Living Catholic with Father Don Wolf
Father Don Wolf, a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, offers a Catholic perspective on the issues confronting each person today.
Living Catholic with Father Don Wolf
November 24, 2024 | "Under the Reign of Christ the King"
What if the true essence of kingship could transform your understanding of faith and community? Discover the profound significance of Christ the King as we explore how this majestic kingship marks the culmination of the liturgical year. Through insights from medieval theology, we unravel the profound implications of Christ’s royal and personal presence within the Church and the world. By examining historical and theological perspectives, we aim to deepen your appreciation of how Christ’s kingship can powerfully transform your faith and the world around you.
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Father Don Wolf is a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Living Catholic also broadcasts on Oklahoma Catholic Radio several times per week, with new episodes airing every Sunday.
This is Living Catholic with Father Don Wolfe. Living Catholic is a fresh look at issues confronting each of us today. This show deals with living Catholic, what that means for Catholics, as well as the impact on the rest of society. You certainly don't have to be Catholic to enjoy this show. And now your host, Father Don Wolfe to enjoy this show.
Speaker 1:And now your host, father Don Wolfe, welcome Oklahoma to Living Catholic. I'm Father Don Wolfe, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Oklahoma City and rector of the Shrine of Blessed Stanley Rother. We've now come to the apex of the liturgical year. This coming Sunday we begin the well. Next Sunday we begin the first Sunday of Advent, which begins our next year of life in Christ, and so it's no accident that we end the year at the very height of our claims about Jesus, by celebrating him as king of all things. Jesus is Christ the king. This is a claim we announce to the whole world, and while the world may not be very interested in what we have to say or what our understanding is, this is what we hold to with all passion. We believe Jesus is the great revelation of the Father to us, and the offer of life in Christ is the great gift we've been given so that we may give it away. As we make our way through an entire year of reading the gospel, of hearing the promise of redemption and salvation and deepening our roots in the church, we finally come to the great and final promise Christ the King, of hearing the promise of redemption and salvation and deepening our roots in the church, we finally come to the great and final promise, christ the King.
Speaker 1:There are several aspects of our climb that often pass under the radar. That is, we often end up talking about these moments in the life of the church as if they were merely ideas, rather than the experiences and promises they actually are. If we were more careful in the proclamation and more complete in our teaching, we'd be more aware of how breathtaking this celebration, christ the King, really is. We owe it to ourselves and to others to be clear about what we're celebrating, and the first is obvious Kings are persons. Kingship might be an idea that we can talk about dispassionately, but kings are actual persons who embody the position they occupy. There is no kingship without kings. Since our proclamation is that Christ is king, then we proclaim that Christ is the person about whom we trust and whom we celebrate. When it comes to the fundamental truth of things, it's all personal.
Speaker 1:Now, kingship has existed in human society for a very long time. Apparently, the next step up from the basic hunter-gathering stage of society was the naming of a king as the apex of society. We in our time are liable to imagine this was a way for someone to eventually end up as the head of a tribe or a group, someone who could provide the decision-making and leadership necessary for common defense and distributive justice. In our minds, we think of kingship as a kind of lifetime CEO, somebody whose job includes making sure everything goes right. In our way of thinking, kings are something like familial executives who sit in judgment, punish wrongdoing, reward right thinking and take care of everyone's needs. A decent king would be something like a pretty good daddy, without all the complicated daddy issues. But that's not quite right. While we certainly know of those leaders in society and business who would love to have been thought of as having leaders in society and business, who would love to have been thought of as having all manner of power, who would secretly love to have been thought of as exercising authority on every level, they aren't kings. If we only talk about power, we're not getting at the heart of what a real king and kingdom are. We're leaving out the power of the personal in kingship.
Speaker 1:In truth, the king is more than the ultimate executive. He is the embodiment of the people, of his kingdom. The body of the king is the body of the people over whom he is the king. This is most expressly demonstrated in the accusation in English law that when a person was charged with conspiracy or rebellion, that person was held responsible for crimes quote against the body of the king, unquote. It wasn't just that he was wanting to change leaders or wanting to urge people to act against the decisions of the government. The rebel was someone who assaulted the body of the king and as such he was guilty of the personal offense against the king himself. By the way, this is also the case if the royal personage was a queen. Kings are the people in the most literal sense that anyone could imagine or instantiate. Even today, when there's a transition in political power in the United Kingdom, the king or queen asks the prime minister to form a government for his or her people. The royal person is the head of the people and speaks for the people, and it has been thus all through the history of kingship. It's not too much to say that, in the thinking of those grasped by this idea, the king is the people. When we speak of Christ, the king, we're celebrating the presence of Christ among us in the world.
