Christ the King Sunday

Today is the feast of Christ the King. It is a relatively new feast, established in 1925 on last Sunday of the church liturgical year (a new liturgical year begins next Sunday as Advent begins) to emphasize the place of Christ at the center of life and to challenge the increasing denial of the place of God in life seen in communism and the secularism of that time [and as it is today still]. The Kingdom of Jesus is about a new way of relating to one another — a way that Jesus revealed by His life and teaching. Jesus demonstrated His kingdom as he blessed, loved, forgave, healed, and served the people He was speaking to. He welcomed the poor and the marginalized. He taught about His way of relating in parables that prioritized forgiveness over revenge, service over being served, and sacrificial love over self-serving arrogance. The Kingdom way of relating is expressed in this Sunday's Gospel as Jesus tells us that what we do to the least of our brothers or sisters we do to Him. Jesus’ Kingdom is present whenever we relate to one another as the God of all creation desires us to relate. It is the only Kingdom that will last forever.