by Father Alonzo Cox
Just a few weeks ago, almost 4,000 pilgrims from the Diocese of Brooklyn traveled to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. This pilgrimage typically takes place every two years, but due to the current Jubilee Year of Hope, it was decided to hold it this year.
The shrine is the largest Catholic Church in the United States. It serves as a house of worship, dedicated to Our Lady, for Catholics throughout the United States. The shrine seats about 3,000 people, but pilgrims from our Diocese were standing in every available open space possible. As you can imagine, the spirit of God was very much alive in the faithful who travelled hours from Brooklyn & Queens to be in this most sacred place for a day of prayer and pilgrimage. As people were making their way back to the buses, there was a clear fascination with the beauty of the basilica. As I was leaving, I overheard a young pilgrim, who had to be no more than 11 or 12 years old, telling his mother, “Mom, this place is so majestic.”
Today’s solemnity is all about majesty! Not the majesty of a church, but the majesty of Christ, who is the head of the Church. We commemorate today the feast of Christ the King. It is the last Sunday of the liturgical year.
Next week, we will begin a new liturgical year with the first Sunday of Advent. Today’s solemnity beautifully depicts Christ as the king of heaven and earth. Our Scripture readings allow us to reflect upon the significance of Jesus as king. Our prayers today speak in praise of Christ’s majesty and glory, but we also look to Christ as a humble king who reigns through service and pure love.
Our Gospel passage today comes from St. Luke’s passion narrative. Luke invites us to look at what it truly means to be a king. The kings we know or hear about preside from a fancy, ornate throne. This king Jesus is nailed to the wood of the cross. Kings we hear of wear crowns of precious gold. This king Jesus is wearing a crown of thorns. Jesus is not the ordinary king that we know kings to be. The kingship of Jesus begins and reigns on the wood of the cross. It is from the cross that Jesus shows us the power that lies in the kingdom of God. We see in the example of the penitent thief the reality of the kingdom that awaits us as he utters those most profound words: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus is the head that we, as his disciples and witnesses, are called to follow. It is in Christ the King that the Church continues to grow and flourish. We are reminded in today’s second reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians that Christ is the head of the body that is the Church. He is the beginning, and all things come through him. It is through the blood he shed on the cross that his kingship becomes reality.
The kingship of Christ is majestic, bringing all of God’s children closer to that kingdom where we will spend all eternity. He is the king that we are called to follow and bow down before. It is in Jesus that we are invited to imitate his humility and love for one another. We see that Christ is a king who rules in love and charity. He invites us each day to live lives of love and charity, announcing the eternal kingdom of God by the example of our lives.
On this Christ the King Sunday, let us pray that he will rule in majesty, power, and love. It is in our king, Christ the Lord, that we are saved.
We bow down before him, sinful and broken, knowing that he loves us unconditionally and unreservedly. May Christ live and reign in our hearts now and until he comes again in glory. Long live Christ the King.
Father Alonzo Cox is pastor of St. Martin de Porres Parish, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and coordinator for the Vicariate of Black Catholic Concerns for the Diocese of Brooklyn.