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HOMILIES ARCHIVE
HOMILIES
Dear Audience,For better understanding of the spiritual message behind this homily I kindly remind you to first read and contemplate the biblical texts before reading or listening to my preaching - a human reflection on the Word of God!
Solemnity of Christ the King (Year B)
1544
2
0First Reading
A reading from the Book of Daniel (7:13-14)
As the visions during the night continued, 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 the 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.
(P) The word of the Lord.(R) Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms of David (93:1, 1-2, 5)
(R) The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
The Lord is king, in splendor robed; robed is the Lord and girt about with strength. (R)
And He has made the world firm, not to be moved. Your throne stands firm from of old; from everlasting you are, O Lord. (R)
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed; holiness befits your house, O Lord, for length of days. (R)
Second Reading
A reading from the Book of Revelation (1:5-8)
Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming amid the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. All the peoples of the earth will lament him. Yes, Amen.
"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty."
(P) The word of the Lord.(R) Thanks be to God.
Gospel
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (18:33b-37)
Pilate said to Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?" Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priest handed you over to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. Bu as it is, my kingdom is not here." So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."
(P) The Gospel of the Lord.(R) Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Homily
The name "Jesus" is the transliteration of the Latin word Iesus or Yeshua in Hebrew. Yeshua is the name God chose for His Son and, it means Yahweh saves. When the angel appeared to Joseph, he said, "You shall bear a Son, and you shall call His name Yeshua", Matthew (1:21) and Luke (1:31). However, Jesus has been given as many as 200 names and titles depending upon the particular way in which He is manifested or depending upon the way people experienced Him. Here are some examples: Emmanuel, Christ, Lord, Master, Son of God, Son of Man, Word of God, Holy One, Judge, Savior, Rabbi, Prince of Peace, Light of the World, Bread of Life, Bridegroom, Good Shepherd, Lamb of God, King of kings and Lord of lords, King of Israel, King of the Jews and so on. One of the titles given to Jesus is Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe which has now simply become "Christ the King" the name of the Feast our Church solemnly celebrates today.
This feast was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925 and was originally celebrated on the last Sunday of the month of October, that is, the Sunday which immediately precedes the Feast of All Saints. But in 1960 following the revised liturgical calendar, Pope John XXIII transferred the feast to the last Sunday of the liturgical year, the Sunday before the First Sunday of Advent.
Instituting the feast, Pope Pius proclaimed Pax Christi in regno Christi which means "Christ's peace through Christ's reign". There was a special reason for this proclamation. His purpose was to combat the growing secularism, atheism and nationalism of his time and, to assert the power of Christ against the secular forces of this world. Yes. Still long after the World War I (1914-1919) the world leaders had failed to reconcile and bring peace in the world. So Pope Pius sought the support and co-operation of all Christians to spread the message of peace based on Christ's teaching. The Pope believed that we would never know peace until we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ and accept Him as our God, Saviour and King and allow Him to reign in both the private and public domains of our life.
The words of the Pope are still relevant today as we continue to witness the erosion of human values, disunity in our families, injustice in our neighbourhood, violence and unrest in several parts of the world. The feast is both a reminder and a challenge. It reminds us that Jesus is the supreme ruler of our lives and, it challenges us to live our lives as Jesus has taught us to live. In all we do, we are to seek to become more like Christ, for he only becomes our King when we pledge our allegiance to Him.
In practice we often withhold that loyalty. We do not make Jesus our Lord and King. We often declare that we do not want this man and God to reign over us. All too often we all make selfish and self-serving decisions and push Jesus and His teaching to the edge. We may every day be praying for peace in our life but in our hearts we still cling to selfishness, greed, lust, jealousy, envy, pride, egoism, anger, resentment, hatred and other evil thoughts and desires which are enemies of peace. Hence, recognising Christ as our King may mean a change of heart and a more honest approach in our way of living. As Pope Pius said, let Jesus reign in our minds, reign in our wills, reign in our hearts, and reign in our bodies.
Let us pray
Christ Jesus, I acknowledge You as King of the universe. All that has been created has been made for You. Make full use of Your rights over me. I renew the promises I made at Baptism, when I renounced Satan and all his pomps and works, and I promise to live a good Christian life and to do all in my power to procure the triumph of the right of God and Your Church.
Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You my efforts in order to obtain that all hearts may acknowledge Your Sacred Royalty, and thus the Kingdom of Your peace may be established throughout the universe.
(P) Amen.God Bless You!
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