{"id":1494,"date":"2014-11-23T14:39:30","date_gmt":"2014-11-23T19:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1494"},"modified":"2014-11-23T14:39:30","modified_gmt":"2014-11-23T19:39:30","slug":"christ-the-king-homily-year-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/christ-the-king-homily-year-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Christ the King – Homily, Year A"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Year A<\/a>
\nEzekiel 34:11-12, 15-17
\n1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28
\nMatthew 25:31-46
\nNovember 23, 2014<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today is the last Sunday of our liturgical year before we began a new year with Advent next week.\u00a0 So, today we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.<\/p>\n

We identify Jesus as our king but we don\u2019t call him \u201cKing Jesus\u201d.\u00a0 Our readings for this solemnity don\u2019t use the word \u201cking\u201d much.\u00a0 The word found more in today\u2019s readings is \u201cshepherd.\u201d<\/p>\n

When we use the word \u201cshepherd\u201d today to describe the role of a human person, generally we are referring to, specifically, our bishop, or more generically, our priests as leaders of our parishes.<\/p>\n

In the days of Ezekiel, the role of king was often seen as shepherd of the community.\u00a0 Many kings were failing in this role so God tells the people through the prophet Ezekiel that he himself will<\/em> shepherd his people.\u00a0 The \u201cwill\u201d stands as a promise of what is to come.<\/p>\n

The Lord God tells them what it means for him to shepherd them.\u00a0 It starts with the basic idea of tending the sheep but the Lord goes forth to speak of rescuing and pasturing his sheep as He seeks out the lost, brings the stray back, and heals the sick.<\/p>\n

As with so many prophecies, this prophecy finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus came as our shepherd to rescue us and lead us back to God.<\/p>\n

Jesus himself speaks to us today of another role he performs as \u201cking,\u201d the role of judge.\u00a0 It is for Jesus to separate the good and the bad.<\/p>\n

At times we wonder, if Jesus really loves us, why would He really send anyone to Hell?\u00a0 Can\u2019t he just forgive everyone?<\/p>\n

The presumption here would be that Jesus wants <\/em>to send people to Hell.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 Jesus wants us to be in Heaven.\u00a0 That\u2019s why He died for us on the Cross.\u00a0 If we end up in Hell, it isn\u2019t because Jesus wanted to put us there.\u00a0 It\u2019s because we live in a way that breaks our relationship with Jesus.\u00a0 It\u2019s not Jesus\u2019 choice that puts us in Hell.\u00a0 It\u2019s the choice we make to sin.<\/p>\n

Jesus goes out of His way to make Heaven possible for us.\u00a0 He dies for us.\u00a0 He teaches us.\u00a0 Today he tells us about the criteria by which we will be judged so that we can choose what is good.<\/p>\n

What is the criteria?\u00a0 It\u2019s how we treat other people in their own basic needs.\u00a0 What do we do to help the hungry and thirsty; the stranger, the naked, the ill, and the imprisoned?<\/p>\n

Are we even aware of their needs?\u00a0 Do we make excuses like \u201cif they would just get a job they would be ok?\u201d\u00a0 Or \u201cthey brought it on themselves?\u201d<\/p>\n

Some do, some are \u201cvictims of circumstances\u201d that are beyond their control.\u00a0 Some have made bad choices themselves.\u00a0 Now they repent and want to change but sometimes society doesn\u2019t let them change.\u00a0 Do you?<\/p>\n

How would society stop them from changing?\u00a0 Think of the \u201calcoholic\u201d, if they became sober after many years of drinking, would you even realized they changed or would you assume they still drink?<\/p>\n

Returning to our theme for this solemnity of Jesus as our king, Jesus does not seek the power or prestige of a wealthy kingdom.\u00a0 He sets an example of the king as one who serves the needs of His people.\u00a0 A real king shows love for his people.\u00a0 A king does this by caring for his people.<\/p>\n

Jesus shows His limitless love on the Cross.\u00a0 Recognizing Jesus as our king, we in turn are called to love God and our neighbor.\u00a0 This is what Jesus teaches us.\u00a0 We accept Jesus as our king by following what he teaches us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Year A Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28 Matthew 25:31-46 November 23, 2014   Today is the last Sunday of our liturgical year before we began a new year with Advent next week.\u00a0 So, today we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Christ the King – Homily, Year A’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-o6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1495,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494\/revisions\/1495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}