My
fellow kings, rulers, queens, monarchs, servants, leaders, shepherds! That
address makes about as much sense as saying “Merry Christmas” during Advent or
even Ordinary Time. That is, it’s premature, but it’s not exactly wrong. You
see at baptism, we are baptized into Christ’s priesthood, prophecy and kingship.
We’re not kings yet, but we are already part of a kingly royal people and
Christ does promise to share his rule, his servant-shepherd-kingly-rule with us
in a full way when all the other powers that compete with Christ to try to rule
are put down, in the New Jerusalem. And where we are now is that Christ calls
us to acknowledge his true kingship while we await its full realization, and to
acknowledge that we have been called to share in that, knowing that we await the
full realization of that sharing too. But what we have now, is still worth
living out.
It’s
interesting that we’re celebrating the feast of Christ the King today, but our
reading from Revelation didn’t speak of Christ’s kingship, but of ours. Over
the past few weeks, our second reading has been from Hebrews, which is the New
Testament writing that talks at the most length about Christ’s priesthood. But,
this passage of Revelation speaks of ours. This passage of Revelation does
speak of Christ as prophet, using the term ‘witness,’ and other parts of
Revelation call all Christians to be witnesses too. That notion of witness is a
helpful way of seeing what the relationship is between Christ’s offices
(priest, prophet and king) and the way we are invited to share in them. The
moon has been very full recently, it’s been very bright. But, we know that the
moon has no light of its own. The moon has been reflecting the sun; the moon
has been doing a good job as a witness to the sun’s light, a witness that doesn’t
just point to the sun’s light but shares it with the world. We as church are
called to share the kingship, the priesthood and the prophecy that is Christ’s.
We exercise prophecy by speaking of what God has done for us and calling out
for justice; we exercise priesthood through prayer and through living lives of
sacrifice; we exercise kingly-servant-shepherdly rule through ordering every
level of society (from our families, to world government, science and commerce)
to the glory of God, which is the full flourishing of every human being. The
ordained priesthood exists to do these things specifically within the church
(to teach and preach; to pray and offer especially the sacrifice of the Mass;
and lead and serve so that the baptized so as you all can do this for the whole
world. To celebrate Christ the King is to acknowledge first that we are not
kings in the sense Christ is (the moon is no sun); and then to act, to say that
nothing else is king the way Christ is and act to turn away from those false
kings of power, lust and greed that dehumanize our sisters and brothers, to
build a world in which it’s easier to be good. And that world is not the
kingdom. We can’t build the kingdom of God, God’s doing that. But we can
reflect it a little.
In the
gospel we heard today, we heard some ways in which Christ exercises his
kingship. Most ultimately, this is the trial in front of Pilate, this is where
Jesus was sent to his death. The good shepherd lays down his life for sheep. In
his loving willingness to suffer for us, Christ is King. But note what he said
when Pilate asked him if he was a king. He said that those of his kingdom hear
his voice, hear what he bears witness to. We acknowledge Christ as king when we
hear his words. We do that though scripture, the Word of God. Most powerfully,
perhaps, when it’s proclaimed or sung here in the worshipping assembly, but that’s
most powerful when we’ve prepared for that by reading the readings ahead of
time, or by reading other parts of scripture. I think I’ve mentioned this
before, but if you just google “catholic readings at Mass,” they come right up.
We also do that when we hear Christ crying out through those who suffer today.
We hear Christ in the saints, we hear Christ in the cry of the poor. Revelation
talked of all people “lamenting Christ.” We could say “mourning.” Maybe we
think we can’t mourn Christ, even though he died, because he rose! But that’s
not true at all. He really suffered, and we can really mourn that. We can mourn
that through praying the sorrowful mysteries of the rosaries, through reading
through a passion account in a gospel, through praying the stations of the
cross, or through hearing the cry of the poor, those in whom Christ suffers
still.
On
Friday, the church celebrated the memorial of Miguel Pro, who was martyred on
November 23rd 1927, at age 36. He was a Jesuit priest who ministered
as part of the underground church in Tabasco, Mexico, where all religion had
been almost completely suppressed. Once captured, President Calles found an
excuse to have him executed, without a trial. Just as he had refused to not see
the suffering of the people of Mexico, to whom he had returned after studies in
Europe, he refused to not see his executioners, refusing a blindfold as he
prayed for the men who shot him. He prayed for their forgiveness, extended his
arms in imitation of the Cross, a moon, a witness, and cried out “Viva Cristo
Rey!” with his last breath, “Long live Christ the King.” He’d heard Christ’s
words. He bore witness. He celebrated Christ the King with his whole life.
You may
have seen photos of his execution. This is because President Calles had it
photographed and distributed the photos widely to discourage others from trying
to maintain an active practice of the faith. The photos only encouraged them.
The Cristero movement drew new life from Pro’s witness and bore witness itself.
We hope we’ll never have to do that with our blood, but we too are called to
cry out with our lives, “Viva Cristo Rey! Long live Christ the King!”
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