Jesus' reign reflects its brightness off of us – John 18:33b-37; Rev 1:5-8

Christ the King, Year B; Holy Infant parish.

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.

Jesus shows us sacrifice – Mark 12:38-44, Heb 9:24-28

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B; Holy Infant parish.

I wonder what emotions we imagine in Jesus when he said those words. I wonder what tone of voice carried his words. When proclaiming the gospel, I tried not to impose one on the words, but that’s really impossible, and shows why the reading aloud of scripture is the part of the process of interpreting. But, it’s a really helpful spiritual exercise to listen out for what tone of voice you hear Jesus’ words in when you read those words. (And incidentally, that’s part of why it’s a really helpful part of preparing ourselves for Mass to read the readings before Mass – you can find them online if you google USCCB lectionary, or the references are printed in the bulletin – because the Spirit can work through your imagination to lend a particular tone, a particular interpretation to Jesus’ words, and that might be precisely the one you need to hear). But, to get back to Jesus’ words… when he saw that woman give all she had to the Temple, is there admiration in his words? Is there sorrow, lament, or anger, that that kind of poverty exists, in which someone only owns a few small coins?