Christ is King! ...

  Solemnity of 

Our Lord Jesus Christ, 
King of the Universe

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King celebrates the all-embracing authority of Christ as King and Lord of the cosmos.  It is celebrated on the final Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Sunday before Advent. "O Lord our God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power" (Rev 4:11). 

“The Lord will sit on His royal throne for ever; 
the Lord will bless His people in peace.” - Psalm 29: 10b,11b 

Sacristy ~ Basilica of St Mary's ~ Minneapolis, Minnesota ~ USA

 “O king of Glory, though You hide Your beauty,

yet the eye of my soul rends the veil." - St. Faustina

 

"There He is:

King of Kings and Lord of Lords,

hidden in the bread.

To this extreme

has He humbled Himself
for love of you." 
St Josemaria Escriva 

Excerpt: Quas Primas, Encyclical of Pope Pius XI 

Promulgated on December 11, 1925, Quas Primas introduced the Feast of Christ the King. The encyclical summarizes both the Old Testament and the New Testament teaching on the kingship of Christ. Invoking an earlier encyclical Annum Sacrum of Pope Leo XIII, Pius XI connotes that the kingdom of Christ embraces the whole mankind. He connected the denial of Christ as king to the rise of secularism. At the time of Quas Primas, secularism was on the rise, and many Christians, even Catholics, were doubting Christ’s authority, as well as the Church’s, and even doubting Christ’s very existence.   

Hail King Jesus, King of Peace! 

20. If the kingdom of Christ, then, receives, as it should, all nations under its way, there seems no reason why we should despair of seeing that peace which the King of Peace came to bring on earth -- he who came to reconcile all things, who came not to be ministered unto but to minister, who, though Lord of all, gave himself to us as a model of humility, and with his principal law united the precept of charity; who said also: "My yoke is sweet and my burden light." Oh, what happiness would be ours if all men, individuals, families, and nations, would but let themselves be governed by Christ!  "Then at length," to use the words addressed by our predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, twenty-five years ago to the bishops of the Universal Church, "then at length will many evils be cured; then will the law regain its former authority; peace with all its blessings be restored. Men will sheathe their swords and lay down their arms when all freely acknowledge and obey the authority of Christ, and every tongue confesses that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father."
21. That these blessings may be abundant and lasting in Christian society, it is necessary that the kingship of our Savior should be as widely as possible recognized and understood, and to the end nothing would serve better than the institution of a special feast in honor of the Kingship of Christ. For people are instructed in the truths of faith, and brought to appreciate the inner joys of religion far more effectually by the annual celebration of our sacred mysteries than by any official pronouncement of the teaching of the Church. Such pronouncements usually reach only a few and the more learned among the faithful; feasts reach them all; the former speak but once, the latter speak every year -- in fact, forever. The church's teaching affects the mind primarily; her feasts affect both mind and heart, and have a salutary effect upon the whole of man's nature. Man is composed of body and soul, and he needs these external festivities so that the sacred rites, in all their beauty and variety, may stimulate him to drink more deeply of the fountain of God's teaching, that he may make it a part of himself, and use it with profit for his spiritual life.

To Jesus Christ, our Sov'reign King,
Who is the world's salvation,
All praise and homage do we bring, 

And thanks and adoration.

Refrain:

Christ Jesus Victor, Christ Jesus Ruler!

Christ Jesus, Lord and Redeemer!

 

The way to 'enter' into God's Kingdom does not permit shortcuts; rather, every person must freely welcome the truth of the love of God. He is Love and Truth and both love and truth never impose themselves: they knock at the door of the heart and mind and, 

wherever they may enter, they bring peace and joy. 

This is God's way of reigning; this is His project of salvation,

 a 'mystery' in the biblical sense of the word, which is a plan that is revealed little by little throughout history."- Pope Benedict XVI

"While nations insult the beloved name 

of our Redeemer by suppressing all mention of it 

in their conferences and parliaments,

we must all the more loudly proclaim
His kingly dignity and power,

(and) all the more universally affirm His rights. ... 

When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, 

society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, 

well ordered discipline, peace and harmony." - Pope Pius XI