This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King which signals the end of the Church’s liturgical calendar. However, more than the liturgical calendar significance, I think it is good to know the background of how this celebration was introduced in the universal Catholic Church. It was Pope Pius XI in his encyclical Quas Primas (In the First) that instituted this celebration in 1925 in response to the rise of secularism and totalitarianism in Europe in the aftermath of World War I. He intended to reaffirm, to refocus faith and respect in the kingship of Jesus.
On the importance of the public world recognizing the kingly authority of Jesus, Pope Pius XI wrote: “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. Our Lord's regal office invests the human authority of princes and rulers with a religious significance; it ennobles the citizen's duty of obedience.
If princes and magistrates duly elected are filled with the persuasion that they rule, not by their own right, but by the mandate and in the place of the Divine King, they will exercise their authority piously and wisely, and they will make laws and administer them, having in view the common good and also the human dignity of their subjects. The result will be a stable peace and tranquility, for there will be no longer any cause of discontent.
Men will see in their king or in their rulers men like themselves, perhaps unworthy or open to criticism, but they will not on that account refuse obedience if they see reflected in them the authority of Christ God and Man. Peace and harmony, too, will result; for with the spread and the universal extent of the kingdom of Christ men will become more and more conscious of the link that binds them together, and thus many conflicts will be either prevented entirely or at least their bitterness will be diminished.”
Let us pray that those who are bestowed with power and authority to be leaders may follow and see the example of Christ the King who ruled, not to be served, but to serve the good of all people. And we as the faithful, gain the strength and courage from the celebration of this feast, as we are reminded that Christ must reign in our hearts, minds, wills, and bodies.
In recognition to the Solemnity of Christ the King, today we will be doing the blessing of the Children’s Liturgy Room at the church basement where children ages 2 to 6 years old can have a conducive place to do the Liturgy of the Word appropriate for their ages and appreciate it through the help of their facilitator. And also to grow in the knowledge of Jesus through His Word.