Yesterday was the great feast of Christ The King. A relatively new feast (established in 1925 by Pope Pius XI), It celebrates the kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ. I love this feast which occurs at the end of the church year. After all is said and done, the Lord is finally celebrated as King.
A friend of mine wrote a great song with the refrain, “Ring Out Every Bell In Christendom….. And Hail Him Christ The King”. I sometimes imagine the resounding sound as every bell throughout the entire world is ringing, announcing the Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. I can imagine every knee bending, every hand upraised, as the Lord appears.
Last year the scripture readings aligned with this great theme. We had readings from Daniel 7, “the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven”, Psalm 93, “the Lord is king; he is robed in majesty”, Revelations 1, “Behold he is coming amid the clouds”, and John 18,” My kingdom does not belong to this world”. Majestic readings describing his kingship.
But this year’s readings struck a different note…. more subdued. You had the shepherd reading from 2Samuel 5 and the gospel account of the good thief from Luke 3 where the rulers sneered at Jesus. In some ways these readings didn’t focus much at all on the majesty and power of the Lord. The homily I heard from our deacon at mass, focused on the good thief bringing nothing to the table except his sins, no good works, no penance, just his brief moment of faith …. asking for mercy and remembrance. Truly this is the other side of the coin of the greatness of God. He is filled with majesty and greatness, but equal to his majesty is his mercy.
I’m really happy that our God is an all powerful great king. I’m also really happy that he is a wonderfully kind and merciful king. We need our God to be both.
I just heard that my friend Ray Cody passed away last night. I’m really happy that the Lord he served for many years and that he has now met face to face is not only the great king of the universe, but the great king of mercy. Rest in peace my friend.
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Whenever I hear about the feast of Christ the King, I think of that song and it gives me chills. I can almost hear all the bells ringing …
I’m so grateful for the CTK masses I got to go to as a child that showed me the magnitude and majesty of Jesus.
May Ray rest in peace. I remember him taking us to Friendly’s and we got clown sundaes. It was very special.
Love you Dad.
“I find in myself desires which nothing in this earth can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”
C.S. Lewis
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that is something to imagine, all the bells ringing!
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