Catholic TV Mass Online November 24, 2024: Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Presider: Fr. Dan Volkert Parish: St. Bruno & St. Paul Text from the Homily And so today Holy Mother Church around the world celebrates the great Feast of Christ the King. And he is our king. He is to whom our lives are ordered to. Now and always. Now in the ancient world if you called someone your king, essentially that had great overtones associated with it. Your king's values are now your values. His beliefs are now your beliefs. His principles are now your principles. Now we live in the 21st century and we have relative freedom to say, yeah, Jesus Christ is our Lord and king. But in the 1st century in the roman empire, that was not the case. Caesar was your king. Whether you liked it or not. And yet after Jesus ascended back into heaven the apostles said no. Caesar is not our king. They said Jesus Kurios. Jesus Christ is our king and Lord. Now you see that in the writings of Peter and Paul and James and John. When you stop and think, back then to proclaim Jesus Kurios, Jesus is king, is a provocative statement to make. In fact, it's downright revolutionary. Remember Christianity was an outlawed religion in the state of Rome. If you said someone else other than Caesar was your king, that's treason. They could throw you into prison. And that's one of the reasons why Paul spent so much time in prison. But no. Paul like the rest of the apostles they said, no. Instead Jesus Kurios. Jesus Christ is our Lord and king. Now turn to the gospel. Here we have essentially Pilate and Jesus talking to each other. And Pilate asked Jesus, are you the king of the Jews? Notice Jesus' answer here. It's very evasive. And it's very intentional on his part. Jesus knows Pilate's image of what kingship is. It's based upon the roman model. It's concern about order and maintaining order through fear, violence, and even death. It's a system of domination. And Jesus basically tells Pilate that's not my kingdom. My kingdom does not consist of domination. But instead it's of peace and forgiveness and mercy, and love and charity and compassion. Now after this interaction between Pilate and Jesus Pilate immediately sends Jesus to his death. And when Jesus mounts the cross the whole world truly sees who our king is. It's not Caesar. It's Jesus Christ himself. Now Jesus is crowned like a king. But not of Jewels. Essentially of drawing or calling attention to himself. He wears a crown of thorns which is symbolic of Jesus' acceptance, his suffering on our behalf. And yes, he reigns from a throne. But it's not a throne that's elevated over us. No, it's the throne of the cross. And in doing so Jesus draws all people to him. It begs the question what are some of the marks or the characteristics of Jesus' kingdom? Well, essentially peace, patience, prudence, kindness, compassion, charity, love, it's the virtues. Jesus embodied the virtues. Therefore, since he is our king then we have to live out the virtues each and every day of our life. Essentially since Jesus is our king we have to conform to him such that his actions are now our actions. His thoughts are now our thoughts. His words are now our words since he is our king. So yes, today we celebrate the feast of Christ the king. But we should be celebrating that feast every day of our life. Because he truly is that, our king. Entrance: All Creatures Of Our God and King Text: LM with additions; St. Francis of Assisi, 1182–1226; Laudato sia Dio mio Signore; tr. by William H. Draper, 1855–1933, alt. Music: Auserlesene Catholische Geistliche Kirchengesänge, Cologne, 1623. Psalm 93: The Lord Is King The English translation of the Psalm Response from Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved. Music copyright © 2016, World Library Publications. All rights reserved Preparation: I Am The Way Text adapted from the New American Bible, copyright © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Music copyright © 2013, World Library Publications. All rights reserved. Communion: We Come To You © 2005, 2013, Joshua Blakesley. Published by Spirit & Song, a division of OCP. All rights reserved. Sending Forth: Be Lifted High © 2005, Thankyou Music (PRS)/spiritandsong.com®, a division of OCP (administered by EMI CMG Publishing. All rights reserved. Used with permission.) and Joshua Blakesley. Published by spiritandsong.com®, a division of OCP. All rights reserved. Mass Setting: Mass of Saint Ann Text: ICEL, © 2010 Music: Mass of Saint Ann, Ed Bolduc, © 2011, World Library Publications Permission to podcast/stream the music in this liturgy obtained from ONE LICENSE, License No. A-718591. www.HeartoftheNation.org