{"id":2344,"date":"2017-11-26T12:25:24","date_gmt":"2017-11-26T17:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2344"},"modified":"2017-11-26T12:25:24","modified_gmt":"2017-11-26T17:25:24","slug":"our-lord-jesus-christ-king-of-the-universe-year-a-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/our-lord-jesus-christ-king-of-the-universe-year-a-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Year A – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Year A<\/a>
\nEzekiel 34:11-12, 15-17
\nPsalm 23:1-2, 2-3, 5-6
\n1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28
\nMatthew 25:14-31-46
\nNovember 26, 2017<\/p>\n

Today is our last Sunday before we begin a new liturgical year.\u00a0 That means today we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.<\/p>\n

To me, it is fitting that we do this.\u00a0 As we come to the end of the liturgical year, our readings invite us to think about the end times.\u00a0 It is fitting that as we do so, we think about who Jesus is to us.\u00a0 What does it mean to call Jesus our king?<\/p>\n

To us kings are leaders of countries.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 days on earth, kings ruled as least regions if not countries.\u00a0 If you read stories of kings from the Old Testament, we see that kings were not just political leaders.\u00a0 They were also leaders in battle, often establishing the country or taking power through military conquest.<\/p>\n

In this sense, King David was seen as the greatest of the Israelite kings.\u00a0 He is the one who, through God\u2019s hand, built up the earthly kingdom of Israel to the greatest status it ever held.\u00a0 Ever since the days of King David, the Israelites expected a new king like David.\u00a0 The prophecies refer to this king as the Messiah.<\/p>\n

Jesus is the Messiah but not a political king like David.\u00a0 He did not lead the Israelites into a battle with the Romans. \u00a0Instead, Jesus leads us in battle against the evil one. \u00a0On the Cross, Jesus is victor over our sins.<\/p>\n

As we think of Jesus as king, our first reading and psalm refer not to kings but shepherd.\u00a0 In the days of the prophet Ezekiel both kings and priests served as shepherds.\u00a0 Unfortunately, neither were doing their \u201cjobs\u201d as God intended.<\/p>\n

What does a shepherd do as a farmer?\u00a0 The shepherd is there to \u201clook after<\/em>\u201d and \u201ctend<\/em>\u201d the sheep.\u00a0 Kings and priests were appointed by God to care for the people.\u00a0 Many of them fell short of doing this. \u00a0So, in the first reading, God proclaims, \u201cI myself will look after and tend my sheep<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 He says, \u201cI will rescue them\u2026I myself will pasture my sheep\u2026I will seek out\u2026I will bring back.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

God does not abandon his people.\u00a0 Jesus will never abandon us.<\/p>\n

The kings and priests went astray when they began to worry about themselves more than the people in their kingdom.\u00a0 They came to want the people to serve them rather than for them to serve the needs of the people.\u00a0 Jesus sets us straight on this when he says, \u201cthe Son of Man did\u00a0not\u00a0come\u00a0to\u00a0be\u00a0served\u00a0but to\u00a0serve<\/em>.\u201d (Matthew 20:28, cf. Mark 10:45).<\/p>\n

In giving his life for us on the Cross, Jesus gives us the perfect example of what it means to be a king who serves his people.<\/p>\n

We might think it is all nice for Jesus but what does it mean for us?\u00a0 We might want to say we are not kings and might want to say you are not priests, but we are all called to serve.<\/p>\n

What happens at a baptism after the water is poured over the person\u2019s head?\u00a0 The priest (or deacon) anoints the newly baptized with the Sacred Christ saying, \u201cAs Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet, and King, so may you live always as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life.\u201d<\/p>\n

We are all called to be priest, prophet, and king.\u00a0 Everyone can serve as a priest in the sense of making sacrifices for one another.<\/p>\n

We can all be prophets by sharing God\u2019s truth and love, helping others to know Jesus.<\/p>\n

We can all be kings in serving one another.\u00a0 Think of the sacrifices a parent makes for their children or what sacrifice (what do you give up) to help someone else.<\/p>\n

With this in mind, let us turn to our gospel reading.\u00a0 This reading reflects the \u201cend judgment,\u201d fitting as we reach the end of the liturgical year and think about the end times.\u00a0 It has the king judging the people for how the people will spend eternity.\u00a0 It is not for us to judge.\u00a0 This judgment is for Jesus as our king.<\/p>\n

What criteria will we be judged by?\u00a0 Jesus provides the answer today.\u00a0 We will be judged by how we serve others.\u00a0 Do we feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty?\u00a0 We have our Poor Fund that you support.\u00a0 Some of you help the hunger through the Community Food Closet or Stop Hunger Walk?<\/p>\n

Do we welcome the stranger?\u00a0 Think of the migrants and the ministry offered to them?\u00a0 What about the Hispanics and Latinos who have made this area their permanent home?<\/p>\n

How about visiting the sick?\u00a0 Besides me visiting people for the anointing of the sick, June visits the hospitals and homebound.\u00a0 We have parishioners who take Communion to the homebound.\u00a0 Some to just one or two people.\u00a0 Some to groups of people in nursing homes and assisted living. \u00a0Likewise, there is our jail ministry.<\/p>\n

What do you do?\u00a0 What can you do?\u00a0 It might be as simple as talking to a sick friend on the phone if that is what you are capable of.\u00a0 It may simply be praying for those in need if that is what you are able to do.<\/p>\n

Do what you can not to get into Heaven but out of love, the same love that Christ shows us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Year A Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17 Psalm 23:1-2, 2-3, 5-6 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28 Matthew 25:14-31-46 November 26, 2017 Today is our last Sunday before we begin a new liturgical year.\u00a0 That means today we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. To …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Year A – Homily’ »<\/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":[82,68],"tags":[372,371],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-BO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344"}],"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=2344"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2345,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344\/revisions\/2345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}