Reflection/Homily for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe Year A 26TH November 2023

Reflection/Homily for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe Year A 26TH November 2023

Ezekiel 34:11-12,15-17. Psalm 23:1-2a,2b-3,5,6. 1 Corinthians 15:20-26,28. Matthew 25:31-46.

Theme: A King Who Saves.

The Solemnity of Christ the King is the grand summary of the entire Christ-saving mystery. This Solemnity brings the liturgical to a close. During the year, we have celebrated the mysteries of the life of our Lord. Now, in the end, we

contemplate Christ in his glorious state as the king of all creation and of our souls, minds, and wills. The Catholic Church has established this celebration to remind this our modern age of its supernatural destiny. This idea was echoed by Pope Pius XI in 1925.

Both the first reading and the Gospel speak of separating sheep from goats. It is a distinction used by God, who has only one criterion: how we love others.

In the first reading, prophet Ezekiel was called by God to instruct and console the Jewish exiles in Babylonia. This exile and all the hardships it brought on the people was caused by infidelity and disloyalty to God on the part of their kings and leaders. They were the "shepherds of Israel," but they "fed themselves rather than the flock" entrusted to them by God.

Now, God promises, through Ezekiel, that He himself will be his people's shepherd. He will care for them; He will rule them in peace and justice. He will be the new David. He will replace the  unfaithful shepherds who brought calamity to the people. Like a true shepherd, He will go after any lost sheep. This sheep that has been scattered far from their homeland would be brought back home once more.

On returning home, God will establish a new kingdom of peace and justice for his people. In this kingdom, the crippled and the weak will be looked after and provided for, as well as the fat and the strong.

The Responsorial Psalm is in line with this. "The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want." In a kingdom where the Lord is the shepherd, there will be abundance for all and sundry.

To be a partaker in this kingdom, today's Gospel places service and love as the only royal road to greatness and pre-eminence. The kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ is not a kingdom of power but service. This is what Jesus meant when He said, "the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many" (Matt.20:28). In Christ's kingdom, service is the hallmark of authority, not naked power.

Our entering Christ's kingdom or possessing eternal life is to follow the path of our Lord Jesus Christ in serving all people, especially those with the greatest need; the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned and the strangers of our world.

Simply put, the ticket of entering Christ's kingdom is charity. "Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me" (Matt.25:34-36).

The hungry, not only for food, but also for the Word of God; the thirsty, not only for water, but also for justice and love; the naked, not only for clothes, but for human dignity; the homeless, not only for a shelter made of bricks, but for a heart that understands and reaches out.

The list could, of course, be lengthened: "I was an unborn child, and you welcome me by letting me be born. I was an abandoned child, and you became my family. I was an orphan, and you adopted me and raised me as one of your own children. You helped mothers filled with uncertainty and exposed to wrongful pressure to welcome their unborn child. You helped large families and families in difficulties to look after and educate the children God gave them." We could continue with a long and detailed list, including all those kinds of true moral and human good in which love is expressed. This is the great harvest that the Redeemer of the world, to whom the Father has entrusted judgment, will come to reap. It is the harvest of grace and good works, ripened by the breath of the Bridegroom in the Holy Spirit, who is ever at work in the world and in the Church.

The whole stress here is on the law of fraternal charity, which is the love of neighbour. There are other obligations and duties in life, but the true love of neighbour is proof of the true love of God. Therefore, he who truly loves God will keep all laws.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is using the eschatological terminology then current among the Jews. Those who fail in their life's purpose, those who fail to love God and neighbour will not enter heaven, but will join Satan and the angels who followed him, in some place of punishment. This punishment will be permanent just as the joys of heaven for the "saved" will be eternal.

The second reading teaches us that the kingdom of the Messiah built in this world is through the works of love for others. When Christ comes the second time to judge mankind all those who belong to Christ by baptism and by a life faithful to their baptismal promises will rise from the dead. All those faithful to Christ will be handed to the Father to enter into his eternal kingdom.

Today's solemnity is a challenge for us to publicly confess and profess that the bread we break at Mass is truly the same Jesus who walked the streets of Palestine about two thousand years ago. As we process along our streets today, we will be singing songs to indicate that Jesus is passing on our streets today. Today's celebration is a public proclamation that Jesus is the Lord. He rules over our minds, hearts, and wills. It is a public adoration of our Lord. We are going on display to be judged by our fellow men and women, especially those who are not Christians. If we have been hiding our identities as Christians, no more hiding today.

The reign of Jesus is peculiar because its subjects are those who choose to belong to it. That was why Jesus told Pilate, "Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." That is one way of being a subject of Christ's kingdom: we must belong to the truth. We must be committed to the truth, to uphold it, and live it in our lives, whatever the cost; because it will cost us an awful lot of challenges, persecution, the cross. Jesus passed through all this. It will cost us no less.

We are here on earth to be messengers of God's kingdom to serve others and profess the establishment of God's glorious empire. The choice is in our hands to be sheep or goat. To be sheep, kindness should be the most important principle of our lives.

May God grant us the graces  to be charitable, especially to the less privileged and down trodden through Christ our Lord. Amen.