The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King

Altarpiece of Christ the King found in the Church of St. Peter, Hertfordshire, England

Today is the 34th or final Sunday in Ordinary Time, which makes it the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King. This feast is a relatively new one in the life of the Church; it was established in 1925 by Pope Pius XI in response to the dangerous kind of secularism he saw spreading throughout supposedly Christian cultures and societies. Secularism is a way of life which excludes God and instead puts man at the center of life and society, leading people to live as if God did not exist. Pope Pius XI wrote an encyclical called Quas Primas which instituted the feast of Christ the King as an antidote to the dangerous fruits of the secular worldview, which he so presciently catalogued:

...the seeds of discord sown far and wide; those bitter enmities and rivalries between nations, which still hinder so much the cause of peace; that insatiable greed which is so often hidden under a pretense of public spirit and patriotism, and gives rise to so many private quarrels; a blind and immoderate selfishness, making men seek nothing but their own comfort and advantage, and measure everything by these; no peace in the home, because men have forgotten or neglect their duty; the unity and stability of the family undermined; society in a word, shaken to its foundations and on the way to ruin. (Quas Primas, paragraph 24)

But Pope Pius' hope was that the feast we celebrate today would counteract these attitudes which secularism had cultivated, since it would remind us that our hope must be in Christ alone. Pope Pius wrote, "We firmly hope, however, that the feast of the Kingship of Christ, which in future will be yearly observed, may hasten the return of society to our loving Savior." The feast should remind us that Jesus Christ alone is our Lord and Savior. We will not be saved by our own power, by our material goods, through technology, through political movements, or through anything but Christ. If we allow any of these things to come before our relationship with Christ, then that amounts to allowing them to rule our lives instead of Him.

Before the reform of the Roman Calendar in 1969, this feast was celebrated on the last Sunday of October. We now celebrate it on the final Sunday of the liturgical year. It is fitting for us to reflect on the end of time, which is one theme in the Mass readings for today, at the end of the liturgical year. In a way, most of November has been building to the thematic climax we find in this feast. And on this final Sunday that we'll be hearing from the Year A readings of the lectionary cycle, we hear the Gospel passage that serves as the climax of Jesus' teaching in Matthew's Gospel: the last judgment.

Given that this feast is celebrating Christ as King, we're probably not surprised that the readings present us with images of Christ's authority, might, and judgment. All of these qualities are ones which we readily associate with the idea of kingship. But the first reading and the psalm might strike us as surprising, since the predominant image in them is not Christ as king but Christ as shepherd. Here we see the mercy of God in the image of a sheep tending his flock, and tending them with great care:

Thus says the Lord GOD:
I myself will look after and tend my sheep.
As a shepherd tends his flock
when he finds himself among his scattered sheep,
so will I tend my sheep.
I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered
when it was cloudy and dark.
I myself will pasture my sheep;
I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD.
The lost I will seek out,
the strayed I will bring back,
the injured I will bind up,
the sick I will heal.

The psalm today relies on similar imagery: Psalm 23, "The Lord is my Shepherd..." Sometimes you'll meet people who object strongly to sheep/shepherd imagery in the Church because it's so unflattering. Sheep really are not bright animals. Shepherds are necessary in order to keep the sheep from simply wandering off and getting lost, as well as for leading them to food and water and protecting them from predators. To compare the people of the Church to a flock of sheep is seen by some folks as insulting. I admit that I have to laugh at people like that. If they can't see the aptness of the image, then I suspect they have an unduly high opinion of themselves and of their own intelligence. If you don't like being called a sheep, I'm afraid you'll have to take it up with Jesus. He seemed to like the image, given that he used it repeatedly, so he obviously thought it fit us well. No argument here.

It might seem like there's a disconnect among the readings today -- the first reading and the psalm go together, and the second reading and the Gospel go together. But, really, what does this shepherd imagery have to do with celebrating the Kingship of Christ? Shepherds aren't Kings and vice versa. Aha, but Jesus is both. The kingdom Jesus brings is one based on a new kind of kingship. Christ cares for us with the same kind of attentive care as a shepherd tending his sheep. The kingdom of Christ is not an earthly kingdom, as he took great pains to point out again and again during his ministry, nor does it have the same qualities as an earthly kingdom. It's not merely about power, although there's no denying that Christ is all-powerful. But the image of the shepherd shows us that Christ reigns by serving. Merciful love is the hallmark of the kingdom over which Jesus reigns.

The Gospel reading brings home the reality that our ability to enter into his kingdom depends on how well we have served the least among us. Currying favor with an earthly king may mean sucking up to the powerful in the kingdom, but earning the approval of the Heavenly King means serving the powerless. Although Matthew's image of Christ separating the sheep from the goats may seem like a simple matter of reward and punishment, it actually goes deeper than than. Yes, we will indeed be judged on what we have done; but the real criteria of judgment is whether we've taken Jesus' message of love to heart. If we haven't shown our love for others in concrete ways -- by feeding, clothing, visiting, comforting, and welcoming those in any kind of need -- then the love of Christ hasn't really entered into and changed our hearts. Our final entrance into the kingdom of Christ our King depends on how well we have prepared to live in communion with Love Himself. Attachment to sin separates us from God, and it keeps us from loving others. Depending on the degree of the sin involved, whether mortal or venial, it either breaks or wounds our communion with the God who is Love. To allow Christ to reign in our hearts and in our lives means obeying the King who seeks only to love and serve. His grace will change our hearts from the inside out and spur us on to love and serve those around us in imitation of our King.

Today is a fitting day to take stock of how we're doing when it comes to the criteria Jesus lays out in the Gospel reading today. How are we doing with these concrete acts of love for the powerless? Pray for the grace to see all the areas of your life where you do not yet allow Christ to reign, areas where he takes a backseat to someone or something else. Try to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation soon to repent for your failures to love and serve Christ and those around you. Receive Christ's forgiveness for all the times you've pushed him off the throne in your own heart. A celebration of the Sacrament of Penance is a great way to enter into Advent, and a new liturgical year, with a fresh start and with renewed zeal to love and serve our King with all your heart.