The feast of Christ - the King...
As a people, we Americans are a nation born in response to - and as a rejection of - the king. And not just one particular king: our founding fathers and mothers rejected monarchy all together as a way of governing people. We pride ourselves on not being loyal subjects of the crown - that we are citizens, loyal to the nation we claim as our own: a government understood to be OF the people, BY the people, and FOR the people.
So the corporate ethos of this political stance places us Catholic Christians in a curious position as we come together to celebrate the feast of Christ - the King - in spite of the fact that Jesus made it abundantly clear in his own words that he did not want to be made a king. But the scriptures leave no doubt that we are subject to the Lord's dominion, to the reign of Jesus, our Redeemer. St. Paul reminds us that we are citizens of the Lord's Kingdom, and thus aliens in our native land. Jesus himself would tell us to worry about nothing, but only - above all else - to seek the kingdom of God.
So a question immediately presents itself: “Can I be a citizen of both the Lord's Kingdom and my homeland? Can I call myself a faithful Christian and a faithful American?” Well, I hope, and I pray, and I believe that I can. But does that require careful reflection, careful discernment, and sometimes painful choices on my part? You bet it does!
American Christians who believe there's no conflict between their faith and their patriotism are either woefully ignorant of the demands of their faith - or pathetically ill-informed about their nation's laws and politics. Or both!
Christians are obliged to discern how their faith in God informs, shapes, colors, interprets, and judges the world around them - precisely so that they can determine what truly belongs to God and what belongs to Caesar - and to know that what belongs to God will always have first claim on our loyalty, our allegiance, and our obedience.
Some individuals and some philosophies make a god of the state. That is idol worship. (I-D-O-L worship.) Others make a god of the church, and that, too, is idolatry, because the church is not God. God is so much greater and bigger than the church. The church exists to serve God.
And yet the church is the body of Christ, who is our king: a king who is not hidden behind palace walls, but rather lives in our hearts; a king who did not inherit his royalty from some royal line, but rather earned it, being crowned with the thorns of his suffering for us and nailed to the throne of a cross.
Jesus is not a monarch who treats us as his subjects. At the Last Supper, he told us, "I no longer call you servants, I call you friends.” Jesus, our King, calls us his sisters and brothers, making us members of the royal family of Jesus.
We are kin to the King who claims dominion over our hearts and our souls; our bodies, our lives; over our thoughts, words, and deeds, and all our relationships; over our philosophies, politics, and polemics; dominion over our desires, decisions and choices; over all we own and possess.
The kingship of Jesus reminds us that though we are indeed IN the world, it is not the world to which, ultimately, we belong.
So I might suggest that we American Christians have a kind of dual citizenship. We are the people of the United States - but our hearts belong to Christ, who has first claim on our loyalty and our allegiance.
As a citizen of the Republic, I have a responsibility to participate fully and knowledgeably in our government. As a Catholic Christian, I have a responsibility to know, understand and live what the gospel demands and what the Church teaches and to integrate that in my life as honestly and as fully as I am able.
A good example of this is duality can be found in how Pope Leo and the US Catholic bishops have spoken recently about the plight of immigrants in the United States. While affirming the need for national borders and good border, Pope Leo and the bishops call on our nation for improved immigration laws. And they call on each of us, the members of the Church of Christ the King, they call on each of us to be compassionate and generous in our outlook on, our outreach to, and our embrace of our immigrant brothers and sisters who, along with us, are members of Christ's body: members of the royal family.
You and I are here this evening because we have been invited to the King's table to share in his supper. He invites us here to share in a royal banquet that feeds us with his very life, his body and his blood: the Bread of Angels, and the Cup of Salvation.
He comes to us tonight, not on a throne, not in a royal chariot, not in a limo, not on the clouds of heaven - but in the simplicity of this meal of bread become flesh, and wine become blood for us.
Pray with me that we open our hearts to enthrone our King who gathers us here for a taste and a sip of that feast which he has ready for us in his kingdom: where his reign is eternal, where his truth is forever, and where his peace is everlasting.
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