The royal shepherd
(Luke 23:35-43)
On this last Sunday of the Church’s year we celebrate the Feast of Christ, the King. Today is a day to give thanks to God for all the blessings received during the past year. Most of all, we thank God for the great gift of his son. We celebrate Christ as King of the Universe and look forward to the coming of his kingdom in all its fullness at the end of time.
We are also conscious of the reign of God here and now. The Preface of today’s mass says that Christ’s kingdom is
‘a kingdom of truth and life,
a kingdom of holiness and grace,
a kingdom of justice, love, and peace’.
Whenever we act like Christ, the Kingdom of God breaks into our world. Whenever we are moved by the Spirit to proclaim the truth, to respond to need, to work for justice, to transform and heal our society, the Kingdom of God breaks into human reality and the grace of God becomes clearly visible in our words and actions. May we be a people who always seek to bring the reign of God’s goodness into our world. That would be the very best way of celebrating this feast.
The first reading from the book of Samuel tells the story of David’s election as king of Israel. Under David all the twelve tribes of Israel gathered to form one kingdom. The reading recalls God’s commission to David to be ‘shepherd of my people Israel’. David is not to lord it over his people, but to be a shepherd to them.
Like David, Christ comes to gather all people into the one Kingdom of God. He, too, acts as a shepherd-king to God’s people.
The Gospel illustrates this clearly. Here is a king who gives up his life for his people. He has no fine clothes. His throne is the cross. His crown is made of thorns, not of gold. Even in the throes of death faith and forgiveness are at work and entry into the kingdom of God gained and granted. Indeed, the final act of the dying King Jesus is to grant forgiveness, mercy and admission to the kingdom – a gospel within the Gospel.
The Gospel readings throughout Ordinary time have lead us on a journey of accompanying Jesus on his earthly journey, listening to him unfold God’s desire for the human family, watching him restore health and wholeness to many, being taught how to pray properly, to be aware that the Kingdom is both ‘here and now’ and ‘yet to come’, the lengths God goes to in order to win us back, and how God meets us with mercy, forgiveness, healing and peace.
Our journey has been about discovering who God is and therefore, who Jesus is, and therefore, who we are called to be when we enter into a faithful relationship with him.
- pdf Celebrating At Home - Feast of Christ, King of the Universe [PDF] (3.67 MB)
- default Celebrating At Home - Feast of Christ, King of the Universe [ePub] (2.81 MB)
- pdf Celebrando en Familia - Solemnidad de Cristo, Rey del Universo (538 KB)
- pdf Celebrando in Casa - Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo Re dell’Universo (540 KB)
- pdf Celebrando em Família - Solenidade de Cristo, Rei do Universo (384 KB)
