Christ the King Year C 2025

"Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." ( Lc 23:43 )

In celebrating the Feast of Christ the King we conclude the Church's liturgical year. This glorious feast was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 to celebrate the Jubilee Year and the 16^th centenary of the Council of Nicaea.

We celebrate that Christ is King of the kingdom in which we already live. To the question, what does this kingdom look like? Gerald Darring (St Louis University's Centre for Liturgy) offers this vision:

The Kingdom of God is a space. It exists in every home where parents and children love each other. It exists in every region and country that cares for its weak and vulnerable inhabitants. It exists in every parish that reaches out to the needy.

The Kingdom of God is a time. It happens whenever someone feeds a hungry person, shelters a homeless person, or shows care to a neglected person. It happens whenever we overturn an unjust law, correct an injustice, or avert a war. It happens whenever people join the struggle to overcome poverty, erase ignorance, and pass on the Faith.

The Kingdom of God is in the past, in the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth; it is in the present, in the work of the Church and in the efforts of many to create a world of goodness and justice; it is in the future, reaching its completion in the age to come.

The Kingdom of God is a condition, and its symptoms are love, justice, and peace.

St Luke shows us Christ's kingship in the most unexpected place — hanging on a cross between two criminals. The rulers sneered at him: "He saved others; let him save himself if he is God's Messiah, the Chosen One." Even one of the criminals mocked him. But the other criminal saw the truth: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And Jesus replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise."

What kind of king reigns from a cross? What kind of God would sacrifice his beloved Son to save us from evil, sin, and death? The answer fills us with overwhelming gratitude and wonder. As St Augustine of Hippo wrote, "He became what we are that he might make us what he is."

We are so deeply proud of Jesus Christ, our King who wore a crown of thorns, who conquered not with armies but with love, who defeated death itself through sacrifice. “Christ’s greeting of peace — humble, disarming, and universal — is not just for the faithful, but for all people, every family, and every nation; may we build bridges in dialogue and walk together in his light.” — Pope Leo XIV 

Christ our King is merciful, loving, and just. And His kingdom is here, now, wherever love triumphs over hatred, wherever justice overcomes oppression, wherever peace replaces conflict.

Let us give thanks for a God so powerful yet so tender, so mighty yet so merciful, who would give everything to bring us home.

Christ the King, we praise you! Alleluia! Alleluia!

By Fr. Thomas O'Brien a.a.