Christ is the King of all things!

Pat and I attended mass at Saint Catherine of Sienna Parish in Metcalfe this past Sunday and I have to say that Father Shroff gave one of the best Christ the King homilies that I have ever heard and I asked him if I could put it on my blog. Father refers to Pope Pius XI Encyclical Letter  Quas Primas  (December 11, 1925) | PIUS XI (vatican.va) 

Thank you Father Shroff and God bless you!  

Homily on the Solemnity of Christ the King Given at St. Catherine of Siena Parish on November 22, 2020 AD 

by Fr. Hezuk Shroff 

Today is the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year. In the modern liturgy, 

this Sunday goes by the title of The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ,

King of the Universe. This title in English is somewhat unfortunate,

because it is not an exact translation of the original Latin. In the Latin title

of this feast day, Christ is not called “King of the Universe,” which might

give the connotation that we are celebrating a cosmic Christ or even a

New-Age Christ. The Latin title is Rex universorum, which means literally

“The King of All Things.” Christ is the King of all things. He is the King of

individuals (the King of hearts, of minds, of souls); He is the King of nations

and kingdoms and principalities; He is the King of institutions and

societies. He is even the King of governments and houses of parliament.

Jesus Christ is King of all things! Rex universorum.

Today’s feast day of Christ the King is not a very ancient liturgical

feast. In fact, it only goes back to 1925 (less than a hundred years, which

is a very short time in the history of the Church). It was then, in 1925, that

Pope Pius XI issued his famous encyclical letter Quas Primas. This

encyclical established in the universal Church calendar the feast day of

Christ the King and gave it the highest rank of feast possible: known at

that time as a Double of the First Class. In the modern liturgy, it is called a

Solemnity: the highest rank of feast.

Pope Pius XI decreed that the feast of Christ the King was to be

celebrated every year on the last Sunday in October. This date was chosen

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because this is the Sunday immediately preceding All Saints’ Day. Pope

Pius XI wanted to show the link between the holiness of Christ and the

holiness of His Saints. He wanted to show that the Saints were those who

willingly submitted themselves to the Kingship of Christ. The primary

reason for establishing this feast day, however, was to respond to the

growing spirit of secularism that was sweeping throughout the world in the

period between the First and Second World Wars. The rapid spread of the

secularist ideology wanted a world and a society in which man reigned

supreme, with no reference whatsoever to the primacy of God: and in fact,

even with no acknowledgement of His existence. Most of this took place

under the covert work of freemasonry, which wanted to destroy the

influence of the Catholic Church in order to set up its own ideology of the

Universal Brotherhood of Man, a brotherhood that is fully secular and fully

atheistic: a Brotherhood of Man without God.

Seeing all of this occurring in 1925, Pope Pius XI instituted the feast

of Christ the King and taught that the only truly sovereign monarch is

Christ Himself. All worldly kingship, all worldly authority and power, derives

itself from His. Pope Pius XI knew that when a society rejects the primacy

of God, this very quickly leads to an erosion of the rights of man. Man’s

rights quickly fall by the wayside, and the human race becomes

dehumanized, when God is set aside. This is because the dignity of man is

founded on the fact that he is created in the image and likeness of God.

So when God is cast aside, man loses his dignity. We saw the proof of this

recently in the fall of Ireland from grace, within this past decade. Catholic

Ireland (until she fell) was one of the greatest strongholds of the Catholic

Faith, even throughout the 20th century. But then, almost overnight,

Catholic Ireland rejected the primacy and Kingship of Christ; and as soon

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as it rejected its Catholic roots, it rapidly began spiraling downward,

legalizing almost every form of immoral behavior and lifestyle that it had

previously forbidden.

When Christ is rejected by a society or by a people, the members of

that society very quickly lose their human dignity. This is why Pope Pius XI

instituted the great feast of Christ the King. He wanted to show the world

that without Christ, there is no real dignity or freedom, and that a worldly

kingdom will quickly fall unless it acknowledges the primacy of Christ’s

Kingship.

Now the Kingship of Christ is fully revealed to us on the Cross. In

Mediaeval Europe, crucifixes often portrayed a Christ who was not naked,

but rather clothed in royal garments; and instead of a crown of thorns on

His head, He wore a royal crown with precious jewels. These Mediaeval

crucifixes were meant to convey one very important fact: it is from the

Cross that Christ reigns as King! In fact, a beautiful hymn that is sung

traditionally on Good Friday attests to this very truth. The hymn’s title is

Vexilla Regis. And in that hymn, there is a very powerful verse that says,

Regnavit a ligno Deus! Literally: God hath reigned from the Wood (that is,

from the Cross). These words remind us that Christ’s Kingdom is not of

this world, because no earthly king reigns from a cross. And yet, as Pope

Pius XI taught very clearly, even though His Kingdom is not of this world,

Christ’s Kingship must enter into this world and He must reign in this

world! St. Paul teaches the same thing in today’s second reading, from his

First Epistle to the Corinthians. He says, “[When the end of time comes],

Christ will deliver the Kingdom to God the Father after destroying every

rule and every authority and power. For He must reign until he has put all

His enemies under his feet.” (I Cor. 15:24-25). He must reign. In the Latin:

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opportet illum regnare. These words have been the battle-cry of Christians

from the very beginning. Pope Pius XI comments on this in his great

encyclical letter, where he writes the following words: “If to Christ Our Lord

is given all power in Heaven and on earth; if all men, purchased by His

Precious Blood, are by a new right subjected to His Dominion; if this

power embraces all men, it must be clear that not one of our faculties is

exempt from His Empire. He must reign in our minds, which should

assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the

doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws

and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn

natural desires and love God above all things, and cleave to Him alone. He

must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as

instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls, or to use the words

of the Apostle Paul, as instruments of justice unto God. Indeed, He must

reign until, at the end of the world, He has put all His enemies under the

feet of God the Father.”

These powerful words from the Roman Pontiff express the Church’s

belief that Christ must reign, and that we must do everything that we can

to ensure that He does reign. In the words of another hymn that the

Church sings with great pride on the feast of Christ the King (a hymn that

we heard chanted at the 11am Mass this morning): Christus vincit,

Christus regnat, Christus imperat. Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ

commands!

In 1969, Pope Paul VI moved the feast of Christ the King from the

last Sunday of October to the last Sunday of the liturgical year. One effect

of this was that the focus of the feast day shifted. Nowadays, because

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Christ the King closes the liturgical year, we often think of this feast day as

a celebration of Christ’s Kingship at the end of time. Christ will reign as

King after the Second Coming, and He will reign especially in Heaven. We

also tend to think of His Kingship primarily as an interior kingship: Christ is

King of our hearts. Now while this is true (while Christ’s Kingship is one of

the heart, and while He will be King at the end of time, after the Second

Coming, in His Kingdom of Heaven), the problem is that we often forget

today that Christ’s Kingship is not just for the end of time. In fact, the

reason why Pope Pius XI instituted this great feast day was precisely to

show the faithful (and to show the rulers of nations) that Christ must reign

even in the here and now, even in our worldly societies: that is, in the

secular domain. Christ is not just to reign in our churches, in our homes, in

our families, and in our hearts. He must also reign in the public forum: that

is, in our schools, our hospitals, our business and industries, and Yes,

even in our Houses of Parliament! Many Catholics today have a faulty

understanding of what has been called the principle of separation of

Church and State. They think that the Catholic Church endorses this

understanding of Church-State religions. It doesn’t. The real teaching of

our Faith is not that the Church and State should be separate,

independent entities; but rather, that the Church has the right to impose

Christ’s reign even in the public sphere. A Parliament that makes laws

without taking into account the teachings of Christ will one day collapse;

and a State that passes legislation that contravenes the Commandments

of God will one day fall. In the end, the only principalities that will remain

are those kingdoms and nations that have submitted themselves willfully

to the one true Kingship: the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ!

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And so, on this feast of Christ the King, I would like to leave you with

a final quote to ponder over. It is a quotation from the great encyclical

letter of Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas:

The Catholic Church, founded by Christ as a perfect society, has a

natural and inalienable right to perfect freedom and immunity from the

power of the State. In fulfilling the task committed to her by God of

teaching, ruling, and guiding to Eternal Bliss those who belong to the

Kingdom of Christ, [the Church] cannot be subject to any external

power. Nations will be reminded by the annual celebration of this feast

day [of Christ the King] that not only private individuals, but also rulers

and princes, are bound to give public honour and obedience to Christ.

[This feast day of Christ the King] will call to their minds the thought of

the Last Judgement, wherein Christ, who has been cast out of public

life, despised, neglected and ignored, will most severely avenge these

insults; for His kingly dignity demands that the State should take

account of the Commandments of God and of Christian principles,

both in making laws and in administering justice, and also in providing

for the young a sound, moral education. It is Our fervent desire that

those who are outside of the Fold may seek after and accept the

sweet yoke of Christ, and that we, who by the mercy of God are of the

Household of the Faith, may bear that yoke, not as a burden but with

joy, with love, with devotion; that having lived our lives in accordance

with the laws of [Christ’s] Kingdom, we may receive full measure of

good fruit, and, counted by Christ good and faithful servants, we may

be rendered partakers of Eternal Bliss, and glory with Him in His

Heavenly Kingdom.

Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ commands! To Him, Christ the

King, be the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, for ever and ever. Amen.