Sunday, November 22, 2015

Homily: Christ the King 2015 - King in every sphere of life



The liturgical year ends with one of the most important feasts of the whole Church year: the celebration of Christ the King. Yes, whole liturgical year revolves around the great feasts of Christmas and Easter, but today’s feast of Christ the King celebrates something of central importance.  Namely, that Jesus really is the Lord of our lives; he is the King of the totality of the life of the Christian.

If Jesus Christ is anything less than our King, if we’re only giving Him lip service without fully submitting our whole lives to him, than, we are missing something essential to the practice of Christianity, we’re sequestered from the power of this life changing faith. If we only pay attention to Christ for a few minutes on Sunday, but fail to submit the rest of the week to Him, If we treat Jesus as an harmless symbol, or just one religious teacher among many, If we only allow him into the first few rooms of our house, but not every room—if we keep him out the outskirts…if we sequester him to just a small corner of our life…as if there is this small religious corner of our life, and then the rest of our life…then we are missing something fundamental.

What does it mean to make Jesus the King of your family life? Your marriage? First, it means to put him at the center of everything, every chore, every vacation, every meal, every embrace, every family decision. It means putting him at the center of your marriage, including Him in the decision to bring new life into the world.  For just as our King calls us to be generous in giving our time and talent and treasure to God, Our King calls husbands and wives to be generous bringing new life into the world. 
For now, more than ever, where secularism seeks to replace Christianity as the foundation of our nation, we need strong Christian families, where the faith is practiced devoutly, were Christianity is celebrated in the home, where husbands and wives are generous in bringing new Christians into the world.  Pope Paul VI, back in 1968, spoke very prophetically about the dangers of artificial contraception, in his encyclical Humanae Vitae, how the use of contraception which undermines God’s plan for marriage.  And we’ve seen great falling away from the faith, as Catholics have abandoned the Christian teaching on this very issue.  For when God told Adam and Eve, husband and wife, to be fruitful and multiply he wasn’t telling them to grow oranges and practice their times tables, but to cooperate with his will to bring new souls into the world, children who will turn to God and call him King and Father.

What does it mean to make Jesus King of your professional life? Firstly, it means that if you are in a job that is fundamentally immoral, you need to quit. We can’t justify doing immoral things just because they bring in a lot of money.  Having Christ as King means spreading his Kingdom, but when we are involved immorality, we are spreading not Christ’s Kingdom, but the Enemy’s. So, if your company is pursuing policies or strategies which are immoral, at the very least, you have to protest and refuse to take part in them.

Secondly, having Christ as King of your professional life means bringing your Christianity into the operation of our business.  Putting a crucifix or religious statue in your office, in your locker; making time for prayer, privately and with coworkers, and I know that it’s scary, but to evangelize those around you.  Invite coworkers to come to Church, to go to Bible Study.  Oftentimes, if a coworker will see you reading the Bible, or reading the Catechism, they’ll ask you about it.  How many of your coworkers know that you are a practicing Catholic, do you share with them the joy and strength you find in receiving the Eucharist, the peace you receive when you go to confession? You can form family prayer groups and invite them to pray with you.  You could say, “hey I’m inviting our priest out to the house to enthrone our home to the sacred heart of Jesus, would you like to come?” Or, “hey my family is going to pray the rosary together Friday night for peace in response to the terrorist attacks, would you like to join us?” You don’t have to beat non-believers over the head with the faith, but you can surely invite them, and share with them, the strength and guidance you receive from faith. For the non-faithful are meant to see what it means for Jesus Christ to be King primarily through our example.

What does it mean to say that Jesus is King of your personal life? I don’t want to sound creepy, but are you comfortable inviting Christ into everything you do privately.  If you have habits that you wouldn’t do if Christ were in the room, you need to reconsider the habit.  Are there television shows you wouldn’t watch if Jesus were in the room?  Are there internet sites you wouldn’t visit if Christ were sitting next to you? Are there video games with content which is morally objectionable?
In our permissive culture, there are temptations and evils around every corner, on every channel, every website.  And we really need to fortify ourselves against these things, by clinging to Christ Our King through prayer, study, and healthy fraternity with other Christians. 

And prayer is really important.  How can Jesus be the most important person in your life if you never talk with him, if you don’t study His Word?  If you can quote sports statistics but not a single line from Scripture, there’s a problem.  If you can sing all the lyrics to the new Taylor Swift song, but can’t pray the rosary, there’s a problem. 

What does it mean that Christ is the King of your mind? It means you think deeply about the faith, seek to understand not just what the Church teaches, but why the Church teaches it. Catholicism is an intellectually rich faith.  But we aren’t meant to settle with merely an 8th grade understanding or a 12th grade understanding of the faith.  Even after 9 years of seminary and 6 years of priesthood, our last Scripture Study here at St. Clare about the Gospel of Matthew was tremendously enriching. We aren’t meant to waste our mental energies on trivial superficialities, but our study of the faith is meant to enrich our lives, and make us more effective apologists and evangelists. Treasures await you, if you give your mind to Christ.

Finally, what does it mean to make Christ the King of your body? It means you don’t abuse your body, you don’t poison it with excessive alcohol or drugs or excessive snacking or dining, you take care of it, so you can carry out the mission and work God has for you.
Christ is meant to reign in our hearts, in our minds, in our family life, in our professional life, in our private life, every sphere, every dimension, in every relationship of our life.  When we allow Him to be King, everything changes. 

We renew our love and loyalty for our King today, and pray for the grace to never be intimidated by any earthly power or seduced by any earthly pleasures, but to herald the victory of our King over sin and death in our minds, in our bodies, in our private and public lives for the glory of God and salvation of souls.


[Thanks to Most Rev. Robert Barron for the inspiration for this homily]

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