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Created: 22 November 2020

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King- Year A

The feast of Christ the King is the last Sunday of the liturgical year. We start a liturgical year with the first Sunday of Advent Season, which is a four-week preparation time for the celebration of the birth of our New Born King. On the feast of Christ the King, we acknowledge and profess that Christ is our King.

As the Gospel, Matthew 25: 31-46, clearly states

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me. (Matthew 25: 31-36)

Do the ones who will be on the right hand of the King do those good deeds to the King himself? Of course not, but the love and good acts from generous hearts and minds have been done toward the hungry, the poor, the stranger, the prisoner, the sick, the elders and the hopelessness. And these good deeds done with love will please the King. “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Mt 25:40)

Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ (Matthew 25: 41-45)

Let each of us ask ourselves these questions: Do I see God in the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the prisoner, the poor, the hopeless and the powerless? Do I care and have pity on them? Do I have love and show forth my good intention to the ones who are forced to face the harshness of life? If we have done nothing, it is time for us to change the way that we are living right now. If we do not change, eternal happiness with the King of the Universe will not be there for us. Because our King is the One who is love and kindness.

Fr. Phi Nguyen