{"id":2587,"date":"2017-11-26T08:54:27","date_gmt":"2017-11-26T06:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/?p=2587"},"modified":"2020-11-21T14:32:00","modified_gmt":"2020-11-21T19:32:00","slug":"solemnity-of-christ-the-king-cycle-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/2017\/11\/26\/solemnity-of-christ-the-king-cycle-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Solemnity of Christ the King, Cycle A"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s Sunday is also ominously referred to as the last Sunday in Ordinary time, and not just because next Sunday a new liturgical year begins with Advent. Today\u2019s Sunday reminds us that one day will be the last day of history: the day when Christ, Our King, returns in glory so that, as the Second Reading today phrases it, \u201cGod may be all in all,\u201d and he reigns forever.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s First Reading Ezekiel has just criticized the kings of Israel for not being good \u201cshepherds\u201d to Israel, their flock (see Ezekiel 34:1\u201310) and tells Israel that the Lord himself will shepherd them. This shepherd will rescue the sheep no matter how much they\u2019ve strayed or been scattered. When he is among them he will tend them as a shepherd should. He will make sure they have the pasture and rest that they need, and will keep them together and take care of the sick and injured.<\/p>\n

The Lord, however, also warns that the \u201csleek and strong\u201d sheep will be destroyed, and that it is the right thing to do. The implication shifts back to the Lord being a good and just king who punishes the bad kings of his people. Those bad kings grew strong at the expense of their flocks and lost sight that they too were sheep of the Shepherd. Anything of danger to the flock gets ended. The Lord also has a word for the flock: they too will be judged. The Good Shepherd, Our King, does all this for us.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Second Reading St. Paul outlines the process that began with Christ\u2019s Resurrection from the dead and continues until the end of time when \u201cGod may be all in all.\u201d Christ\u2019s Resurrection was just the beginning. As the \u201cfirstfruits\u201d the resurrections are just starting. Adam\u2019s Fall condemned us all to death; Christ\u2019s resurrection brings life back to us again. This won\u2019t happen until he returns in glory. His Resurrection is a testimony that it will happen to those who believe in him as well.<\/p>\n

At the Last Judgment everyone will be raised from the dead, good and evil, and judged by Our Lord in the sight of all. The powers he destroys, including death itself, are all the evils in creation that afflicted us. We will never have to fear them again, because they\u2019ll be definitively overthrown by Christ. Then, with his Kingdom secure and established, Christ will offer it to the Heavenly Father who gave it to him in the first place, and the Heavenly Father\u2019s desire to have those who believe in him gathered around his Son to be with him forever will be fulfilled.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Gospel we hear, in Our Lord\u2019s words, what the Last Judgment will be like: at the end of time everyone, living or dead, will stand before the Judge and be evaluated on their charity. The Golden Rule, \u201cdo unto others as you would have them do unto you,\u201d receives an added incentive: what you do unto others you are also doing to the Lord himself.<\/p>\n

Love for neighbor is not just the ethical and loving thing to do; it is a way to love God himself. We\u2019ll be judged on love for both. Sometimes Our Lord hides really well in those we\u2019re trying to love. Many saints throughout history have persevered in loving nasty, smelly, offensive, ungrateful people because they know they are loving Our Lord and showing those people how much God loves them. We may not feel loving or feel the love, but we continue to try based on a deeper spiritual conviction that it is the right thing to do and a way of loving Our Lord. When we live this deep spiritual conviction, driven by charity, the difference between those who don\u2019t and us is like the difference between a nasty cranky goat and a humble simple sheep: night and day.<\/p>\n

With every Our Father we pray, \u201cThy Kingdom Come!\u201d, and Our Lord, at the start of his public ministry, said the \u201cKingdom of Heaven is at hand.\u201d The Kingdom began with Christ preaching it and grows even today. It\u2019s not just something that will come at the end of time. Charity and justice are the way we can help Christ\u2019s Kingdom to spread. His Kingdom is a conquest of hearts, starting with ours. We should go out and through our justice and charity help him conquer the hearts of the whole world.<\/p>\n

Readings:\u00a0Ezekiel 34:11\u201312, 15\u201317; Psalm 23:1\u20136; 1\u00a0Corinthians 15:20\u201326, 28; Matthew 25:31\u201346.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Today\u2019s Sunday is also ominously referred to as the last Sunday in Ordinary time, and not just because next Sunday a new liturgical year begins with Advent. Today\u2019s Sunday reminds us that one day will be the last day of history: the day when Christ, Our King, returns in glory so that, as the Second … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[179,45,117,15,118],"class_list":["post-2587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cycle-a","tag-ordinary-time","tag-solemnity-of-christ-the-king","tag-sunday","tag-thirty-fourth-week"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p65qtw-FJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2587"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2589,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587\/revisions\/2589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}