Luke 23: 35-43 King of My Story
The solemnity of Christ the King marks the end of Ordinary time. Before we begin the season of Advent, let us take a moment to understand why the Church would end the year with this solemnity. Today is a day of reflection.
King of the Universe: The Lord is my God, my Creator, my all. He is the One and only One who can take nothing and make it into something. He did that with the Universe. He does that in my life. The devil can do something similar. He can take something little and turn it into a soap opera – a drama! He loves to mimic the chief Chef but his baking always turns out bad. What a miracle it is that great things can happen from small beginnings. The Lord knows how to get the best from us. He does not settle for mediocrity. His Creation took seven days. He gives to his children seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, seven Sacraments. He provides for all our needs. The Lord is King of the Universe because he is Lord of my life.
King of Love: What more beautiful title does the Lord possess than this! The King of love my Shepherd is! Love entails so much, but most of all Love entails giving. The Lord is the King of Love. We are accustomed to hearing of kings all the time: of Rock, of countries, of companies. But Christ is the King of Love because he holds nothing back. We can only imitate our King and we immediately experience what love is. The more I give, the more I receive – a chain reaction that endures forever! The greatest expression of God’s love for us is his presence. “I will be with you forever.” These are the words of a lover to his beloved. Only in this way, will I ever feel secure, safe and snuggled in this gigantic universe. Christ the King is King of Love. “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.”
King of Forgiveness: If the right hand of love is for giving, then the left hand of love is for forgiving. They are both essential. The right is proactive, the left must be reactive. Giving gives life, while forgiveness brings it back – it resuscitates! “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Today and forever, you will be with me! Love requires great sacrifice. Forgiveness requires great courage. Christ scandalized the soldiers below with his battle cry, the cry heard throughout the world, the cry that destroyed his enemies. His cry began with the words, “Forgive them Father.”
King of Patience: The Lord is King of patience. How the Lord is patient with all of us. He hears our stupidities on a daily basis; our blasphemies reach his ears. I was reading some comments left on an MSN news article and they were shocking at what Catholics were saying about the Pope. One individual wrote this: “I’ll be damned if some 83 year old virgin is going to tell me how to run my life. I had a vasectomy 20 years ago. I’ve got three kids. I’ve been married to the same woman for 25 years now, and I’ve used artificial birth control (condoms) in the past. And I’m a Catholic.” I wrote back, “Congratulations! You are a lottery winner! You are one-in-a million my friend. You can live however you want but it will be a different virgin one day that will look at you and say, ‘Could you have been a little more generous in your life with your wife and kids?’ Pray my friend. Your story is not over just yet. I hope it all turns out well.”
Today, let us ask the King of the Universe to open our minds, hearts, and souls to eternity! Lord, cure us from our tunnel vision. Help us to see the light that lights the darkness and warms the coldness and opens the doors to life everlasting. We ask this through your son’s name, the King of love. Amen.
Beautiful Fr. A! Thanks for this reflection! Exactly what I needed to hear today.
ReplyDelete-Kelsey
What a beautiful reflection Father considering the fact that you are not feeling well and your homily today at the 12:15 Mass really got me to thinking. You are truly an asset to our parish especially when the young people come to me and ask if there is any book in the library that deals with being humble because that is what the youth have told me that they have learned from you among many other things and even though I am past 40 i have learned much from your homilies especially on forgiveness and doing things out of love. Hope you get to feeling better. Please take care of yourself
ReplyDelete“I will be with you forever.”
ReplyDeleteThese are the words that I am hearing over and over every day throughout my day as I go through a really tough time.
These words are a life line for me right now. I'm banking everyting on them.
Father
ReplyDeleteIf you were reading the same article I read, with 400 Ignorant, Catholic despising comments, I don't know how you could do so without getting sick. (or is that how you got sick?)
Stepping outside our little Catholic bubble is a huge reminder of the work that we are entrusted with and a good reason why we need to STAY in a state of grace to fight the pure evil surrounding us on all sides! We ARE up against HELL!