Speaker 1:In medieval theology, it was common to describe the real presence of Christ as the church. The Eucharist was defined as the mystical presence of Christ. To encounter the body of Christ was to encounter the extension of his body in every place. The church was Rather than simply an understanding about the ideas and the convictions that formed the church. Anyone could see and touch the body of Christ by noting the presence of Christ in the church and in the minds of the times, this included the clergy, the church buildings, the liturgy, the prayers and the people. This included the clergy, the church buildings, the liturgy, the prayers and the people. Jesus was present in all aspects of church life, from the stone of the buildings to the splendor of the sacraments. Jesus was made evident and was truly, really present in the church.
Speaker 1:Jesus as a king is an expression of the completeness of his presence throughout the church. Everything comes together in the life of the church to lead us to Christ. Just as the different parts of a royal palace and the intricate ceremonies of a king's court are an introduction to the splendor of the king's presence, so every part of the church's ritual and footprint leads toward an encounter with the presence of Christ. In the end, it's all personal. Everything we do in the church is directed toward the person of Christ.
Speaker 1:The second aspect is that kings carry with them the sufferings and the hopes of their people. This seems odd to us who have no king, since we generally believe kings are elevated above the sufferings and the concerns of normal people. Their lives are easy compared to what the average man has to endure, but the truth is really quite the opposite. Kings bear with them the life of their people. This isn't simply a primitive notion. By the way, when the Nazis overran Norway and the Low Countries, the royalty were evacuated to England. Several of them wanted to remain behind and share the sufferings of their people. They thought their place was with their own. But the thinking was that the promise of a free country could live with the royals if the royalty remained free. They were the embodiment of freedom and cooperation in the liberation of their homelands, not simply the accidental lucky ones who were able to escape conquest and occupation If the king was free, so the people could breathe a hope of freedom.
Speaker 1:We could also point out that in the game of chess, the game is ended when the king is captured. The point of the game is the possession of the king. All the other pieces and what happens to them are meaningless compared to whether the king is free to move or not. No one gets any points or makes any progress by taking any or all of the pieces on the board, no matter how valuable they might be, how valuable they might be If you're kings, not captured. Even if you've lost, even if that side has lost every other piece, the game goes on.
Speaker 1:This is a symbol of the idea of kingship. He is the heart of the people. When the church proclaims Jesus as king, we take on the character of his kingship, which means the church carries with it the configuration of its king Jesus on the cross, suffering for the redemption of all mankind, giving himself over to the will of the Father, forgiving those who caused his suffering. That is the church. The actions of Christ are what make the church what it is to be. Again, that's more than an idea or an image. It is embodied in the life and the death of Jesus as a real person living and dying to complete his mission. Proclaiming Christ, the King is to configure the church in his person.
Speaker 1:Perhaps the greatest example of this comes from the life and death of Father Miguel. Pro Miguel was a Mexican Jesuit who came back to Mexico to serve his people during the time of the revolution there, he'd been in school, working on his doctorate, safe in Belgium. When, urged by his superiors to remain there in Belgium, he insisted he come home to work among the people most affected by the restrictions and punishments of the government. After several years of clandestine ministry in Mexico City, he was captured and then sentenced to summary execution by a firing squad. At the moment the soldiers raised their weapons to fire, he extended his arms and shouted Long live Christ the King. In Spanish viva Cristo Rey. At this moment, a photographer snapped a picture of him. Thinking that the news of his death would, accompanied by the photo, would intimidate the people who resisted the decrees of all of the authorities, the government had it printed on the front page of the largest newspaper in Mexico City. Eventually, the authorities realized their mistake, which actually highlighted the brutality of the regime. They then strove to retrieve the papers before they were distributed, only to find that they had been sold out. Virtually every person in the capital had seen the picture and read the story.
Speaker 1:Father Miguel Pro, arms outstretched and facing his executioners, had become the symbol of the life of the Church in this dark time, rather than ideas or words, rather than a sentence in the catechism or a paragraph in the encyclopedia. The life of the Church was encapsulated in Father Pro's imitation of Christ. When the church is the embodiment of Christ, christ is king. If the church is not imitating Christ, it is less than it should be Proclaiming Christ. The king is to invest the church with the challenge to live out and to complete what Jesus did. Just as Jesus healed and comforted, so the church is to do the same. Just as Jesus called out those who would encumber the poor and ignore the needy, so the church is to speak. Just as Jesus walked in the pathway of suffering, reviled by those who wanted to destroy him and his message, so the church has to be prepared to pick up its cross. And just as Jesus was willing to open his arms in crucifixion for the salvation of all, so the church must be ready to offer herself up so that the world might be saved.
