Sunday, October 27, 2019

Feast of Christ the King Homily (Extraordinary Form)

If we were to ever meet a king it would be proper for us to genuflect in his presence. Thankfully each and every Sunday we do have this opportunity to encounter a King. This King whom we encounter is Christ our Lord. This is why we normally genuflect when we enter a Church. We genuflect for the one who is present with us within the Tabernacle is Christ our King. If the Tabernacle is not placed in its proper place and is thus hidden in some alternate location one should not genuflect for our Lord is not present.

Therefore, on this Sunday we come to celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. In the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite this celebration will come on November 24th, but for us this celebration is made today.

We are a society which has its news at its fingertips. There is nothing which is seemingly left for us to figure out on our own. So many allow themselves to get caught up with this endless revenue of information to the point that it becomes harmful for their soul. It becomes harmful because they forget about Christ. They take their sight off of Him and begin to worry about things which are out of their control. When we think about it there is nothing which we are ultimately in control of.

This is precisely why this Feast of Christ the King is so important for us. We must allow Christ to be the center of our life. We must allow Him to be the One who calms all of our fears. We must allow Him to be the one whom we go to as the source and summit of our life.

This Feast was instituted by Pope Pius XI in order to remind Christians of their allegiance to their spiritual ruler in heaven as opposed to earthly supremacy. As we chase after Christ we must remember that His Kingdom is not of this world and thus we should come to elevate our sight upwards towards Heaven.

It would seem that many have lost sight of this direction as they come to push to the side Christ in order to chase after the world. Again we must be reminded that Christ is our King. We should be willing to submit to this just ruler. We should submit here all of our fears and worries. We should not let them overcome us, but submit them to Him. We should not chase after endless avenues of pleasure, but instead realize that it is Christ for which our heart longs.

As we come to celebrate this great Feast of Christ the King may we allow Christ to become the King and Ruler of our life. Let us submit to His Divine will and always be found willing to humble ourself in His midst.