- The homily from last Sunday is in the library ->
- The Scriptures for this coming Sunday are at usccb.org ->
- I will be presiding and preaching at the 11:00 and 12:30 Masses on Sunday, Nov. 21
That Christ might be pre-eminent..
I like that word "pre-eminent" and I looked it up. It means to "rise above". That Christ might rise above all things in the priority of our lives! I got it. This week we celebrate Christ the King. There is something odd about putting those two concepts together in one phrase...Christ and Kingship.
I'm sure you saw that Prince William is engaged to Katherine. The press asked her how she felt about become "royalty" by this marriage, how was she going to handle it. She smiled and looked adoringly at the Prince and said, "he's a good teacher and will help me learn the ways of reigning."
Would that we would have such humble and open relationship to Christ our King. Jesus will teach us, his bride the Church, to reign as he reigns - but it's from the cross.
This crucified King reign and is pre-eminent in as much as we can allow his self-sacrificing love totake over our lves. Can we learn from him? Can we be worthy subjects of his? Do we desire to she in his kingship like dear Kathleen is longing to share in William's?
I don't know. Christ the King is not a king of power, wealth and prestige. Christ the King reign by self-sacrifice and love - even unto death. Wow, don't know if we're up to that!
Jesus is the good teacher who will teach those who are willing how to reign in this world by the power of the next.
Wadayathink?
Christ is unexpected "reign" not power to rule over others but freedom to give self away in love of others.
25 comments:
This is a different and interesting perspective from what I thought the title "Christ the King" meant. When I think of Christ the King, I think of His Majesty in Heaven, His Glory, His Divinity, His Reign as the Son of God. The Christ we will be with someday. lr
Take away the title. At school I am Mrs. Patterson, Mrs. P. and sometimes mom depending on my relationship with the students. Sometimes I don't even have a name. I am just someone to ask a question of, or a person that someone has been sent to. God, Christ, Jesus was born a humble birth, walked among the common people and died for us. His purpose in life was not to be pre-eminent. I don't think he wanted (wants) to rise above us but to show us that we are all special, helpful, Godly in all that we do.
I think “preeminence” is a good word to associate with this feast in our present day, since in this country in particular, “kingship” is a “foreign” concept. My great-grandfather, after all, when he came to Cleveland from England in the 1870’s and was later naturalized at our downtown courthouse, made oath and, his papers show, “Absolutely and Entirely Renounced and Abjured all Allegiance and Fidelity to every Foreign Prince, Potentate, State or Sovereignty whatever, and particularly to Victoria, Queen.” Even in countries where monarchies remain, they are viewed as good for tourism, tradition and tabloid news, but don’t expect the general population to smile about footing the bill for the prince’s wedding.
It sounds like Katherine fell in love with her prince charming while he was a college student, or “incognito”, so to speak. We have a lot of chances to make Jesus “preeminent” in our lives (i.e. our King) if we would recognize and appropriately respond to the many ways He comes to us incognito. The crucified King waived court etiquette from the beginning. My great-grandfather probably didn’t have two coins in his youth to buy a thimble with Victoria’s jubilee picture on it, and I don’t know that he would have wanted to. As ruler she was removed and distant. But he did have a crucifix. Many years later, blind in one eye, feeble and not licensed to drive, he took one of his granddaughters, my mother, every day to kindergarten, and pulled her to school on her sled on the snowy days. It was the Depression and he sat at the table while his granddaughter ate lunch accompanied by the hobo from the railroad that ran through the gulley across the street and whom his daughter had invited in. He died 1951, so I never got to know him, but like a lot of saints, it seemed that Jesus was the “divine King of his heart.”
Kathleen
Bloggers
God's Word speaks powerfully to me in your insight. Thanks. The Matador Dei
My old country has the King and Queen, they are not just figureheads but also they exert the power over their subjects.
"Our King," our Jesus came from another kingdom, He did show up another kind of power...from the Cross... teaching us to be humble the way He was even when ready to die for us. Redemption!
He is not only our King but also our friend, we need to establish a personal relationship with Him. We need to build our own little palace for Him down the depths of our soul where silence, solitude and in secret with can share with our King our needs and love for Him.
Truly we will enjoy this peaceable Kingdom.
Gitana
Rise Up- I think of the magnificent statue of Christ, on the hill with arms outstretched, above the Lisbon harbor (where the President is this weekend..) so that from wherever you are Christ rises above and everyone looks up to the King.
I, too, find these reflections truly inspiring. And as I read them along with the Scripture I am reminded that God is not looking for evidence of grandeur in our lives - but simply for us to live in the day to dayness and to love all along the way. Some of those days are easy and joyful while others may be a little more taxing. But I believe maintaining the sharing of oneself and continuing the loving, no matter what kind of day it is, is part of the secret of this kind of 'kingship.'
I enjoyed reading all of the comments. Like others, I always thought of this feast as celebrating Christ in all his grandeur and glory. But after reading Fr's commentary and all of yours, I see it differently.
Certainly, as the gospel reading points out, Jesus could have saved himself and shown us his splendor and majesty. But, he did not come here to do that. He came to redeem us and show us how to live to become part of his Kingdom--a kingdom of love, not victory over our adversaries.
So, while he does reign over us in glory we also need to remember how and why he lived among us.
I love all or your responses. I don't think the saints were looking for a title. They were just living in Christ. It's nice to see so many believe that God, Christ is both human and divine. If Christ the King came to our house for dinner or to watch football, we would certainly put out our best hospitality and hopefully that is what we would do for the least of us.
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