Reminiscing The Feast QUAS PRIMAS Christ The King

[centurionguard]

vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_11121925_quas-primas_en.html

This Sunday November 25th, 2012 we celebrate the last official Soleminity of the Church calendar year. The liturgy is truly a triumphant hymn celebrating the Kingship of Christ. From the First Vespers of the Feast, the figure of Jesus is majestically portrayed, seated on a royal throne and dominating the entire world; “His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all kings shall serve and obey Him…. He shall sit and rule and shall speak peace unto the nations.”

The Mass opens with the apocalyptic vision of this extraordinary King whose majesty is intimately linked to His immolation for the salvation of souls…. “The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power and divinity and wisdom and strength and honour. To Him belong glory and power forever and ever.” (Introit)

In the Epistle (Colossians 1:12-20) St Paul enumerates the titles which make Christ King of all kings: He is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature; for in Him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.” These titles belong to Jesus Christ inasmuch as He is God, perfect image of the Father, exemplary cause of all earthly and heavenly creatures and, at the same time, Creator, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, of all that exists, for nothing has existence without Him, but “all things were created by Him and in Him … by Him all things consist.”

[edited]

 

[centurionguard]

In sharing thoughts:
“You, my God, are an eternal King, and Yours is no borrowed kingdom…. When the Credo says: ‘of Your Kingdom there shall be no end’ this phrase nearly always makes me feel particularly happy. Yes, I praise You, Lord, and bless You, for Your Kingdom will endure forever.” (St Teresa of Jesus, Way of Perfection, 22)

"O divine King, most amiable Jesus, my Redeemer, my Saviour, my Spouse, my Master and model, I renew today the total consecration of my being to You, begging You to take absolute dominion over me. Be my Sovereign, my Ruler, my Guide. Direct and govern me entirely, so that everything may turn to Your greater glory. Be King of my memory, of my intellect, of my will, of my emotions; I wish all to be completely subject to You and I invite You to reign in me.

"Your Kingdom is a kingdom of Truth, of Love, of Justice and of Peace.

"Grant that Your reign of Truth may be established in my mind, destroying all error, deceit and illusion. Enlighten me by Your divine Wisdom.

"Grant that Your reign of Love may be completely established in my will, to move it, draw it and direct it always, so that I may no longer be moved by self-love, or by creatures but by Your Holy Spirit alone. Make this weak, mean, rebellious will of mine strong, generous, constant; make it grow stronger by the persevering exercise of virtue, and by the gifts of Your Spirit.

"Grant that Your reign of Justice may be established in all my actions, so that all I do, having this characteristic, may be a work of holiness, accomplished with purity of intention and with the greatest fidelity in order to give You pleasure and accomplish Your holy will.

“Grant that Your reign of Peace may be established, not only in my soul but also in my sensibility, so that, in harmony with the superior part of my soul, it may give You glory and neither retard me nor be an obstacle to union with You.”

 

[centurionguard]

Our Catholic Sacrificial Liturgy of the Mass is not a static cult but the functioning of a live organism which is amply illustrated by the institution of this comparatively recent Feast of Christ the King, which was intended to fulfill a very special need in our ultra modern age of secularism.

We Catholics at least ought to be aware of how much the fallen world today needs Christ Jesus as its King, since we should all well know that God has been almost completely banished from many facets of daily living, and from our councils of governments.

How many times in recent modernistic decades have we seen His rightful place usurped by the ruthless secularism and moral relativism in our defiled mainstream living, to which every personal freedom must be subjected at all cost? What then could have been more timely as a challenge to the worlds thinking or more beneficial as a spiritual rectifier for all this, than the solemn commemoration of Christ’s kingship?

The minds of men and women, darkened by false secular teachings, sorely need to be re-orientated towards Him, the source of all Truth.
Many of us humbly can read through the lines written and aired in the mass secular media, how human hearts, are led far astray by deceptive desires, unknowingly yearn for Him, who alone can draw all frail human hearts to Himself.

Hence the Feast of Christ’s kingship was set up as a beacon light for our present society in the world, suffering as it is from the twilight of God’s banishment. Also the very proclamation of our Lord’s supreme sovereignty has acted as a world-wide protest and a reparation for, the growing idolatry arising from our world’s present tendency to disregard the Supreme God Almighty creator of all good things seen and unseen.

This relative new Feast of Christ the King, by its instructions and above all by the redemptive might of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, offers a remedy for the breakdown in authority evidenced in our growing crime in the world, which is the logical outcome of having denied God’s ruler-ship in human affairs.

Criminals and law breakers in society may well reason, (“should some men command and others obey? Why should we not commit crimes if there is behind our laws no other sanction but the ineffectual penalties of the courts?”). Anticipating just such thoughts as these, Pope Pius XI, on instituting the Feast of Christ the King, observed that, if all people in the world today would recognize in their lives the delegated authority of Christ, then the law would regain its former authority and peace with all its blessings bestowed by God.

But what a magnificent piece of wishful thinking this would be, if it were not backed up by the actual power of the Redeeming Sacrifice of the Holy Mass.
This is why the Catholic Church summons to the altar all her faithful over the whole earth, while she makes present again for our participation Christ’s death on Calvary.

For it is this world shaking “Event” alone 2000 years ago, whose power has broken the might of all those cardboard empires of men, who have dared challenge God’s supreme ruler-ship.