Christ the King 27.10.19 Christ supreme
This feast was instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI to
reassert that the human race was not doing very well on its own, but if they
were to give God His true place they would do much better.
Events at that time, and many other times, show how badly
humans run the world when they do not heed God. (Some people think they can do
better!)
The Pope’s idea probably has not been successful, insofar as
there has been an even further turning away from the one true God, but he was
right all the same.
The reaffirmation of Christ as ruling the world can be seen
in two aspects, concerning faith and morality – what we believe and how we live;
or theory and practice.
Regarding Faith: we acknowledge that there is a God over us
who is infinitely good and powerful and who is in possession of every detail.
This is something we should factor in, if only because it
makes sense to take account of all angles.
But also we owe it to God in gratitude for creating and
saving us; and with that we owe Him worship, as an infinitely superior Being.
We praise people when they do well; why not God? We acknowledge beauty when we
see it; why not God?
Regarding Morality: If we did let Christ run the world what
would it look like? People would be kind and gracious to each other all day
long and in every place!
That is so far from our familiar reality that we might
dismiss the idea as fantasy. Our Lord said the Kingdom is like a mustard seed:
it grows until it becomes a large tree.
Qualities like charity can be in short supply, but like the
seed they can increase. The Kingdom grows when individuals and communities take
up the Lord’s example, calling upon His grace.
It is not fantasy; just still developing.
It is our role to help the Kingship of Christ take stronger
hold in our world.
We must live like Christ even if no one else does. We should
learn from Our Lord all that He demonstrated to us, and imitate Him in His
kindness, humility, charity, mercy etc. He revealed what God is like.
If we are to have Him as King we must live the way He has
set down.
So what does the human race usually do about all this? Act
as though God does not exist, and if He does exist then He is wrong about how
we should live (He is too ‘strict’!)
They change His laws, declaring them to be out of date. They
certainly do not worship Him.
This does not change God's status or viewpoint; it just
means the human race is piling up more trouble, and potential punishment.
We cannot control most of what people decide, but we can go
some way to reversing the downward slide. We can make Christ present where we
are; and we can help atone for the sins of the world.
It has to be a grass-roots movement, coming from below,
because it must come from individual hearts and minds. It is not something that
can be legislated into existence.
People will ignore laws that they think have nothing to do
with them. But if they can be personally convinced of Christ’s importance then
they will take notice. Such personal conviction could come in different ways –
but every soul is in need of it.
We can help by doing our bit to lift the general tone of
human behaviour.
And by reparating some of the damage done by so much sin
over so many years.
Let us live in full acknowledgment of Christ the King, and
in imitation of Him; that His virtues may be in us, and His kingdom among us.
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