Speaker 1:A king is the living representative of the people, christ. The king is the head of the church, but it's equally important, and it's this the accoutrements of kingship are important for the king and for all those around him. By this I mean all of the elements surrounding the life of the king are there precisely to enhance the meaning and the purpose of kingship. We most often think of kings with their crowns and furs and capes as something somewhat absurd. And truthfully they do make someone like King Charles, whom we've seen for decades in military uniforms and regular suits. They make him seem odd and a little bizarre. Seeing him wear a great crown and carrying a scepter sets him apart from the modern day. It plunges him into the depths of English history as well as burdening him with all of the detritus of English royalty. He's no longer Prince Charles, but King Charles III. We know all this because of his robes and jewelry and orb. They all point to his kingship. He's king every day, but every part of his kingly presence is signaled by these elements.
Speaker 1:With Christ, we come to know his kingship by way of all that surrounds his kingly presence. He is clothed by the deeds that accompany his ministry. He is clothed by the deeds that accompany his ministry On virtually every page of the Gospels. He's healing and freeing people who are bound by the effects of sin and evil. In the places he enters, sickness is addressed and those afflicted are made whole. And everyone knows when he's clothed by these great moments, the aura of the Messiah is all about him. Each part of his ministry points everyone to the reality of his identity as the king.
Speaker 1:And Jesus is crowned, of course we know it's a crown of thorns and it was woven as part of the cruelty inflicted by the soldiers who tortured him. Rather than being made of silver or gold as a gesture of value and honor, it's a gesture of humiliation and pain and is woven from what was otherwise worthless and forgotten. Although a jape, a reminder, he is in the control of others. It becomes a sign of the gift he gives to the world. Now, those are gestures, of course. They are only signs, mere hints at what it means to be a king. They are only signs, mere hints at what it means to be a king. At the same time, we recognize that all of the signs attending to kings are symbols entrusted to the king to exalt his position and to affirm his power. Each aspect points our eyes and instructs our understanding, so that we know he bears the responsibility of his people.
Speaker 1:The truth is that Jesus dies naked on the cross, clothed only in pain and shame, accused of blasphemy and sedition. There is nothing about his appearance that shouts to us of respect or honor, much less of ease or delight, but in these aspects he carries with him the uniqueness of his type of kingly presence. Every part of his appearance and his history gives us an instruction on what kind of reign he has as a king. What happens to him is a version of what happens to us. He's the head of the body. That includes us. He suffers and transfigures his suffering into redemption. That includes us. He suffers and transfigures his suffering into redemption, the same as promised to us. We will be clothed in suffering, as he was, and it will be transformed into redemption in the same measure. Every part of our pain belongs to the kingdom, of which he's the head, which we take part in, where he leads and our needs for healing and relief, for hope and forgiveness, are what clothe us. They are our passport to what Jesus provides. Jesus, clothed in compassion and empowered by his mission, is one with us. He is the king of all we are. Our hope is that every part of our lives participates in his kingly presence with us, since every part of his presence points toward the greatness of his kingdom.
Speaker 1:Fourthly, when the king is good, the kingdom is good. This is a very old understanding and appears in story after story of people gone astray. In fact, it's a very powerful part of the antique legend of King Arthur, as well as the modern story of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In Tolkien's telling part of the reason the land has fallen under the power of evil and the darkness of the east threatens the people of Middle-earth is that the rightful king is no longer in possession of his faculties. He no longer functions for the good of the people. When the king is good, then all of the powers of the kingdom line up behind him and are all pointed in the same direction. But when the king wanders from his purpose and no longer inspires confidence and certainty, the whole kingdom falls into disarray.
Speaker 1:In the medieval understanding of kingly behavior, the king receives his power to rule from God. God is the ultimate authority in all things, but part of that authority is shared with the rightful king, who exercises his power over his people for their good. When his rule is just and he acts rightly, then God's own justice and right is evident. All things in due proportion. That is the gift of justice. The just king brings peace and goodness to his land and everyone is better because of it. Christ, the king, is the very image of Father and Creator. His gift to the world is the redemption of all. In him there is the hope of all that the original goodness written into all things will be re-established in due measure so that everything is restored to glory.
