Christ, King of the Universe." It is not a very old solemnity in the Church calendar, relatively speaking. It cameThis last Sunday of the Church year is commonly known as Christ the King Sunday. The actual name of the day is "Our Lord Jesus about in 1925 from Pope Pius XI, at a time after World War I when monarchies were in decline and communism and fascism were on the rise. Much like today, people were questioning the relevance of the Church, linking it to a time in west when monarchies were in full flower. The Pope worked to establish, or re-establish, the truth that The Kingdom of
What does mean for you and me. Well, the obvious is the literal, physical tending to the needs of men and women who need our help. We feed the hungry, we clothe the naked, we give the thirsty drink. Look at all the social service activities of the Catholic Church, the biggest non-government provider of social services in this country and around the world. Each of us does our part by supporting these efforts in any way we can.
But let's go one step further. We are disciples of Christ so we need to be living in the love of Christ in a way that others who are hungry, thristy, naked or imprisoned in their lives can see the way of life they hunger and thrist for. And when we go out into the world each day, no matter what we do or where we work, we act in love to those around us. Pope Francis, in a homily earlier this week, spoke of this. We become aware of the times when perhaps we gossip and we make the choice not to. We see the chance to maybe be nice to the person at work who we think is a real jerk and we act on that. That’s being a disciple. Then we pray, we pray more, we regularly pray at Mass and revcieve the Eucharist, we go to confession, and we continue to try to act in charity each day. The love of Christ grows in us, and begins to overflow, and we continue to move deeper and deeper into this life of love.
This is the citizenship model of the Kingdom of God. Jesus gave us the simple commandment to love each other just as He loves us, completely. This is the way thre truly humble person lives, trying everyday to love others as Christ loves. They draw their strength on prayer and sacraments, because they need Christ with them on this journey and he’s always ready to travel with them.
Jesus used the analogy of sheep and goats because people of that time understood that sheep were stroGod was unlike any earthly kingdom, political movement, or form of government. Through Christ the King of the Universe, the kingdom of God had restored eternal life to mankind, and all mankind indeed is welcome to come into the kingdom.
This, of course, is the Good News of the Gospel. There is but one kingdom, a kingdom that will never end, a kingdom that will free us from evil and restore us in all that is good. There is no other kingdom like it. There is no other kingdom that would come close, because any kingdom that is not fueled by the love of God could not stand.
The love of God is what separates this kingdom from all others.
The judgment story in Matthew’s Gospel can do one of two things...it can cause us concern, or it can give us hope. It all comes down to how in your life you respond to God’s love.
Listen to what Matthew tells us. “When the son of Man comes in his glory...he will sit upon his glorious throne and all the nations of the world will be assembled before him.” Nations, groups of people. Matthew is saying all other nations are done. There is only one from this point forward. Matthew continues “And he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
The sheep represent those who, through their lives of faith, hope and especially charity, have already taken up resiidence in the Kingdom of God. Those who are sheep live in the love of God. Those who are goats do not.
Now we get down to the criteria. What does Jesus say about the sheep? They are chosen because "when I was hungry you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, in prison and you visited me."
When,they ask, did we do this to you.
"Whatever you did for the least brothers of mine, you did for me."
Now you know what it means to live in Christ. This is the life of the true disciple. This is how one who receives the love of Christ lives in that love, by giving it to those around them, by taking care of the thiisty, the hungry, the poor, the prisoner, the naked and the sick
nger than goats. At night, the shepherd would seperate the sheep from the goats and shelter the goats because they could not endure the night cold the way sheep could. Sheep endured. We endure in love, moving forward on this journey. You really do want to be one of the sheep, and Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, will help you if you let him
