| Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M.Cap Jesus Christ, King of the Universe and of Hearts Pontifical Household Preacher Comments on Sunday's Reading |
Jesus Christ, King of the Universe and of Hearts
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap
ROME, NOV. 23, 2007 - The solemnity of Christ the King was instituted only recently. It was
instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 in response to the atheist and totalitarian political regimes that
denied the rights of God and the Church. The climate in which the feast was born was, for example,
that of the Mexican revolution, when many Christians went to their deaths crying out to their last
breath, “Long live Christ the King!”
But if the feast is recent, its content and its central idea are not; they are quite ancient and we can
say that they were born with Christianity. The phrase “Christ reigns” has its equivalent in the
profession of faith: “Jesus is Lord,” which occupies a central place in the preaching of the apostles.
Sunday’s Gospel passage narrates the death of Christ, because it is at that moment that Christ
begins to rule over the world. The cross is Christ’s throne. “Above him there was an inscription that
read, ‘This is the King of the Jews.'” That which in the intention of his enemies was the justification
of his condemnation, was, in the eyes of the heavenly Father, the proclamation of his universal
sovereignty.
To see what this feast has to do with us, we need only recall to our minds a very simple distinction.
There are two universes, two worlds or cosmoses: the “macrocosm,” which is the whole universe
external to us, and the “microcosm,” or the little universe, which is each individual man. The liturgy
itself, in the reform that followed Vatican II, felt the need to accent the human and spiritual aspect of
the feast over the, so to speak, political aspect of the feast. The prayer of the feast no longer asks,
as it once did, “that all the families of nations, now kept apart by the wound of sin, may be brought
under the sweet yoke of [Christ’s] rule” but that “every creature, freed from the slavery of sin, serve
and praise [Christ] forever.”
Let us consider again the inscription placed above Christ: “This is the King of the Jews.” The
onlookers challenged him to manifest his royalty openly and many, even among his friends,
expected a spectacular demonstration of his kingship. But he chose only to show his kingship in his
solicitousness for one man, who was, in fact, a criminal: “‘Jesus, remember me when you come into
your kingdom.’ He replied to him, ‘Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.'"
From this point of view, the most important question to ask on the feast of Christ the King is not
whether he reigns in the world but whether he reigns in me; it is not whether his kingship is
recognized by states and governments, but whether it is recognized and lived in me.
Is Christ the King and Lord of my life? Who rules in me, who determines the goals and establishes
priorities: Christ or someone else? According to St. Paul, there are two ways to live: either for
ourselves or for the Lord (Romans 14:7-9). Living “for ourselves” means living like someone who
takes himself to be the beginning and the end; it is a life closed in on itself, drawn only by its own
satisfaction and glory, without any perspective of eternity. Living “for the Lord,” on the contrary,
means living for the Lord, that is, with a view to him, for his glory, for his kingdom.
What we have here is truly a new existence, in the face of which, death itself has lost its
definitiveness. The greatest contradiction that man has always experienced -- that between life and
death -- has been overcome. The contradiction is no longer between “living” and “dying” but
between living “for ourselves” and living “for the Lord.”
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap
ROME, NOV. 23, 2007 - The solemnity of Christ the King was instituted only recently. It was
instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 in response to the atheist and totalitarian political regimes that
denied the rights of God and the Church. The climate in which the feast was born was, for example,
that of the Mexican revolution, when many Christians went to their deaths crying out to their last
breath, “Long live Christ the King!”
But if the feast is recent, its content and its central idea are not; they are quite ancient and we can
say that they were born with Christianity. The phrase “Christ reigns” has its equivalent in the
profession of faith: “Jesus is Lord,” which occupies a central place in the preaching of the apostles.
Sunday’s Gospel passage narrates the death of Christ, because it is at that moment that Christ
begins to rule over the world. The cross is Christ’s throne. “Above him there was an inscription that
read, ‘This is the King of the Jews.'” That which in the intention of his enemies was the justification
of his condemnation, was, in the eyes of the heavenly Father, the proclamation of his universal
sovereignty.
To see what this feast has to do with us, we need only recall to our minds a very simple distinction.
There are two universes, two worlds or cosmoses: the “macrocosm,” which is the whole universe
external to us, and the “microcosm,” or the little universe, which is each individual man. The liturgy
itself, in the reform that followed Vatican II, felt the need to accent the human and spiritual aspect of
the feast over the, so to speak, political aspect of the feast. The prayer of the feast no longer asks,
as it once did, “that all the families of nations, now kept apart by the wound of sin, may be brought
under the sweet yoke of [Christ’s] rule” but that “every creature, freed from the slavery of sin, serve
and praise [Christ] forever.”
Let us consider again the inscription placed above Christ: “This is the King of the Jews.” The
onlookers challenged him to manifest his royalty openly and many, even among his friends,
expected a spectacular demonstration of his kingship. But he chose only to show his kingship in his
solicitousness for one man, who was, in fact, a criminal: “‘Jesus, remember me when you come into
your kingdom.’ He replied to him, ‘Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.'"
From this point of view, the most important question to ask on the feast of Christ the King is not
whether he reigns in the world but whether he reigns in me; it is not whether his kingship is
recognized by states and governments, but whether it is recognized and lived in me.
Is Christ the King and Lord of my life? Who rules in me, who determines the goals and establishes
priorities: Christ or someone else? According to St. Paul, there are two ways to live: either for
ourselves or for the Lord (Romans 14:7-9). Living “for ourselves” means living like someone who
takes himself to be the beginning and the end; it is a life closed in on itself, drawn only by its own
satisfaction and glory, without any perspective of eternity. Living “for the Lord,” on the contrary,
means living for the Lord, that is, with a view to him, for his glory, for his kingdom.
What we have here is truly a new existence, in the face of which, death itself has lost its
definitiveness. The greatest contradiction that man has always experienced -- that between life and
death -- has been overcome. The contradiction is no longer between “living” and “dying” but
between living “for ourselves” and living “for the Lord.”