He will judge the living and the dead. . . .and his kingdom will have no end.

Pastor’s Pen
St. Augustine Catholic Church
Sunday, November 22, 2020
Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

He will judge the living and the dead. . . .and his kingdom will have no end.
(Matt 25:31-41)

Today is the 34th and last Sunday in Ordinary Time and more significantly, it is the Solemnity of Christ, the Universal King. That Christ is king is not an empty word or a mere exaggeration, but a reality based and justified in the Sacred Scriptures. He did not become king at a certain time of His earthly life, but from all eternity. We have seen pictures or statues of Him as a child in kingly apparel.

From the Scriptures, we read that when He was born in Bethlehem of Judea, the three Wise Men called the Magi too, took a long journey from the East to Bethlehem to visit and adore the Newborn King.  They were carrying with them three significant gifts: Gold, an ornament found in the houses of kings; Frankincense because he is a priest; and Myrrh because His body would know no decay. Furthermore, when these men lost their direction because of the disappearance of the star, they found themselves in the palace of King Herod asking how they could get to Bethlehem to see the new-born king.

At His passion, Herod asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews”? and Jesus emphatically answered him, “You have said that I am a King.” The Jews, therefore, placed an inscription on the top of his cross that declared, “Jesus, King of the Jews.”

Christ is not only King, but He is also a judge as we read in today’s gospel. He is the one who would judge the living and the dead where the good would be placed on His right and the bad of His left as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats. The good he would invite into His kingdom while the bad, he would push into eternal punishment.

The kingship of Christ is completely different from the kingship of the men of this world who go for popularity, wealth, oppression, suppression, and intimidation of the lower classes and denying people their basic rights. But the Kingship of Christ is of love, compassion, forgiveness, and is always ready to protect and even die for His people.

Some parishes all over the world have taken the name, Christ the King as their parish name. My home parish is also named so and I have been a pastor of a parish in my home Archdiocese that goes by this name.

This feast of Christ the King is characteristically attached with a Eucharistic procession that takes place after the Mass from the parish church to another center or back to the same church and ends with a solemn Benediction. During this procession, the congregation prays and chants songs of praise in honor of Christ, our eternal King, who came to live among us in our world and make us worthy of His eternal kingdom in the end. Amen.

Fr. Chris