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| Image source: Jordan Lutheran |
We approach the end of the Year of Grace 2016. This weekend finds us celebrating the 34th, the last Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Solemnity of Christ the King. The weekend following Thanksgiving will bring us to the First Sunday of Advent and the beginning of the Year of Grace 2017.
You'll find the scriptures and commentary on them here and if you're shepherding children to Mass, check here for hints on helping them prepare to hear the Word this weekend.
The first scripture, from II Samuel, offers us the kingship of David, commissioned as "shepherd" and "commander" of God's people, Israel. The kingship of Christ in the gospel (Luke) finds the Lord reigning from the throne of the Cross where, like the good shepherd, he lays down his life for flock. This year's celebration of Christ the King includes this sobering appreciation of the One who rules our hearts.
The second lesson, from Colossians, is a hymn to Christ whose supremacy surpasses all bonds of time and space, in whom and through whom all things were created and redeemed.
Some may find it difficult to warm to the notion of "kingship" but it's likely that all of us can wonder, "Who rules my heart? Whose rule shapes my thoughts, my choices, my decisions? Whose wisdom counsels me? Whose word guides me?"
If Christ doesn't rule my heart, who or what does?
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On the Feast of Christ the King, a reflection on analogies:
ReplyDelete"Some may find it difficult to warm to the notion of "kingship" but it's likely that all of us can wonder, "Who rules my heart? Whose rule shapes my thoughts, my choices, my decisions? Whose wisdom counsels me? Whose word guides me?" If Christ doesn't rule my heart, who or what does?"
Yes, both analogies are "warm notions," but not of the same order, origin or implication.
In teaching us how to pray, Jesus makes a fraternal analogy central to addressing God by saying "Our Father in heaven." (Luke 11:2-4, Matthew 6:9-13) By using this analogy He makes us his siblings (brothers/sisters). He explicitly invokes a brother-analogy in Matthew 12:46-50.
Pontius Pilate and his soldiers chose the analogy of "King" to mock both Jesus and Jews in general (John 18:33-40 and 19:1-19). Their analogy presupposes coerciveness, power and dominance, not the humble, loving, brotherly role that Jesus speaks of so often.
Both analogies are "warm notions," but in different ways with different implications.
Pax bonumque! ;-)