[Pearls Episode 146: Preparing for Sunday.]
In this week’s Pearls episode (which will come out tomorrow) we look at Christ the King.
This solemnity also marks the end of the liturgical year – as we reflect on Christ being the King of the Universe, and the King of our own lives, we find it ties together all of the themes from the past year.
For today, in the postscript are some excerpts from Pope Pius’ encyclical dedicating the last day of the Holy Year with a celebration of Christ the King. This was written in 1925. I could have been written yesterday.
Blessings on your journey with Christ –
Steve and Karen Smith
Interior Life
Postscript: Selected passages from Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on the Feast of Christ the King
But a thought that must give us even greater joy and consolation is this that Christ is our King by acquired, as well as by natural right, for he is our Redeemer. Would that they who forget what they have cost their Savior might recall the words: “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled.” We are no longer our own property, for Christ has purchased us “with a great price”; our very bodies are the “members of Christ.”
This kingdom is spiritual and is concerned with spiritual things. It demands of its subjects a spirit of detachment from riches and earthly things, and a spirit of gentleness. They must hunger and thirst after justice, and more than this, they must deny themselves and carry the cross.
It would be a grave error, on the other hand, to say that Christ has no authority whatever in civil affairs, since, by virtue of the absolute empire over all creatures committed to him by the Father, all things are in his power.
If, therefore, the rulers of nations wish to preserve their authority, to promote and increase the prosperity of their countries, they will not neglect the public duty of reverence and obedience to the rule of Christ.
“With God and Jesus Christ excluded from political life, with authority derived not from God but from man, the very basis of that authority has been taken away, because the chief reason of the distinction between ruler and subject has been eliminated. The result is that human society is tottering to its fall, because it has no longer a secure and solid foundation.”
When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony.