Christ the King
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
OLR, NOLA
Every
year on this solemnity I ask you (and myself) the same question: who
or what sits on the throne of your heart?
Who or what rules your life, my life? You might think that a priest
and Dominican friar wouldn't need to ask himself this question, but
you'd be wrong. It's a question that needs asking every day, every
hour of the day by every man and woman who claims to follow Christ.
Who rules me today? Who will rule me in the next hour and the next?
We get to choose. And who or what we choose to rule us defines us,
tells us who we are and where we are going. As men and women vowed
under baptism and bound together in the Holy Eucharist there is only
one answer to the question of who rules us: Christus
Rex! Christ the King!
And you know and I know that b/c we are not yet the saints we were
made to be – loudly proclaiming Christ as our King and
living under his rule as subjects are two very different things.
Shouting to him “Lord, Lord!” may feel like enough to get by, but
to be ruled, to be weighed and measured by his Word and Deeds, well,
that's something else entirely. Jesus says to Pilate, “My kingdom
does not belong to this world.” And if we are to be subject to his
rule, neither can we belong to this world.
So,
what does it mean not to belong to this world? What does it mean –
right here and now – to belong to God's Kingdom? At the very least
it means that we live for another kingdom, another citizenship that
transcends the powers of this world. It means that we look far and
beyond the daily cares of being in the world and see these
cares in the light of another Kingdom that far surpasses this one in
glory and splendor. It means that all we do and say are judged
against the perfection of God's final end for us, His Kingdom of
Heaven. It's not that all we do and say here and now is useless but
that we bear up under the obligation to bear witness to His
perfection while we are here. What does it matter if we are rich and
beautiful and successful and talented, and die without Christ? All
that wealth and beauty and success and talent goes into the grave
with us. It is wasted on a six-by-three foot hole in the ground.
Never to rise. Lost to the tides of time and rotting in place. But if
we place Christ on the throne of our hearts, if we put him over us to
rule, then our God-given gifts will bear infinite fruit, eternal
rewards. You are created and recreated to be vessels of Christ,
carrying his Word and Deed into the world to bring his sacrifice of
mercy to sinners.
Our
question this evening – who sits on the throne of your heart? –
isn't a rhetorical question. It's not just a way to start a homily.
It's a deeply serious question and demands an answer. Right now, in
2018 America, you and I are being called out by the world. We are put
against a wall and ordered to choose. Serve Christ or serve Mammon.
This sounds a bit overwrought, I know. But it is nonetheless true. In
centuries past, our ancestors in faith were ordered to choose Christ
or the Roman Emperor. Choose Christ or the King. Choose Christ or the
State. Choose Christ or Capitalism or Socialism or Relativism or the
Mob or Ideology or Being on the Right Side of History. The choice is
always the same for us. Choose Christ or choose something or someone
else – Diocletian, Cromwell, Napoleon, Mao, Hitler, Republican,
Democrat. Whatever. Fill in the blank. Blindfold in place,
hands tied, back against the wall, gun to your head – who sits on
the throne of your heart? Who rules you? You don't have to tell me.
I'm as obligated as you are to answer the question. Christ the King
wants to know. He's not interested in punishing us. We're free to
choose. But our choice defines us. Are you a Christ in the world for
others? When Christ the Just Judge stares through you on Judgment Day
will he see himself in you?
Talking
about the stark opposition btw Christ and the world may make you
uncomfortable. A little nervous. That's understandable. We've become
accustomed to accommodation and compromise with the powers of the
world. Many in the Church – clergy and laity alike – have traded
their right and responsibility to bear truthful witness for the
temporary comforts and glories of position and power. This is nothing
new. Judas was the first. But he wasn't the last. Even now, we are
living through a betrayal of Christ – the scandals consuming the
Church. We can plainly see what happens when the followers of Christ
place the things of this world on the throne of their hearts:
deception, secrecy, corruption, and treachery. How do we recover? A
new policy? A new procedure? Some new committee made up of perfect
human beings? No. We re-enthrone Christ in our hearts and recommit
ourselves to preaching, teaching, and living the Truth of his Word –
the Whole Truth, not just the parts that get applause from the world
but everything he has taught us. We must rededicate ourselves to
becoming Christs for others.
We
do this by turning again to Scripture and Tradition. What does Jesus
say and do in the Gospels? What has the Church taught since her
founding at Pentecost 2,000 years ago? What wisdom have the great
saints and doctors of the Church given us? The Early Fathers? The
medieval mystics and theologians? The bloody witness of our Body's
martyrs? What about the practical wisdom of Christian family life
we've received from our mothers and fathers? The practical holiness
of our monks and nuns? We can reorient and rededicate ourselves to
Christ by placing ourselves squarely and forthrightly upon the
foundation stone of the Church – “I came into the world to
testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my
voice.” If Christ rules your heart, you listen to his voice. You
hear his truth. And you are unafraid to proclaim, “The
Lord is king; he is robed in majesty!”
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