Finally we celebrate
the Solemnity of Christ the King, this is the Last Sunday of the Church Year,
and through this feast the church is saying that all of our celebrations can be
summed up in one statement: Jesus is our
King forever, we should serve him![1]. The end of the Church year, the end
of time, the last judgment, and the solemnity of Christ the King –all these
themes fit together as we are meditating on the gospel: Christ sits enthroned
as King of Kings. He judges each of us. Dante would put it this way: “we are judged
on our capacity for Love”[2],
and St. John of the Cross will say that “In the evening of our lives, we will
be judged by love alone”[3].
So, today’s Gospel confronts us with the fact that if we haven't shared his
love with others, we cannot be exposed to the fullness of Christ's love in
heaven.
It is interesting that not only the
goats, the people who don't help others, but even the sheep, those who do help
others, say that they don't remember seeing the Lord. That's understandable.
Christ is present in every aspect of our lives. Only we might not recognize
him. He is still there. Yes, He is present in Church, in Scripture and the
Eucharist. But He is also present in the poor and the poorest of the poor, as
Mother Theresa would refer to the suffering homeless. But He is also present in
your family as you pray together at home before meals or at bedtime; present in your wife or your husband when he
or she has had a bad day and needs your support. The child not understanding
mathematics is Christ. The teenager needing both wings and protection is
Christ, and the young adult you are putting through college is Christ.
Christ is present in those people
we meet who are prayerful, spiritual, and charismatic. But He is also present
in those who may not even recognize His presence in their lives. He is present
in those mocked by our society. When we greet someone who is a bit eccentric
and who everyone else treats poorly, we are greeting Christ. When we give help
a family struggling to make ends meet, we are helping Christ.
Perhaps, the foremost authority on
today's gospel was Blessed Mother Theresa. Her comment on the gospel was that
at the end of our lives we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have
received, how much money we have made or how many great things we have done. We
will be judged by "I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was naked and
you clothed me. I was homeless and you took me in. Blessed Mother Theresa went
on to say, "Hungry, not only for bread, but hungry for love; naked not
only for clothing, but for human dignity and respect; homeless not only for
want of a room of bricks, but homeless because of rejection. This is Christ in
distressing disguise."
In many ways this is a disturbing
gospel. We are troubled by a gospel that tells us that we are accountable not
just for the things we do that are wrong, but also for the things we fail to do. We are troubled because
we cannot get away with relegating our following of Christ into the
compartments and slots of our life marked "religion". The gospel
tells us that is simply insufficient. To profess ourselves as Christian demands
that we make a clear and conscious decision to integrate Christ into every
thread and fiber of the fabric of our lives. There can never be a time or a
situation that we refuse to recognize his presence in others.
This is the Solemnity of Christ the
King. At the conclusion of the Church year we are asked what the Christ event
means in our lives. We are asked about
our world view. Do we view others as those loved by Christ, as those who Christ
is present in, or are we so tied up in ourselves that we rarely integrate our
living of the Christian life with our profession of Christianity?
We conclude the Church year by asking
the Lord to help us serve the Kings of Kings as He presents Himself in those
reaching out to us ■
[1] Sunday 20th November, 2011, Our
Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King. Readings: Ezekiel 34:11‑12,
15-17. The Lord is my shepherd; there is
nothing I shall want—Ps 22(23):1-3, 5-6. 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28.
Matthew 25:31-46
[2] Durante degli Alighieri,
mononymously referred to as Dante (1265–1321), was an Italian poet, prose
writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best
known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia (The Divine Comedy).
[3] John of the Cross (San Juan de
la Cruz) (24 June 1542 – 14 December 1591), born Juan de Yepes Alvarez, was a
major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, Catholic saint,
Carmelite friar and priest, born at Fontiveros, Old Castile.
