Christ the King: Our Divine Sovereign
Summary of Headings
- Christ's Kingship by Nature
- Christ's Kingship by Conquest
- Christ's Authority Over Society
- Christ's Reign in Families
- Proclaiming Christ in Public Life
- Living Christ's Kingship at Home
- Personal Devotion to Christ the King
Christ's Kingship by Nature
This is truly one of the most important and most beautiful feast days of the liturgical year. We desperately need to remember that Christ is King. And not just remember it in our daily lives ourselves, but we must proclaim it in our actions and our words. So in order to proclaim it, we have to understand this great mystery. The first thing we have to remember is what Pius XI said about it. Christ is King by His very nature. He is King because He is God. God is the source of authority and He is the ruler of all things because He is the creator and the maker and the governor of all things.
But then, on top of that, our Lord Jesus Christ is King not just because of His divinity, but He is King of us specifically because He became man.
Christ's Kingship by Conquest
He is the only man who is God. And so therefore He is the only man who can truly claim kingship over all men, regardless of everything else, because of His divinity. But more than that, He is King by conquest. He is King by conquest because He came and He became man specifically to save our souls. He bought us back through the violent action of His crucifixion. He conquered our souls. So therefore, now we have to live according to that kingship. He is King. He is King by nature. He is King by conquest. And He is King over every aspect of our society. He is King of society in general because all authority comes from God and so therefore all authority is born in Him.
And society is born and established by authority. So therefore it is God's authority. And it is from Him that there is any society existing. He is King of families because He is the one that binds the families together. There is no marriage without God. And there is no life without God giving it. Then He is God of individuals, each and every one of us, and on different levels, intellect, will, and heart. He is God of... He is a King of intellect because our mind is not free to just do whatever it wants. It has to be disciplined.
Christ's Authority Over Society
It has to be corralled. It has to be shown the right way. This is what faith is for. To submit our mind to something else, something more than ourselves. So He is King of our intellect because He is the truth. The purpose of the intellect is to pursue the truth. He is the truth. Therefore, He is King of our intellect. He is King of our will. Because law, order, structure, moral, and moral, all are His. All of that that pertains to the will comes from Him. He tells us what is right and wrong because He is goodness. He is justice. He is prudence. He is all the virtues and He is the source of all the virtues in us.
So therefore, He is the King of our will. Because our will must follow Him and His order and His structure and what He commands. He is King of our heart. Never have we been loved by anyone like we are loved by Him. And so therefore, we are to love Him back. He has loved us so perfectly that He has sacrificed Himself for us. And if we ever doubt that, we just come to Mass and remember that. He is the King of our heart. Now what does that mean in practical terms for us? Well, it means first and foremost, we have an obligation. We have an obligation to our fellow men outside to proclaim Him King.
Christ's Reign in Families
But we also have an obligation in justice to declare Him King. It's a necessity of our very nature. By the fact that we are human, by the fact that we are Catholic, by the fact that we know that Christ is King, demands that we therefore proclaim Him. It is an act of justice to proclaim Christ as King. And it is an act of justice to proclaim Christ as King. It is a severe injustice for us to shrink away from doing so. We must make sure that Christ is King in all of these ways in our minds. So now, how do we practice that? Well, I'll give you one example.
Christ is King of society. How can we make that evident? Well, we can make it evident in two different ways. One is our participation in civil events. Example, we have elections coming up. If you haven't already voted. Understand, your obligation is not to vote for X candidate or Y candidate. Or for this amendment, for this amendment, or against this amendment. Your obligation is to vote for Christ the King. And so, when you choose for whom you're going to vote, or for what you're going to vote, that is the measuring stick. That is the ruler by which you measure everything.
Is this person going to further the reign of Christ the King? Is he going to defend the rights of Christ the King? Or at the very least, is he not going to attack the rights of Christ the King? Is this new tax, or amendment, or whatever else, are these things going to be good for the possibility of Christ's reign to be proclaimed, or not? That is one way we practice the social conquest, or the social reign of Christ the King. By how we vote. By how we participate in social and civil legislation. And sometimes that even means abstention. If there's no good options, then we shouldn't participate.
Second aspect of how we make Christ King, or how we proclaim Christ as King socially, is when we go out into the world, we must proclaim Him as such by our words and by our actions.
