Cycle A - Year I:  

26 November 2023: Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe 

(Liturgical Color: White)

Readings:

First Reading:        Ezekiel 14:11-12, 15-17

Second Reading:   1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28

Gospel:  Please read  Matthew 25:31-46 

Our King on judgement day!

The Church liturgical calendar celebrates the Feast of Christ the King on the final Sunday of Ordinary Time and the Sunday before Advent. This Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ celebrates His all-embracing authority as King of kings, Lord of lords, the Alpha and Omega of all creation.  So today Jesus Christ makes an unambiguous claim to universal authority. All the nations of the world will come before Him to be judged.

The core message of the Gospel proclamation is that the story of our salvation is continuing. Our salvation did not end with the resurrection of Christ, or His ascension into heaven. It does not end at Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit. Because our salvation ends with Christ Himself, when He comes again, seated at the right hand of the Father, to judge the living and the dead.

On the final day, before Jesus the King of the universe, we will be asked to account for what we have done, individually and collectively, of the life given to us while on earth. All the wealth and power we may have accumulated are meaningless, unless they served to proclaim God's kingdom here on earth.

The guidelines that our Lord gives us for the final reckoning are really simple. They begin with what we do, or fail to do, here and now: "...whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me;... what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me."

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the final Judge to whom we must render an accounting of our lives on earth at the end of time. This is how our Lord Jesus describes the final day: The Son of Man gathers around Him the nations of the world. He separates people as the Shepherd does with the sheep and the goats.

Those who are at the right hand of the Judge are called Blessed of the Father. That is, they receive the blessing which God promised to Abraham and to his descendants (Gen 12:3) They are to take possession of the Kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world.

Those who are on the other side of the Judge are called cursed and they are destined to go to eternal fire  prepared by the devil and his kind.

Jesus is very clear about the criteria for knowing whether I am a sheep or a goat: how have I loved, how have I care for others especially the poor, the needy and the marginalized? 

What is the significance of the Solemnity of Christ the King in our lives today?

Jesus Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords; He alone is the Holy One and the Most High, as we proclaim every Sunday when we sing the Gloria at Mass.  He is worthy of our allegiance.

So we know: This great Feast was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 for the Universal Church in his encyclical Quas Primas, a Latin phrase which literally means "in the first".    

A blessed Feast of Christ the King to all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!