Solemnity of Christ the King
Beloved in Jesus Christ, in ancient times there lived St. Christopher. He was a huge man, 7½ feet tall, and at first he was a pagan. Now Christopher wanted to do a great thing with his life, and so he wanted to find the greatest king that there was, in order to serve him. After traveling around, he found a great King and entered into his service.
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One day however, the king heard someone speak of the devil; he immediately made the sign of the cross. Christopher noticed this, and asked what this sign meant. The king said, when I hear the devil mentioned, I defend myself with this sign. Christopher realized that the devil then, must be more powerful than the king so he went off to find the devil to serve him.
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Coming upon a very wicked man, Christopher said: ‘I am seeking the devil. ‘You have found him,’ said the man, because the devil lived in him. And so Christopher followed him; but as they were walking along the road, they came upon a cross. The devil became very afraid. Why are you afraid asked Christopher? He told him: There was a man named Christ who died on a cross, and when I see this sign, I am filled with terror. So leaving him, Christopher went in search of Christ, to make him his king.
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Finally he came upon an old hermit who lived in a hut, and this hermit taught him about Christ. He told him: Christ asks that you always do his will in your life. ‘Tell me what should be my work, said Christopher, and I will do it for Christ. Your work will be this said the hermit: Go and live near the Great River where many travelers perish trying to cross it, because there is no bridge. You are big enough to carry them over the river. ‘Good! Said Christopher, I will do it!
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And so he built a shelter near the Great river, and, for many years he carried travelers across the river; and it came one day that a small child asked to be carried across. Seeing the beauty of the Child, he hoisted him onto his shoulders, and began carrying the Child across the river. The child grew heavy – as heavy as lead, and reaching the other side, he said: ‘Child, I felt as though I carried the entire world on my shoulders.’ And the child responded, you carried not only the world, but He who created the world – I am Christ your King, whom you serve; with that, the Child vanished.
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Friends in the Lord, today is the Feast of Christ the King. Now our King is a Child King, who uses his Divine power to help us to become great; for this reason, when we enter Church, we look to the tabernacle, wherein lives our King, and we genuflect on our right knee to Jesus. Also, after Holy Communion, we kneel down and speak to our Beloved King, who joins to us in body and soul. But what about the rest of our life, outside of Holy Mass? Is Jesus then our King? And here we come to the question of the Christian life, that is, sanctifying all our daily activities.
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How do we sanctify – how do we make our daily activities holy? Quite simply, we offer it to God and do it well, for Him. When we rise, we make a morning offering. It can be a prayer we read, found in prayer books. Or we can make it up ourselves, like this: O Lord, I offer you this day. All that I do and say and think, I offer as praise to you. Let my life today give you glory and honor. Something like that. It is essential that we offer our day to God, for his glory. This is to make Jesus, Lord of our life.
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Now if Christ really is our King, we must do all of our activities for him throughout the day. In the machine shop, we are careful in cutting or grinding, so as to do things well – not for our self-satisfaction, but for the Lord. When we are on the job-site, or in the office, or doing laundry or sweeping, we speak and act and work as true sons and daughters of God. As we lay down to rest, and the baby starts to cry; ‘O Lord, I offer this up to you;’ – and we get up.
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Young people should think of Jesus during their sports; play with good sportsmanship, in wins and losses. There are a thousand little ways we can offer our activities to Christ.
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“Are you the King of the Jews?, Pilate asked Jesus. Jesus Christ is king of all. No one is above He who has created the universe. No president or senator or mayor or executive is above Christ. And we ourselves will always call him our King.
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‘My kingdom does not belong to this world,’ says the Lord. We can say as well, that our kingdom is not in this world, but in the next – with the Great King, the Child King. St. Christopher carried this Child King on his shoulders. Let us too, carry Jesus with us, all our day. In our work and in our play.
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A young woman recently was lamenting what a horrible day she had; everything went wrong; ‘Did you pray?,’ I asked. ‘Did you think of the Lord during your day?’ ‘No, she said, I guess I was too busy.’ Glancing to Christ during our work, whispering a short prayer – this can make our burden much lighter and easier to carry.
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Some serve kings of the earth – money or material things or power, and that is unhappiness. Some make the Devil their king, and that is sorrow. But our King is not like those who rule the earth, nor like the devil who rules with fear; Our King is the Child King, and if we serve him well in our daily life, he will prepare crowns for our heads; golden crowns for each of us, to reign with him.
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And we will also reign with our Queen, the Blessed Virgin. May this Queen of heaven intercede for us – Mary pray for us, to live each day for the glory of Christ our King.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Teresa of Avila]