Proclaiming Christ in Public Life
If I might make one recommendation. Don't hide the fact that we're Catholic. By the way that we dress, or behave, or speak, or the fact that we wear scapulars and medals, or whatever else. We don't have to be ostentatious about it. But neither should we ever hide it. Christ is King. Period. So therefore, as a faithful subject of my King, I am going to wear His insignia. I am going to demonstrate my devotion to His mother. I am going to make the sign of the cross in public. Because I care more about pleasing God. And pleasing Him. And demonstrating my resolve to follow His reign than I am to anything else.
To the opinions of anybody else around me. I care more about the social reign of Christ the King than I do about anything else. And so that's going to have to come out how we behave. We go to a restaurant, make the sign of the cross. And don't care what anybody else thinks around you. Say your prayers before Mass. Or before meals, excuse me. That even if there are many things going on in the world. Excuse me. Even if there are many things going on in the world. Even if you have many activities and family obligations and whatever else. Make sure that the first obligation always goes to God and the Mass.
That is a beautiful testimonial to the rest of the world of what is truly important. What is truly essential in this world. Christ is King. And so therefore I serve Him first. Myself and everybody else afterwards. Another aspect is how do we serve Him in our families? In our homes? Our home should be a sanctuary. That is the first thing. Christ must reign within our home. It's one of the important reasons of why there should be beautiful images of our Lord. A crucifix, the Sacred Heart, something in a prominent place within our home. To make sure that whenever we go in the door, but anyone else as well, they can see who truly reigns here.
A beautiful devotion that I hope everyone has participated in, though I know many of you haven't. Is the enthronement of the Sacred Heart in your home. Actually making Christ King. Putting Him on a throne in your home. It is something that is very beautiful, very powerful, very important. We should make sure that we are taking full advantage of such an opportunity. That we actually in our homes formalize that fact. Recognize that fact openly within our family. Christ is King of this household. Wherever we go. However our family splits up and goes in its different directions.
That will still be the case. Christ is still King over this home. Another way is by the family prayers. Every family should pray together. Even if it's just for a little bit. If the schedules are too chaotic. There should be prayer in common in a family. Because Christ is King. The rest of the schedule, the rest of the world, the rest of the activities that we do as a family. As members of the family. Must take a second place to that. Christ comes first. Another way that we can practice the kingship of Christ within the home. Is by parents, children, husbands, wives.
Actually living up to the roles that they are supposed to live by. God gave you your authority, your power, your role. Christ himself gave them to you. Therefore it behooves you to actually live up to that role. To live by that rule. To follow the will of Christ the King. Even if it's uncomfortable and not easy sometimes. But it is important to have that mentality always before us. The reign of Christ the King in the home. The reign of Christ the King for fathers, for husbands, for wives, for mothers, for children. Christ rules in the home. And it must be so. The relationship between each person in the home must make that clear.
Christ is King here. Because there is order, there is structure, there is harmony. To the hallmarks of what Christ creates. The disjunction and disunity is what comes from the devil and from our own willfulness. How does Christ, how do we preach Christ the King in our own personal lives? Well, again, intellect, will, heart. We must take care of the faith in our own lives. How many of us have gone back recently to study the catechism? The catechism of the Council of Trent. Catechism of St. Pius X. The Baltimore Catechism. Any catechism. How many of us have been reading the Bible regularly?
Or reading commentaries on the Bible? How many of us have tried to deepen our faith through acts of faith? How many of us have tried to learn how to defend the faith through apologetics and the like? Archbishop Lefebvre was fond of saying that a child with his catechism could teach a bishop a thing or two. Because it's easy for us to get complacent and to stop reminding ourselves of the truths of the faith. We must go back to the basics once in a while. Just to make sure that they are solid. We must go back to the catechism and remind ourselves of the truths of the faith.
So that we can live by them. So that our intelligence, our judgment, can be guided by the faith. How else can Christ reign over our intellect unless we actually give him access to our intellect? How else can we actually let him be king of our minds unless we actually submit our minds to his rule? Over our will. The decisions we make. This is one of the bigger ones. We have to make sure that we understand what the law of God is. And that we follow it. Again, it's not always what we want to do. It doesn't matter. We follow it because it is what God wants. It is because what our king has asked of us.
