Study: Recall a time when you recognized God as the center of your life; a time when you hung on to faith – perhaps because other things were struggling.
Pray: Call upon the Lord to rule and guide your heart.
Serve: What is the King’s command for you today? How is the Lord directing you to help and serve another?
Mass Readings – The Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe
This weekend brings the Church liturgical year to a close. Next week begins Advent, and we will start a new liturgical year with the cycle of “B” readings in the Lectionary for Mass.
Why do we end the year with the notion of Christ the King? Why do we place this feast here? What’s the point?
The feast has several levels of meaning. By calling Christ our King we are making a statement that Jesus is the Lord of our lives. It means that we place Christ first, and that we serve the Lord Jesus with the allegiance of our hearts, minds, and bodies. We belong to Christ, who rules us.
In addition, to claim Christ as our King means that we are members of his kingdom. Through our baptism we are called to the community of faith, the Church, and we possess an inheritance that is ultimately not of this world. We are citizens who have a responsibility to work together – for this world and the world to come.
Furthermore, the King will come at the end of time to call His faithful people home to heaven. We believe that the world will end on a future, unknown day (and once again, let me stress it is an UNKNOWN date…). This feast reminds us that in the end we belong to one home or the other, one Lord or another.
Finally, to say that Christ is our King reminds us that all our power, strength, hope, and direction come from Him. The skills and talents we possess are from the King (who made us). The forgiveness we cherish is from the King (who died for us). The life of the Holy Spirit which sustains us was sent by the King (who asked the Father on our behalf).
Therefore, to claim Christ as our King is to make a statement about who we are. As followers of this King we offer our lives in service to the one who is our Lord. We make this King our first priority in all things, and we look upon Jesus Christ as both the beginning and end of our existence.
This is a good time for us to search and prepare our hearts. As this Church year comes to an end we begin to make ourselves ready for the Lord who comes to us, that he might find us alert and watchful for his arrival. May we renew our allegiance to Christ our King so that he will rule us with mercy, grace, and love.
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