A Bit of History
The Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, commonly referred to as the Feast of Christ the King or Christ the King Sunday, is a relatively recent addition to the Western liturgical calendar, having been instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI for the Roman Catholic Church. In 1970 its Roman Catholic observance was moved to the final Sunday of Ordinary Time. Therefore, the earliest date on which it can occur is 20 November and the latest is 26 November. The Anglican, Lutheran, and many other Protestant churches also celebrate the Feast of Christ the King, which is contained in the Revised Common Lectionary.
According to Cyril of Alexandria, “Christ has dominion over all creatures, …by essence and by nature.” His kingship is founded upon the hypostatic union. “…[T]he Word of God, as consubstantial with the Father, has all things in common with him, and therefore has necessarily supreme and absolute dominion over all things created.”[3]
“From this it follows that to Christ angels and men are subject. Christ is also King by acquired, as well as by natural right, for he is our Redeemer. …’ We are no longer our own property, for Christ has purchased us “with a great price”; our very bodies are the “members of Christ.”[4] A third ground of sovereignty is that God bestowed upon Christ the nations of the world as His special possession and dominion. “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18)
The Feast of Christ the King has an eschatological dimension pointing to the end of time when the kingdom of Jesus will be established in all its fullness to the ends of the earth. It leads into Advent, when the Church anticipates Christ’s second coming.
33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time
Christ the King of the Universe
Homily
An amazing Feast! Now of course the big question why was this feast made? We a heading into the Advent season and we are just about to celebrate his birth/ Well If you have been hearing the readings for the past couple of weeks you have noted a darker tone as the Church focuses on the end times.
In 21st century America the end times sounds scary. They sound like something we don’t want to deal with… it sounds like suffering and pain. The fires of Purgatory, the fires of Hell, Teeth gnashing, angry words, destruction, war, famine… What possibly could be good about this? It is scary… We are simply not good at being actually scared.
Well, we might be scared and we might not want to face it… but it is reality. Whether the end of this world happens due to God’s wrath coming down as we see at times or whether the natural cycle of planetary motion occurs and our Sun begins to expand as it loses its energy… The earth will be burned to a crisp and everything living on it will be destroyed. IT is going to happen. That is reality… if it occurs naturally it might be millions of years… or it might be later on today.
And while that might not make you feel too happy, here is what will. The Gospel reading for King of the Universe. We see the great synopsis. 3 men being brutally killed by the Romans using the most ingenious killing and suffering machine known to man. You have a Good and a bad thief one believing and one not believing that Jesus is God. What is he promised? Dismas (known as the “good” thief) has everything all around him crushing him and destroying him. He is going to die. he seemingly will lose everything.
Pilate has already written the Truth. But, we know that things go much further. We know how the story ends… But it is still shocking that we celebrate we are told to have a party. We are to enjoy this day celebrating Christ as King of the Universe and our celebratory reading is … Jesus being crucified???
We couldn’t find a better happier Gospel reading? Maybe the resurrection? Maybe His ascension? We have to break our way of thinking! It is said Our ways are not God’s ways! When you think of glory you may think of a knight in shining armor. Someone standing on the platforms getting the Gold medal for their sports achievement… God though thinks sacrificial love.
God looks down on Earth and sees his own self writhing in pain, bloody battered, beaten, pathetic sight that was Jesus at that moment and saw love. The perfect Israelite bringing hope and love to the world. There is all around him the worst that humanity can do and one brilliant bright spot of love that will Save humanity. Redeemer, Sanctifier yet He has time and the caring and the love for receiving and continuing the dignity of the man besides him who was guilty of major crimes against humanity who recognized his own error and what it was Jesus was offering. Dismas repented and Jesus accepted that change of heart and gave him the Gospel or the good news. Today you will be with me in Paradise.
What more could one want than to be with Jesus. With everything completely destroyed around him… the good thief said Yes to Jesus. His earth was burnt to a crisp as well. Everything was dead and he said Yes. So this cleaned up crucifix that you see here reminds us of the bloody mess that was and that through everything love was going to win the day. Every picture and every sculpture you see of Jesus being destroyed, humiliated, scourged, spat upon, ridiculed shows us God’s Glory. Every time we see God’s glory we recognize He died for us. He dies to save us. His Glory is our Glory… Never look at the cross without realizing it was all completely done
for you…