Feast of Christ the King

“The Gospel narrative for the Solemnity of Christ the King this year, is a defining text for all Christians.  It speaks of that final moment when each human life will come before God for an evaluation of the good done in life’s journey. The way life is lived will be the criterion for judgement, a judgement that we will have made ourselves in and through our decisions and actions. All the Lord has to do is pronounce the sentence. A sentence which will be based on whether or not our lives have been lived guided by mercy and compassion for the needy. If we fail in this regard we will be excluded from the Kingdom. Only because mercy, compassion and giving our lives for the freedom and flourishing of others is the way to life.

 As I write this, with the image of Christ the Universal King in my mind, I am also preoccupied by recent significant events which have happened in the last few days, (I am writing on the 9^th October) and which are not completely irrelevant in any consideration of Christ the King. Pilate’s sarcastic question “So you are a king then?” echoes down the centuries as Hamas attacks Israel. And then there is “Laudate Deum” through which Christ’s kingship, which is not of this ‘world’ runs like a silken thread. Geologists, among whom I count myself as one, are wrapped in conversation about changing the geological era from Holocene to Anthropocene. I don’t think it will happen because the time evidence base is too short. Only 73 years, my age, from atomic bombs to excessive reliance on fossil fuels. The Anthropocene era, if it is agreed upon by those involved, will be based on the unprecedented (in the history of the planet) negative effect of human activity on the environment - no surprises there because Pope Francis keeps saying it. In fact, he alludes to this indirectly in ‘Laudate Deum’.

Having taken pilgrimages to the Holy Land at least 20 times over the past 40 years, I am deeply saddened by the invasion by Hamas into Israel. That it was inevitable would be my view because the tension between Palestinians and Israelis has been growing more and more volatile for years. I would see the conflict’s roots in a complex history of growing division exacerbated by the lack of unity among Palestinians and Israel’s willingness to exploit that division, all of this given energy by nations outside of Israel. Pope Francis is right to keep his message to a prayer for peace and an end to violence. The Israel/Palestine issue is so incredibly complex that it gives credence and evidence to our teaching about social and systemic sin. Social and systemic sin, about which care needs to be taken in any claim of freedom from guilt.

So, what has all this to do with Christ the King?  Everything I would suggest. The people in my two parishes are deeply concerned and, like me, sad at the state of the world. While Christ claimed before Pilate that his Kingship was not of this world, it is of this world for two fundamental reasons. Jesus is ‘Emmanuel’, which as St. Matthew reminds us means ‘God with us’.  It means that Jesus is with the people of Gaza, Israel and all those places where there is suffering violence, deprivation, exclusion and injustice. 

Our celebration of Christ the King means that we can no longer be complacent disciples. My prayer is that the Synod will force us out of complacency and our internal wrangling about issues which have little relevance to the issues I am struggling to describe.  The institution of the Church is important for us all but not if it obscures the priorities of mercy and compassion on which each of us will be judged. 

Mercy and compassion must be our priorities now, both in the Church, in our parishes and in our personal lives and relationships. Mercy, respect, and compassion must be allowed to shape our attitudes to creation, to one another and to those we find difficult, annoying or whose lifestyle we find challenging.

In the light of today’s solemnity and and its readings, the words of Jesus come as something of a cold shock: “I tell you, then, that the Kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. “(Matthew21.43)

‍Feast of Christ the King

Catholicism of the Catholic Church References:
CCC 440, 446-451, 668-672, 783, 786, 908, 2105,2628: Christ as Lord and King
CCC 678-679, 1001, 1038-1041: Christ as Judge
CCC 2816-2821: "Thy Kingdom Come"

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