Christ the King, Year B

Be a King by Following THE King

(Fr. James McTavish)

Dan 7:13-14 Ps 93:1a, 1b-2, 5 Rev 1:5-8 John 18:33b-37

The feast of Christ the King was instituted in 1925 by Pius XI. That period was a time of Kings and empires, of countries seeking to dominate others, to rule over one another. The pope instituted the feast to underline the Kingship of Christ – May Christ the King truly be the King of our heart, mind and will! I don’t know if you have actually ever lived under a king or queen. I am from Britain and I have always lived under Queen Elizabeth II. She has an empire, power and is very rich. The kingship of Christ is so very different. He was poor, and lacking in worldly power and status. He said “My kingdom does not belong to this world.” What sort of King is he? What sort of Kingdom does he have?

In the first reading from the book of Daniel we have a vision. “I saw one like a Son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; when he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, the one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations, and languages serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed.” (Dan 7, 13-14). Many kings and queens will come and go but the kingship of Christ is everlasting. In the second reading it says, “Jesus Christ is the …ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us a line of kings” (Apoc. 1, 5-8). When did this happen? When did we become kings? Let us see if we know our theology. When did you become a king? In baptism! We receive the anointing with chrism and participate in the priestly, prophetic and KINGLY mission of Christ. All baptized are kings already. When you next fill out a form asking for blood type, don’t put ‘O’ for ordinary any more, put ‘R’ for royalty!

What does it mean to be incorporated into the Kingly mission of Christ? The Kingly mission of all the lay faithful is twofold – 1. To have dominion over the kingdom of sin and 2. To participate fully in the building of the Kingdom (cf. Lumen Gentium no. 36).

We need to dominate sin and not be dominated by it. For example, many people are dominated by material goods. So instead of putting Christ on the throne of our hearts they actually put the dollar sign. But you are called to dominate money, and use it well to build up the Kingdom. Like the lady in the little store in the squatter’s area in front of our house. One day buying bleach I asked her how much it was. I bought it and gave her thirty pesos. Not thirty she said, thirteen. Wow! In a corrupt world this woman is building up a kingdom of justice. She is really helping build the kingdom. She is not dominated by riches even though she is poor, instead she dominates her desire for wealth and helps build up the Kingdom. Let us not pay lip service to Christ the King alone - worshipping him with our mouths yet our lives remain far from him.

Our King is a humble one. Pilate did not recognize or understand this Kingship. “Are you the King of the Jews” he asked? Jesus is very clear “My Kingdom is not of this world.” Maybe we can be like Pilate – we have difficulty to recognize Christ the true King because many other kings dominate our heart. Who reigns in your heart? Is it Christ the King?

The only way that Christ may reign in us is to obey him. He states, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (Jn 18, 37). The King of truth desires that we listen to him. In a retreat this week I understood from the Lord two things – to share everything with him in prayer and to work hard in building up his Kingdom. I started to pray but I was so sleepy, every time I wanted to pray my eyes were closing. It is so easy to be dominated by laziness and comfort! I had to get off my chair and kneel in front of the Lord in the tabernacle and beg him for strength to help me pray. Sometimes my feelings reign in me, I can even feel sad at times but Jesus reminded me to share everything with him. In that way he can really reign in my heart.

As baptized, let us take up the challenge to work in building up the Kingdom. I have seen many good people working for the Kingdom of Heaven. I have met others who are working only for earthly honours, riches and pleasures for their family but this kingdom will pass away. How about you? How are you working to build up the Kingdom of Heaven? Who is the King in your heart – is it really Christ? Let him truly reign and you will not be dominated by other kings.

Let us continue this celebration asking for the desire to build up the Kingdom of Heaven. Let us truly marvel at the kingly dignity we have. So many will do foolish things trying to find this dignity yet as children of God we already have this kingly identity? One father we know got on to a bus and found his daughter passed out drunk and covered in vomit. “This is my beloved daughter,” he said. God, our heavenly Father, looks at many of his children today with so much love because many also are losing their dignity. They don’t know who they are. Will you tell them? Will you help them discover their true dignity?

May we grow in faith to recognize the coming of our humble King, who makes himself present in every Eucharist, in all his power and glory, in a small piece of bread. Christ the King, may you truly reign in us, give us dominion over sin and make us more determined to build up your Kingdom here on earth.

25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel,

To be truly great!

Fr. James McTavish

Wis 2:12, 17-20 Ps 54:3-4, 5, 6-8 Jas 3:16—4:3 Mark 9:30-37

The boxer Muhammad Ali famous catch phrase was “I am the greatest!” Today in the Gospel (Mark 9:30-37) the disciples are arguing among themselves who is the greatest. Man desires to be great, to do great things. To be great you need to be ambitious. In your company if you want great sales you need to have an ambitious program. There is no greatness without ambition. Jesus once told some disciples, “You will see greater things than this!” How great to be ambitious not just for money or worldly power but for the kingdom.

Recently we hosted a prayer meeting for teenagers and it was encouraging seeing so many saying there greatest desire was “to be a better person.” For sure if Jesus calls us to follow him it is to because he wants us to become great: to be great in love, to be great in taking risks for the gospel, to be great in peace, kindness and forgiveness. In a word, great in doing good. As the church document Optatam totius reminds us, the moral life is to reflect the greatness “of the calling of the faithful in Christ and the obligation that is theirs of bearing fruit in charity for the life of the world.” Wow! What a great perspective. It is not just to say, “I am not a bad Catholic I have not killed anyone” but it is to do great things with all the faith and love we have in Christ.

It is interesting the context of the discussion of greatness of the disciples. Immediately beforehand Jesus had been explaining his passion and death, how much he would suffer: “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” But the disciples did not get it. Instead they were thinking of worldly greatness and ambition. In Shakespeare’s play we find Macbeth lamenting, “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself and falls on th’other.” (Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7) Macbeth talks of worldly ambition, using the metaphor of jumping onto a horse so enthusiastically that he falls onto the other side. Macbeth’s worldly ambition is so great he is prepared to kill to get what he wants.

In the letter of James it states, “Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Is it not precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves? You want something and you lack it; so you kill. You have an ambition that you cannot satisfy; so you fight to get your way by force. It is because you do not pray that you do not receive; when you do pray and do not receive, it is because you prayed wrongly, wanting to indulge your passions.” (James 4:1-3) We pray for a great score in the exam – ok, then study! We desire to be great preachers of the Word of God – ok, so prepare well your talk.

Jesus shows the disciples the real way to greatness. He sits down, tells them, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all,” then welcomes a child and says, “Do this in my name.” He does not quench the Spirit of greatness in his disciples but orients it. He shows that greatness is achieved through small steps. Often you can gaze and dream about future greatness and lose sight of the vital steps to get in the here and now. When I win the lottery I will give millions to the poor. But generosity is not improvised! If you cannot feed one hundred, then just feed one!

How can we be sure that all we need will lead us to the greatness of the Kingdom and not be led astray by worldly ambition and desire? Jesus tells us, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me.” Whatever we do to do it “in the name of Jesus,” to do it as U2 would sing “in the name of love.” To do everything offering it through Him, with Him, in Him, always abounding in energy for the Lord's work, being sure that in the Lord none of our effort is wasted. (1 Corinthians 15:58). Of course we need great projects for the Lord to fire up all our imagination. As St John Leonardi wrote, “Great works are accomplished only by great men, and great men should be involved in great works.”

Let us ask Mary our Mother for guidance, for she was able to be faithful to the small steps but never losing sight of the big picture: “He has looked with favour on his lowly servant but generations will call me blessed!”