Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
November 22, 2020
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
Dear Family of Mary!
Let us remember Our Lady's call to us, through St. Faustina, for Day 4 of our second Novena for the World and our Countries: “My daughter, what I demand from you is prayer, prayer, and once again prayer, for the world and especially for your country. For nine days receive Holy Communion in atonement and unite yourself closely to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. During these nine days you will stand before God as an offering; always and everywhere, at all times and places, day or night, whenever you wake up, pray in the spirit. In spirit, one can always remain in prayer.” (Diary 325)
On this most wonderful Solemnity, we honor and praise Jesus Christ, the King! This is the culminating Feast of the Liturgical Year. This is our destiny, to live under the King of the Universe!
Our Lady told us:
November 25, 2007 "Dear children! Today, when you celebrate Christ, the King of all that is created, I desire for Him to be the King of your lives. Only through giving, little children, can you comprehend the gift of Jesus´ sacrifice on the Cross for each of you. Little children, give time to God that He may transform you and fill you with His grace, so that you may be a grace for others. For you, little children, I am a gift of grace and love, which comes from God for this peaceless world. Thank you for having responded to my call."
We want to respond to this call from Our Lady! We want Jesus to reign in us!
Fr. Leon has sent us the text of his homily for English Mass in Medjugorje today! I include it here as a special grace for us all. After the homily, there is a Litany to Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe! Let us prayerfully read the homily and pray the litany on this special day!
Homily for the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, November 22, 2020:
The Gospels tell us that Jesus was of royal blood, descended from the House of David. What king was ever like Jesus, born in royal David’s city, Bethlehem, but in a stable not a palace, with no place to lay His head, and buried in another man’s tomb. His accession to the throne was His entry into Jerusalem, the royal capital, riding on a donkey rather than in a state carriage. His royal robe was a spittle-covered purple rag, His crown was of thorns and His sceptre a reed. He made His royal progress weak and bleeding through the streets, to the jeers not the cheers of the populace. At Calvary He was enthroned on an executioner’s gibbet.
Christ the King has nothing in common with earthly rulers, so His kingdom can be nothing like an earthly kingdom. In His realm there are no masters because everyone is a servant. Even the King came to serve and not to be served. Those who would be greatest in the Kingdom are those who make themselves the least. The reward for service is not promotion and financial gain but to be given further opportunities for service. When His subjects become rich or gain promotion, they are impoverished and demoted, the mighty being cast from their thrones and the lowly exalted. The lowest are the highest, and tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom before the hypocritical and self-righteous.
It is difficult for us Christians to live simultaneously in two kingdoms, that of the world and that of Christ. We are prone to blending them, to make one look so much like the other that we can’t tell the difference. Often it seems that the Church, and our lives within it, has been made to fit the image of a temporal earthly kingdom rather than making earthly kingdoms fit the image of Jesus’s eternal heavenly Kingdom. Often the Church is pressured to conform, to treat her sacraments and divine worship as non-essential, and too many Christians go along with this lie. It is difficult for Christians to live in society because the structures of that society are not the same as those in the Kingdom of God.
The distinguishing feature of Christ’s rule is that of justice, but not the kind of justice we’re used to. You can recognise the people who feel at home in the Kingdom, they are the ones who are ready to forgive. They are the people who feed and give drink to the hungry and thirsty, who welcome outcasts back into society, who clothe the naked and visit the sick and imprisoned.
In the Gospel text for this Sunday we have the Son of Man who comes in glory with His angels, to judge the nations. At first glance this presents a far more standard view of what majesty is about. But we should remember that the Son of Man Who comes in glory is also the Son of Man Who died on the cross. It is the same Lord. Even in His glory the Son of Man judges as the One Who was crucified. He comes to us as the One Who loves us so deeply that He mounted the wood of the Cross for you and me. He comes to us as One Whose majesty is founded on the total self-giving love of God. True majesty, true kingship, is founded on the supremacy of love.