It is his commandment. It is his law. And we follow it because it is him who asks it and who commands it.
Living Christ's Kingship at Home
We don't follow it because it is what God wants. We don't need another answer. We don't need any other reason. Christ asks it. We give it. Period. Christ wants it. We do everything in our power to make it happen. He is our king. And we make that clear by the decisions and the choices that we make each and every day. We must make it so by not just following the herd. Following everybody else. Or just letting our discontent with different things in our lives overrule us. Overrule this command of God. But rather we have to learn the law of God and we have to learn to love the law of God.
And we have to follow it with all of our heart. And if we can't do that, we better learn. Because this is the whole reason we are here. To know him, to love him, and to serve him. That is why we are here. And in our heart. How can he become king of our heart? We must learn to love him. So therefore we have to learn his love for ourselves. Now this specifically, how do we practice that? The Mass. We should come to Mass more often. If we can't come more often, I understand traffic in South Florida, etc. Fridays and Saturdays are not that easy sometimes. But if you can't come more often to Mass, then watch Mass.
Listen to Mass. One of the few great things about technology is more access. Visually to the Mass. Listen to a sermon. Do a spiritual communion. Attach yourself to the Mass each and every day. Even if only by prayer. Make the Mass the center of your spiritual life. That is how we learn to love God. Because we see in the most concrete and amazingly clear way possible the love of God for us. We see his sacrifice for us. We see him pouring himself out on the altar for us again. Just as he did on the cross. Lastly, if we want to make sure that we know how Christ is to be king, how we are to proclaim Christ as king, we must give up our life to Christ the King.
We must sacrifice our life to Christ the King. We must die for Christ the King. I hope everyone has heard the story of Gabriel Garcia Moreno in Ecuador. He was the Catholic president there, who many in this country have labeled a dictator. But he consecrated the country to the Sacred Heart. He dedicated himself to eradicating the influence of the Masons and the government down there. And he did many beautiful, wonderful things. Then while he was crossing the Plaza de la Independencia, he got shot down by somebody. Six times he was shot, 14 times he was hacked with a machete.
And yet his last words were, Dios no muere. God doesn't die. Regardless of what the world pretends about the reign of Christ the King, where they stop their ears and they pretend they don't hear, the truth that Christ is King. Or they get furious about you trying to impose your religion upon people by saying that Christ is King. Or they spit at the idea of Christ being King. And regardless of the hatred and vitriol of the world against the doctrine of Christ the King, and the apathy of the Vatican and Rome about the doctrine of Christ the King, Christ is King now and forever.
Christ is King of this earth and heaven. Christ is King now and in eternity. And we have an obligation to make sure that we preach that doctrine each and every day. With our words, with our prayers, with our sacrifices, with our labors, and with the Holy Mass. The world needs Christ the King. Christ the King now more than ever. And we must be willing to lay down our lives as Garcia Moreno did. God does not die. The social reign of Christ the King never goes away. Christ's kingship never dies. Our devotion to this King should never die. Our service to this King must never die.
We must be willing to sacrifice our lives as all the great heroes that we have throughout history, who have died for his kingship, going back all the way to Saint Stephen, who by the mere fact of proclaiming that our Lord Jesus Christ was standing by the side of his father, was willing to suffer and die. The Jews stopping their ears not to hear the truth,
Personal Devotion to Christ the King
and then throwing him out of the temple so they could stone him. If that is our fate, if that is what we can give for the service of our Lord Jesus Christ and his kingship, then we should give it gladly. But we must start by dying to ourselves for his kingship here and now. We must live in the service of our King, so that we may die, so that we may die faithfully in his service, so that we may be able to live eternally in his eternal kingdom in heaven. Que viva Cristo Rey. Que viva Cristo Rey.
Summary
The homily begins by emphasizing the importance of recognizing Christ as King by nature, as He is God and the source of all authority. It highlights the necessity of proclaiming His kingship in our actions and words. It then explores how Christ is King by conquest, having redeemed humanity through His crucifixion. The sermon calls for living according to His kingship in every aspect of society, family, and individual life. Finally, the homily urges Catholics to deepen their faith through study and prayer, making Christ the center of their lives. It encourages public witness to the faith and living out one's role in accordance with Christ's teachings.