This Sunday we observe the Solemnity of Christ the King which closes the liturgical year. It is fitting that our liturgical observances are bookended at the beginning of the year by the hopeful anticipation of the Incarnation of Our Lord in Advent and at the end of the year by the celebration of His Universal Kingship. This offers us an opportunity to reflect on the nature of Christ’s Kingship and Kingdom and its operation and place in our lives.
The Gospel of this Sunday speaks of the judgement of the
nations. It is often called a parable, and although it contains parabolic
elements, it is not really a parable. It speaks directly and forcefully of the
criterion by which we will be judged by the Lord: the degree to which deeds of
mercy - real substantial mercy, not fake accidental mercy - are undertaken in
favour of the “least brethren”. Who are these least brethren? In our
times these least are the believers: those who choose to conform their lives to
Christ as their Center, Guide, and King. The criterion of judgement of the
“least brethren” in our times is the treatment of those whose sufferings are
brought upon them by their complete and total acceptance of Christ as their
King.
In philosophy there is a concept called teleology in which
the question is posed: for what purpose or end do we exist? Divine revelation
gives us the answer. Underpinning the Gospel passage of this solemnity is the
reality that we do have an ultimate purpose for which we were made: a communion
with our creator that is a reflection of the perfect communion between the
divine Persons of the Trinity. If we really want to live by this Truth, we must
first recognise the dignity of all human life not only because we are made in
the image and likeness of our Creator but because our Creator has assumed our
humanity in the Incarnation. There are therefore consequences both temporal and
eternal to the way we treat our brethren, especially the “least brethren”. The
alternative to what the Gospel teaches us about ourselves is inconsequentialism
- nothing ultimately matters, and we are the masters of our own destiny
according to the utilitarian whims of our wills and desires. Truth becomes what
we make it, a life is worth what we say it is worth, and the place of God and
His laws in our society is simply a matter of personal or corporate preference.
This diabolical disorientation leads inevitably to tyranny of the strong over
the weak and where everyone is their own master, their own king, if not their
own god.
Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical on the consecration to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, Annum Sacrum (1899), reminds us that though the Kingdom
of Christ is spiritual, "His empire extends not only over Catholic nations
and those who, having been duly washed in the waters of holy baptism, belong of
right to the Church, although erroneous opinions keep them astray, or dissent
from her teaching cuts them off from her care; it comprises also all those who
are deprived of the Christian faith, so that the whole human race is most truly
under the power of Jesus Christ."
In the wake of the Great War, Pope Pius XI recognised the
danger these disordered tendencies posed, and in 1925 issued the encyclical
Quas Primas, in which he established the Feast of Christ the King in response
to the looming spectre of secularism, which is nothing more than the complete
divorce of God and His laws from public life. In paragraph 15, the Holy father
reminds us that the Kingdom of Christ “… is opposed to none other than to
that of Satan and to the power of darkness. It demands of its subjects a spirit
of detachment from riches and earthly things, and a spirit of gentleness. They
must hunger and thirst after justice, and more than this, they must deny
themselves and carry the cross.” And so in general the “least brethren” are
those who, seeking God first, are deprived of basic human needs and dignities -
whether spiritual or temporal - because they put God first. Specifically, the
“least brethren” are those who, making Christ their King, are so deprived
because they acknowledge His universal and absolute supremacy in every sphere
of existence.
We live in a time and age where men both great and
small think they can uncrown Christ and discard their Creator with no
consequences. The first commandment of the decalogue and the great commandment
of Christ acknowledge that we have a positive duty, which supersedes all others
to worship God and give Him the honour which he is due. This is the primary
reason for everything we do in Church - not to receive something, but to give something,
for as Our Lord himself said “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts
20:35). St. Francis famously noted that it is in the act of giving that we do
receive. If this Francicism is true for us in relation to one another, how
infinitely more, then, is it true in relation to God?
The fulfillment of these duties, first to God and then to
one another, is the measure by which we will be judged. They are not in
opposition to one another, but both complementary and proportional. God comes
first. The actual balancing of these duties in acts of governance, both secular
and ecclesiastical, is a matter of prudential judgement which, we hope and
pray, is strengthened by the Grace of office which is available to all those
properly disposed to receive it. There is a line in a popular movie that says
“with great power comes great responsibility”. With great power also comes
severe judgment on the stewardship and exercise of that power. We must pray and
fast for our leadership both secular and ecclesiastical, that they may be moved
to preserve our Christian civilization by upholding the Universal Kingship of
Christ lest they, on the day of judgement, be counted amongst the goats and
cast into the everlasting fire.
Christus vincit! Christus regnat! Christus imperat!
Christ conquers! Christ reigns! Christ rules!