The Solemnity of Christ the Universal King was instituted by Pope Pius XI as a feast of the universal Church in 1925, when the dark clouds of totalitarianism were rolling over Europe. This was a time when false and shallow conceptions of majesty, based on domination and eschewing love, seemed to have the upper hand.
In the face of similar troubles, the Solemnity of the Christ the Universal King is a call to us to see our world by the light of Christ. This is the Light in which the “pseudo-majesty” of the corrupt, the media, the cabals, the despots, the celebrities, looks like a pale and paltry imitation of the true and lasting Majesty of Jesus founded on love. But this Solemnity is also a call to hope and to fortitude, that regardless of what the tides of history might bring, the love of God will ultimately prove victorious: that at the end of the ages Christ the Universal King will come to judge the nations and he will do so in true majesty as the One Who wore a crown of thorns. Then all things will be placed under Him, He in turn will be subject to the Father, so that God may be All-in-all. Long live Christ the King! Amen! (Fr. Leon Pereira, Medjugorje)
Litany to Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe
The Lamb that was slain
is worthy to receive power and divinity
and wisdom and strength and honor;
To Him be glory and empire forever and ever.
V. He shall rule from sea to sea,
and from the river to the ends of the earth.
R. All kings shall adore Him,
all nations shall serve Him.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ the King, hear us.
Christ the King,
graciously hear us.
Thou Who didst receive crowns and tribute from the Magi,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
Who didst rule by love the Holy Family of Nazareth,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
Who as King, served Thy people in the example of filial obedience,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
Who drawest to Thy realm the fishermen to be fishers of men,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
Whose Kingdom is not of the spirit of this world.
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
Who art King not of the Jews alone but of all creation,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
Who wast mocked in false purple by the little rulers,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
Who wast crowned with piercing thorns,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
Who wast nailed to Thy throne on Golgotha,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
Who didst ransom Thy people by the royal Sacrifice of Calvary,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
Who didst purchase Thy Kingdom with the Blood of the Atonement,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
Who in Thy Resurrection was the First-born from the dead,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
Who in Thy glorified body art risen triumphant,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
Who art throned and crowned at the right hand of Thy Father,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
In Whom are all created things in Heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
Beneath Whom are all thrones and dominations,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
Beneath Whom are all principalities and powers,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
By Whom all things subsist,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
To Whom all the nations of the earth are subject,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
Through Whom all things are reconciled unto Thy Father,
May all nations serve Thee, O Lord.
V. His power shall be an everlasting power,
R. And His Kingdom a kingdom that shall not be destroyed.
That the peoples of this world may know themselves subject to Thee,
We beseech Thee, hear us.
That they may put off their vainglory,
We beseech Thee, hear us.
That they may dispel the evils secularism has brought upon society,
We beseech Thee, hear us.
That they may hearken to Thy fiat,
We beseech Thee, hear us.
That they may bow their heads before Thee,
We beseech Thee, hear us.
That they may know Thy reign is eternal,
We beseech Thee, hear us.
That they may submit to Thy just and gentle rule,
We beseech Thee, hear us.
That they may recognize Thy Vicar on earth,
We beseech Thee, hear us.
That they may freely accept his rule for Thy sake,
We beseech Thee, hear us.
That they may know that Thy Church,
being Thee Thyself, cannot die as nations die,
We beseech Thee, hear us.
That the Gentiles may be restored to mercy,
We beseech Thee, hear us.
That to Christ the King all things may be restored,
We beseech Thee, hear us.
That in the Prince of Peace true peace may by all be found,
We beseech Thee, hear us.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Christ our King.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Hear us, O Christ our King.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
V. His power shall be an everlasting power,
which shall not be taken away,
R. And His Kingdom shall not decay.
Alleluia.
Let Us Pray:
Almighty, everlasting God,
Who in Thy beloved Son,
King of the whole world,
hast willed to restore all things anew,
grant in Thy mercy that all the families of nations,
rent asunder by the wound of sin,
may be subjected to His most gentle rule,
Who with Thee liveth and reigneth
in the unity of the Holy Ghost,
God, world without end.
R. Amen.
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2020
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