Thursday, 3 November 2022

Christ the King 30 Oct 2022 Sermon

Christ the King 30 October 2022 True King

The state of the world is not good, either from a spiritual or a material point of view.

Pope Pius XI instituted this feast in 1925 hoping to call enemies back to something that would unite them – Jesus Christ Himself, calling the world to sanity and holiness.

But to benefit from His presence we have to turn to Him in prayer, repent of our sins, and put all our plans at His disposal. It is His Kingdom that we pray for, not our own.

We should be standing side by side all looking towards Him, rather than looking at each other with hatred.

Thing have not improved much since 1925 or any time in between, but the Pope was right, and no doubt considerable good has come from even a partial acknowledgment of Christ as King.

The call to humanity to come back to God is always current and urgent; it is for every day, every place.

Sometimes they say small is beautiful, and sometimes big is beautiful; it depends on what we are looking for.

For the Church the ‘big’ is the universal element. Catholic means universal. We are not racist; all people of all colours belong to God, or at least they should. And hence all people should get along with each other.

We have the same God, the same Saviour, the same hope of eternal life.

The God in whom we believe is the only real god in the universe. The others are false containing some truth, but a lot of evil as well. Evil because it is wasted energy communicating with them, and in some cases at least they would be demonic.

Historically, people have thought there was more than one god and even the gods fight each other. This is attributing human fault onto the divine; in reality it is divine goodness that comes upon humanity. God is not like us; we can become like Him, at least so far as charity is concerned.

Today, the aspect of Christ as King is particularly emphasised. All authority has been given to me (Mt 28,18).

He is king because He is God (the Son), and that carries unlimited status.

He is King also as Man, because He has taken humanity to a place where it has never been before, reconciled with God.

He has triumphed over sin and death, and every kind of disorder, restoring all things in Himself.

He has the right to claim homage from us, and attentiveness to His will. We should take Him very seriously.

We come to distrust human governments because they have so much of human weakness and evil about them. But not this King, or Kingdom.

We see the perils of trying to govern ourselves without first submitting to the King who has authority over everything.

Even if human governments were perfectly well-behaved they would still be subservient to the One who is King over all.

The world needs a lot of changing and it may take a while yet. What can you or I do? This is where small is beautiful. Each one can do a lot by humble obedience and adoration.

One person can help the light to spread.

Whether we are talking about the universal or local scene, all problems can be solved by individual fidelity to Christ. Any progress is welcome.

He is there for all, but not indiscriminately. Sinners must repent, not just stay as they are. This is a point of much confusion in the current Church.

The world must give up its false gods and bend the knee before the real Saviour.

Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Ph 2,10)

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