Speaker 1:By proclaiming Jesus as King, we have a place in the process of salvation unfolding in the world. Rather than simply being given a gift we can choose to use or not, we're actually woven into the working of salvation that's taking place. Jesus achieved redemption by his death on the cross and his rising in glory. All is brought to fulfillment in him through his faithfulness to the mission of his Father. But the gift of Jesus is shared with us. When the gift of Jesus' presence is poured out over us in our lives, it becomes an expression of God's will in the world and we become ambassadors of Jesus' action. This means we are not simply counted as those who have been saved, segregated from the dark world by our measure of light. We become instead the means by which other people achieve what Christ comes to give. Our lives are the gateway into the presence of Christ. Everything we do as members of Christ's kingdom is as part of Christ's presence and achieves what he comes to accomplish. We're all in this together.
Speaker 1:St Paul uses the image of being one in Christ. He says that it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. We rightly read this as Paul accomplishing his transformation into the presence of Christ, becoming one with his mission and his purpose. It is his intent to be linked to and identified with the work and the mission and the identity of Jesus. But we can also read into his statement that he has been overcome with the presence of Christ. He has not accomplished something according to a plan to become someone different. Instead, he describes what's happened to him Lining up with the initiative begun in Christ. Paul has been oriented to Jesus' mission.
Speaker 1:Imagine if we shake out small iron filings onto a sheet of paper and then place a magnet under it. We can begin to see them line up according to the electric field formed by the magnet. The filings are not accomplishing their change in direction. They're being moved by the force of this field. So it was with Paul. His life was made according to the power of Jesus's kingship and the integrity of his kingly mission. Jesus, as king, made a kingdom of redemptive love that embraced Paul so powerfully he was eventually unable to distinguish himself from the forces that moved his life. He and Christ became as one.
Speaker 1:Finally, our proclamation is that Jesus is the king of the universe. Not only is Jesus the king of our lives and our faith, his kingship encompasses all things. This might seem a far leap, but it's merely a restatement of the opening description in Genesis. God creates the entire world because he loves what he has made Rather than compulsion or curiosity, and not because of violence or trickery. God creates simply because he desires it, and everything that is participates in God's overflowing beneficence. He is the creator of all that is. Its basis is self-emptying love and self-forgetting giving. This is an aspect of all of nature, as it meshes in harmony and perfection in every way.
Speaker 1:When Adam and Eve violate the fundamental structure of nature and set its congruence to one side, all of creation is affected. Death enters the world, and what had been a place of frolic and ease becomes a scenario of sorrow and struggle. For God to restore the brokenness of creation, every part of creation has to be affected, and this is the final promise. Salvation is much more than merely the disposition of our souls when we stop breathing, unless the gift of Christ is larger than whether we go to heaven or not, the salvation of our fallen world falls short. Unless we can know that a healed and redeemed world means there's a water spigot for everybody, or that our fences are repaired or that everybody has a place safe to sleep, then the sin of the world is unhealed. But God has sent Jesus as the herald and the healer of the new creation and the healer of the world fallen and broken. We affirm that Christ has come for all, not just for a few, and that Christ's gift is to reorder all things in his kingly rule. It's not simply for people and how they get along with one another, but for everything.
Speaker 1:In the long history of the church there have been many images of this promise. Even in the book of Revelation there's the promise of the new Jerusalem come down from heaven as the true promise that we can look forward to. In this promise the presence of Christ is everywhere and it recapitulates and perfects the creation. The heavenly city is not only a place of order and goodness. It's where there's shade during the day, fruit on the branches and water flowing continually. It's a place where all things combined to carry the original promise of harmony and life for everyone. That's Jesus' kingdom. It's what we proclaim and what we look forward to. The gift of Christ the King is the promise that we work toward all year long. We've reached this Sunday in our celebration. We should endeavor to reach it in our hearts Back in just a moment. In just a moment. Welcome back to our final segment, faith in Verse.
Speaker 1:We have a poem today called Messaging Do you have religious beliefs? Ask the message on my screen. I thought it odd. To tell the truth, the inquiry was not as it seemed. When first it popped up, I thought of a parishioner in need asking for gentle instructions or some help with his creed An unknown number. These days there's nothing unusual there. Unfamiliar area code doesn't hinder the whom or even where.
Speaker 1:But I quickly got the hint as subsequent questions were asked and I figured it was a scam or the gateway to some clever hack. And I figured it was a scam or the gateway to some clever hack. I did feel guilty at abandoning my interlocutor. I did imagine the religious question was one of these he'd mock you for, although it could have been serious, a real question to contest, and if so, I failed to give my anonymous partner my best. So it goes always in the crisscross of the authentic pastoral life. We're always left wondering at what's real, of what may or might. After a bit of waiting, the questioning disappeared. Then silence, no interest in more conversation at all from him, since that's messaging messaging.
Speaker 2:I hope you join us in the weeks to come here at Living Catholic. Living Catholic is a production of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City for Oklahoma Catholic Radio. To learn more, visit okcrorg.