Solemnity of Christ the King: To restore all things in Christ

Intermountain Catholic

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Jan van Eyck's painting ?Ghent Altarpiece,? finished in 1432, depicts Christ the King

SALT LAKE CITY — This Sunday, the Church will celebrate the close if its liturgical year with the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King. In the small rural parish in which I grew up, this feast was a special day celebrated with great festivity. This great solemnity was the day that the Rural Parish Workers of Christ the King, a secular institute of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis, recommitted themselves to the cross of Christ. In silent, but solemn ritual, each member of the community stood before the altar and promised to faithfully serve Christ by ministering to the poor and marginalized.

I grew up watching and working with these wonderful women, who, by word and gesture, joyously shared an image of Christ with me.

As I reflect on our various encounters I have come to realize these women truly taught me what it meant to serve Christ our King. They taught me to love and embrace the poor when I was afraid to touch them. They taught me to enjoy silence and listen to God. They taught me compassion and kindness for those who were forgotten by others. They shared their laughter and tears, their table and prayer time; ultimately, they shared Christ. Their image of Christ the King was a God who loves and washes the feet of his disciples, the Christ who was enthroned in glory on the cross.

This Sunday’s feast presents a challenge to all of us to remind ourselves that we have been reborn in the waters of baptism and committed ourselves to live the life of the cross. Through the water-bath, we have been adopted by God in Christ and set free from the bondage of evil. We share in the triumph of the cross through baptism and therefore are called to love. We are reminded in this Sunday’s Gospel that God’s kingdom is not of this world and that the kingdom of God begins inside each of us. Like the Rural Parish Workers of Christ the King, we are invited to say yes to our baptismal promises and walk with the poor, share our tears and our laughter, to build Christ’s Kingdom in the world.

God’s kingdom is meant to transform this world and because we have been transformed in baptism, our words and deeds transform the world to reveal the kingdom we all long for. We are all called to live out their motto: "to restore all things in Christ."

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King was instituted by Pius XI on Dec. 11, 1925 in the encyclical Quas primus.

For information on the Rural Parish Workers of Christ the King, visit http://rpwck.com