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Collect:
Almighty and merciful God, you break the power of evil and make all things new in your Son Jesus Christ, the King of the universe. May all in heaven and earth acclaim your glory and never cease to praise you. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Recipes:

» Crown Cake
» Easter Cake

Activities:

» Family Procession in Honor of Christ the King

Prayers:

November 20, 2005

Christ the King

The Feast of Christ the King was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as an antidote to secularism, a way of life which leaves God out of man's thinking and living and organizes his life as if God did not exist. The feast is intended to proclaim in a striking and effective manner Christ's royalty over individuals, families, society, governments, and nations.

Today's Mass establishes the titles for Christ's royalty over men: 1) Christ is God, the Creator of the universe and hence wields a supreme power over all things; "All things were created by Him"; 2) Christ is our Redeemer, He purchased us by His precious Blood, and made us His property and possession; 3) Christ is Head of the Church, "holding in all things the primacy"; 4) God bestowed upon Christ the nations of the world as his special possession and dominion.

Today's Mass also describes the qualities of Christ's kingdom. This kingdom is: 1) supreme, extending not only to all peoples but also to their princes and kings; 2) universal, extending to all nations and to all places; 3) eternal, for "The Lord shall sit a King forever"; 4) spiritual, Christ's "kingdom is not of this world".

— Rt. Rev. Msgr. Rudolph G. Bandas

Before the reform of the Roman Calendar in 1969, this feast was celebrated on the last Sunday of October.

Christ the King as Represented in the Liturgy

The liturgy is an album in which every epoch of Church history immortalizes itself. Therein, accordingly, can be found the various pictures of Christ beloved during succeeding centuries. In its pages we see pictures of Jesus suffering and in agony; we see pictures of His Sacred Heart; yet these pictures are not proper to the nature of the liturgy as such; they resemble baroque altars in a gothic church. Classic liturgy knows but one Christ: the King, radiant, majestic, divine.

With an ever-growing desire, all Advent awaits the "coming King"; in the chants of the breviary we find repeated again and again the two expressions "King" and "is coming." On Christmas the Church would greet, not the Child of Bethlehem, but rather the Rex pacificus — "the King of peace gloriously reigning." Within a fortnight there follows a feast which belongs to the greatest of the feasts of the Church year, Epiphany. As in ancient times oriental monarchs visited their principalities (theophany), so the divine King appears in His city, the Church; from its sacred precincts He casts His glance over all the world....On the final feast of the Christmas cycle, the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, holy Church meets her royal Bridegroom with virginal love: "Adorn your bridal chamber, O Sion, and receive Christ your King!" The burden of the Christmas cycle may be summed up in these words: Christ the King establishes His Kingdom of light upon earth!

If we now consider the Easter cycle, the luster of Christ's royal dignity is indeed somewhat veiled by His sufferings; nevertheless, it is not the suffering Jesus who is present to the eyes of the Church as much as Christ the royal Hero and Warrior who upon the battlefield of Golgotha struggles with the mighty and dies in triumph. Even during Lent and Passiontide the Church acclaims her King. The act of homage on Palm Sunday is intensely stirring; singing psalms in festal procession we accompany our Savior singing: Gloria, laus et honor tibi sit, Rex Christe, "Glory, praise and honor be to Thee, Christ, O King!" It is true that on Good Friday the Church meditates upon the Man of Sorrows in agony upon the Cross, but at the same time, and perhaps more so, she beholds Him as King upon a royal throne. The hymn Vexilla Regis, "The royal banners forward go," is the more perfect expression of the spirit from which the Good Friday liturgy has arisen. Also characteristic is the verse from Psalm 95, Dicite in gentibus quia Dominus regnavit, to which the early Christians always added, a ligno, "Proclaim among the Gentiles: the Lord reigns from upon the tree of the Cross!" During Paschal time the Church is so occupied with her glorified Savior and Conqueror that kingship references become rarer; nevertheless, toward the end of the season we celebrate our King's triumph after completing the work of redemption, His royal enthronement on Ascension Thursday.

