Feast of Christ the King

Picture courtesy of My Favorite Pictures and the following was shared by Sue although I am not sure of the original source.

My kingdom is not of this world.

But yes, I am a king.

I was born for this,

I came into the world for this:

to bear witness to the truth.

A criminal dying on a cross recognized that Jesus, also dying in agony, was entering into his Kingdom. In Jesus, he glimpsed something of the extraordinary truth:
here nailed to a cross was the first-born of all creation. Jesus was leading us into Paradise,
into the glory He had with His Father before the world was made. ~Jn 17:5

The Evangelist Luke presents the Ascension of our Lord as the occasion when Christ was taken up to Heaven to the throne of God. His enthronement at the right hand of the Father in glory is the completion of the mysteries of His life and marks His inauguration as King of heaven and earth.

The Feast of the Ascension, then, for many centuries was the occasion when Christ's Kingship was celebrated. It remains today the major celebration of his victorious kingship.

Only relatively recently, in 1925, was a second celebration of this mystery established by Pius XI under the title of Christ the King.

While it is of lesser importance than the high Feast of the Ascension, it partakes of its dignity.

It serves to bring out other aspects of that mystery more fully. The Holy Father instituted it at a time when atheism was growing more widespread and politically stronger with the passing years. He expressly affirmed Christ's dominion over the whole of time and the entire world
in the face of this denial of God.

What could have appeared a powerless gesture to the Church's enemies at that time now rather shows itself to have been a prophetic act.

Accordingly, honoring the Lord Jesus as a kingly figure who rules in heaven and on earth
grew naturally in the early Church. While more prominent in certain periods, this devotion
has remained integral with tradition throughout the centuries.

Another intent in creating this feast was to counteract the strong current of secularism that has been so characteristic of our century. Resistance to this trend has proved less successful, however, and increasingly society in the West has taken on attitudes and practices that banish the sacred and the holy from daily life.

Christ Himself made it clear that His kingship is not of this world. He is truly king of earth as well as of heaven, yet His manner of ruling is far different from that of earthly rulers.

His authority derives from the Spirit and it is over hearts and minds that He rules, through faith, trust and love.

His authority is at variance with the manner of the kings and rulers of nations.

He came to serve, even to give His life for those over whom He would rule.

He seeks nothing for Himself; rather it is for the good of his subjects that He is our leader, and for the glory of God, His Father.

To take Christ as King is to model our selves on Him as well as to obey Him.

Obeying our Lord by a deliberate choice. It is repeated daily in living out one's vows and commitments in life and is a high expression of the honor in which we hold Him.

His values and aims are those we set for ourselves in life. Even more importantly, obedience is an act of love when it is given from the heart.

By obeying we seek to please Him for His sake, in order to give Him glory and to further His cause.

People who would become citizens of His Kingdom must be formed according to His teaching and example.

We must keep His commandments if we would love Him, and then the Father too will love us
and receive us into the mansions that the Lord Jesus goes to prepare for us.

Do good, avoid sin, and in this way you will enter the kingdom of Christ, wrote St. Peter,

for the kingdom is holy and only the holy ones, purified from all defilement of sin and disordered passion, can find their way to enter it and dwell in it.”
~2Peter 1:11

To serve Christ the King is to obey Him from the heart, and to obey Him from the heart is to grow in freedom and to realize our true independence from all that enslaves us in this life.

Such obedience to His Word, His inspirations and to the teachings of His Church practiced in faith and with love is the best way to honor Christ as our King.

As we commemorate His Kingship, let us resolve to pay Him the tribute of our free will and to make our life a constant service of His glory by obeying Him in all things and by cooperating with one another in carrying out His will day by day.

Thus we shall witness to our society that Christ the King is the sole hero who can satisfy the human need for a model Whose life passes into ours and brings it to its proper completeness.

The following is from St. Michael Center for the Blessed Virgin Mother :

The Feast of Christ the King was created by Pope Pius XI in 1925 to fix the way people were living like Jesus Christ didn't exist. The feast proclaims how Jesus Christ is royalty above people, communities, nations, and governments. Christ's kingdom in heaven is or everybody who wants to be with Him, and it's endless.

The feast establishes the titles for Christ's royalty over men: 1) Christ is God and holds high power over everything; 2) Christ is our Redeemer, He made us His by His blood and now we belong to Him; 3) Christ is Head of the Church, 4) God bestowed upon Christ the nations of the world as his special possession and dominion.

For more information on Christ the King, kindly click for the following:

+ Prayer to Christ the King
+ Short Prayer to Christ the King
+ Act of Dedication of the Human Race to Jesus Christ King (Iesu dulcissime, Redemptor)
+ Litany of Christ the King
+ Quas Primas (On The Feast of Christ The King)
+ Family Procession in Honor of Christ the King