Behold Your King: Solemnity of Christ the King

For 100 years, the Catholic Church has set aside a day for us to commemorate the triumphant victory of Christ as king of the universe.

In the Gospel of Luke for today, it gives us the account of his crucifixion. Jesus is hung on the cross. Above him, an inscription Pilate orders for the cross, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”. This is an acclamation of God’s reign over the world. Indeed, Christ’s reign was not over political opponents or regimes. Rather, it was a conquest over sin and death. Pope Benedict reflects on the cross by saying, “The Cross is the paradoxical sign of his kingship, which consists in the loving will of God the Father in response to the disobedience of sin.”

His kingdom is for all of his people, especially Dismas, the good thief, who asked Jesus to remember him in paradise, and Jesus granted him a place there.

St. Paul encourages us to such thanksgiving in the passage from Colossians from the second reading in Sunday’s liturgy. He writes: “Let us give thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light. He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Let us give thanks to Christ as we were told in the Gospel of John, “God did not send His son to condemn the world but that the world might have life through Him” (John 3:17).

Today, as we continue on our earthly pilgrimage, let us bring about his kingdom on earth through our faithful actions and witness.

To God be the Glory! All Hail, Christ the King