Neither in the time after Pentecost is the picture of Christ as King wholly absent from the liturgy. Corpus Christi is a royal festival: "Christ the King who rules the nations, come, let us adore" (Invit.). In the Greek Church the feast of the Transfiguration is the principal solemnity in honor of Christ's kingship, Summum Regem gloriae Christum adoremus (Invit.). Finally at the sunset of the ecclesiastical year, the Church awaits with burning desire the return of the King of majesty.

We will overlook further considerations in favor of a glance at the daily Offices. How often do we not begin Matins with an act of royal homage: "The King of apostles, of martyrs, of confessors, of virgins — come, let us adore" (Invit.). Lauds is often introduced with Dominus regnavit, "The Lord is King". Christ as King is also a first consideration at the threshold of each day; for morning after morning we renew our oath of fidelity at Prime: "To the King of ages be honor and glory." Every oration is concluded through our Mediator Christ Jesus "who lives and reigns forever." Yes, age-old liturgy beholds Christ reigning as King in His basilica (etym.: "the king's house"), upon the altar as His throne.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.

Things to Do:

Traditionally there would be a procession for Christ the King on this feastday. The Blessed Sacrament would be carried and the procession would end with a prayer of consecration to Christ the King and Benediction. Try to participate if your parish has a Christ the King procession. If not, try having one at home (minus the Blessed Sacrament).
Read Pope Pius XI's encyclical Quas primas (On the Feast of Christ the King) which shows that secularism is the direct denial of Christ's Kingship.
Learn more about secularism - read the Annual Statement of the Bishops of the United States released on November 14, 1947.
Being a relatively newer feast on the Liturgical calendar, there are no traditional foods for this day. Suggested ideas: a wonderful family Sunday dinner, and bake an Easter Cake or King Cake in honor of Christ the King..
A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful, who piously recite the Act of Dedication of the Human Race to Jesus Christ King. A plenary indulgence is granted, if it is recite publicly on the feast of our Lord Jesus Christ King.


At this moment in the semester, many of them are stressed about papers and group projects that are due in the next few weeks. Recently our discussion, with the help of a passage from the 31st chapter of the Book of Wisdom, led us to a heartfelt conversation about Christian marriage and the search for a future spouse. Often, as we socialize before or after our meetings, the conversation centers on football. Group projects, women and football tend to weigh heavily on the hearts of college men. What is reigning in your heart these days? The Church invites us to ask ourselves that question this weekend as we celebrate the final Sunday of the church year, Christ the King. The readings and prayers of the Mass direct our attention to the end times when the world as we know it will come to an end, Christ will come again in all His glory, He will judge the living and the dead, and He will present the world to His Heavenly Father. Surely our prayer is that Jesus will look us in the eyes with tender mercy and great love and say to us, "Come, you who are blessed by My Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Mt 25:34). Christ is indeed King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He will come again with wondrous signs and great power to definitively establish His reign for all eternity. However, His response to us at the consummation of the world will depend on how we chose to live our lives here and now. One of the more impressive aspects of Christ’s reign in the world is that He does not force His kingship upon His subjects. He prefers that we voluntarily submit. Instead of governing us with guns, shackles, fear and brute force, He reigns by knocking on the doors of our hearts and waiting for us to invite Him in. He wants His kingship over us to be one we freely choose because in truth and love we know both that we need Him and that He deserves to be the King of our hearts. Once Christ arrives at His proper place in our hearts and lives, we gratefully venture out into the world to bring His blessings to the needy — the hungry, the thirsty, the naked and the imprisoned. Love for God automatically spills over into a burning love for our neighbor. It becomes a passion of the heart. What, or Who, is reigning in your heart these days? What place does Christ have in your heart? It should be higher than work, relationships and the record of your favorite team. Do you really love Jesus with all your heart? Are His thoughts your thoughts? Are His ways your ways? Our God reigns! Fr. Peterson is Campus Minister at Marymount University in Arlington and interim director of the Youth Apostles Institute. (This article courtesy of the Arlington Catholic Herald.)