Treating Jesus as a King
Dear All Saints Parish Family,
The last Sunday of the liturgical year is dedicated to Our Lord Jesus Christ under His title of King of the Universe. All things are under His sovereign rule, not just in the Holy Land from where He rose, not just from Rome from where His Bride the Church is “headquartered,” not just the Earth, nor the Solar System, nor the Milky Way Galaxy, but the entire universe.
Kings and kingdoms are foreign ideas to the American imagination. Our nation was founded with specific disdain for monarchs, and as a consequence, developing as a Constitutional Republic, we don’t really have a frame of reference for such a form of governance. We might find a certain intrigue in the happenings that come from the so-called royal family in England, but America is fundamentally anti-king. But our hearts can’t be!
The Lord Jesus Christ is the King of Kings, and our Baptism not only makes us members of the Church, but more concretely it is a covenant initiation that makes us citizens of His Kingdom. Remember what a covenant is: the extension of kinship by oath…that is, stated in another way, a covenant is the oath by which someone is made part of the family. Our brother is the King.
There are some meaningful ways that the practice of our faith beckons us to recall the Kingship of the Lord Jesus. The first is the genuflection. When we enter or leave the presence of Our Lord, we drop to our knee as a sign of profound reverence. Through the Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass, we drop again to our knees to signify that we recognize the King is coming. Something I’ve found helpful to keep Jesus’ Kingship close to heart is when I kneel or genuflect to simply but prayerfully say “Jesus, my Lord and my King.”
The official prayers of the Mass, too, with their complex structure and elevated vocabulary call to mind that at Mass, we are in the King’s court, addressing the One who holds ultimate authority and deserves our highest respect and deference.
But perhaps the most significant way to honor Jesus Christ as King is by doing what He tells us to do. Trusting in His Word and His will over and even at times against our own will is a sign that we know to whom we belong and where our ultimate citizenship resides.
Lord Jesus, you are King of All Saints! Be the King of our hearts!
Praised be Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe, now and forever!
All you holy saints of God, pray for us!
Peace in Christ,
Fr. Michael Silloway
Pastor