11/18/09
Word for the Weekend: Christ the King!
This coming Sunday is the Solemnity of Christ the King and the last of the Year of Grace 2009. The following weekend brings us to the First Sunday of Advent in the Year of Grace 2010.
It's time to sit down with the scriptures and prepare for hearing them proclaimed at Mass on Sunday. You'll find the readings and background material on them here and if you're shepherding young ones to church you'll find hints for helping them prepare to hear the Word here.
The first scripture is from the Book of Daniel and includes the title "Son of man" which we hear Jesus use in the gospels (though not in this week's gospel passage). This vision in Daniel gives us an ancient reference for the kingship of Christ. The gospel is from John and takes us to the dialogue between Jesus and Pilate, a text we hear every Good Friday. Here Jesus and Pilate debate their notions of kingship. The second scripture of the day is from Revelation: the text echoes some of the imagery from the Daniel passage and makes a fleeting reference to the Passion in the words, "those who pierced him."
Kingship, dominion, kingdom, the Almighty... these scriptures draw us to consider the power of God in our lives and God's sovereignty over us. These are categories somewhat foreign to our times and culture. How do they sound in our ears? our minds? our hearts?
I'm posting the widget with the various settings of Crown Him With Many Crowns on the sidebar, too, so you might access it during the week.
-ConcordPastor
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Hi, Father! My name is Michael. I am a Catholic in Reading, MA. I really like your blog...tons of great stuff! I was thinking about the reading from John yesterday, and about how the next line is Pilate asking Jesus, "What is truth?" It seems to me that the answer to that question is the most important thing any of us can think about. Without being hyperbolic, if we don't know what the truth is, or even if there is such a thing as truth, we are in deep trouble.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Michael! I agree with you and wished that the gospel selection for Christ the King had gone that one line ahead! As you can see from my homily, it would have been helpful for me to be able to refer to that part of Christ's exchange with Pilate.
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