Newsletter for Sunday 26 November 2023

24 Nov

The Reign of Christ the King

Today is the Feast of Christ the King and it is the last Sunday of the liturgical year. Next Sunday we begin the new year with the First Sunday of Advent. The Feast of Christ the King is not just some sentimental feast for Catholics and neither is Catholicism just one religion among many who happens to have this man “Christ” as its head. It is the one true Faith. Christ is King of the whole universe, the whole cosmos, both in the supernatural and in the natural order because He is God. And as such He is King and Lord of all, and therefore has rights over all.

Now it’s true that throughout recent centuries, in what was once Christendom, revolutionaries have removed Christ from His rightful Throne. Those determined to establish the New World Order have decided to build their kingdoms without Christ. Today, politics wants nothing to do with God. They refuse to enthrone Christ and so they reject His Bride which is the Catholic Church. They seek to tear Him out of society for good. They essentially reject Christ when they think it’s their place to determine the moral code and promote things like abortion, euthanasia, fornication, transgenderism, homosexual activities and so on. They define what is right and wrong and then try and impose it on us. Although some politicians may express religious belief in private, essentially we are atheistic. Courts today even try to prohibit public prayer and more recently even private prayer. To forbid public prayer to God is to violate His rights, because God has the right to receive public worship from every one of us. Furthermore, Christ’s sovereignty is denied when people refuse to allow God into public discussion out of fear of offending others.

But God is God and so civil society must acknowledge Him and obey Him, because it is God’s plan to bring the whole of humanity to Himself. This is why Christ came, so that we could be brought back to God through His Mystical Body, which is the Catholic Church. And societies must acknowledge this and Christ’s Kingship. By doing so, our supernatural end (Heaven) is acknowledged.

God also wills that Church and State, though they be distinct, are never to be divorced, but rather that they should collaborate to bring about Christ’s reign on earth. This would be where the Ten Commandments, the Gospel and the natural law become the foundational guide of society and for legislators who write the moral law.

So we have an obligation to work for the Kingdom of God and to do our part in converting the world to Christ. That is the mission Our Lord gave to His Church. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:18-20). This is certainly very daunting, but with God all things are possible. After all, Christians converted pagan Rome in the past, so why not now? At the Last Judgment, God’s Kingdom will be fully established, and all other religions and all secular governments will pass away. In the meantime, the reign of Christ the King must begin with each one of us. By trying to rebuild a truly Catholic culture in our homes and in our families, His reign will then flow out into society.

Fr Paul Gillham, IC

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