the whole world away from the secular, material attractions of the world. Christ the King wants to claim all of us to be His while we are on earth, and especially in heaven. Let us claim Him, too, as our King now and always.
Suggested missionary action: We can honor Christ as our King as we pray the Nicene Creed. We can give particular attention to the words: “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and His kingdom will have no end.”
