Celebrating Christ the King

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

 

THIS should be a big celebration, the culmination of all liturgical celebrations we have had for the whole liturgical year which ends precisely with the Solemnity of our Lord, Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

The occasion should remind us that what we begin we should end well, that ending well ultimately means making Christ our king, the “all in all” in us, the be-all and end-all of our life, and that the way to achieve it is to learn to love the way Christ has loved us and continues to love us.

Learning the art of ending things in general well is not a matter of solving all our problems and perfectly achieving all the earthly goals we have set for ourselves. That will never happen. When we die, there will still be unfinished businesses, let alone, problems unsolved, challenges not yet tackled.

Rather, ending things well is a matter of reconciling ourselves with God and with everybody else. Thus, every day, before we go to bed, we should make sure that we ask forgiveness from God for any weakness, fault or sin we may have committed during the day, as well as asking forgiveness from anyone whom we may have wronged in some way.

We should also be forgiving of anyone who may also have done us some wrong. That way, we would be at peace with everyone as we take our daily rest at night that should somehow be an image of our eternal rest with God in heaven for all eternity. Yes, we should be doing this even if there are still things to be done, fixed and improved. This is how we should end the day until the end of our life comes.

We have to remind ourselves that in the end, it is Christ who will fix everything. Ours is simply to go along with his will and ways as best that we can, knowing that our best can never be enough or that our best can always be made better.

Now, if we want Christ to be our everything, our king in the fullest sense of the word, then we should follow as closely possible the new or the last commandment that he told us. It’s the commandment that summarizes all the other previous commandments told to us. And that is to love one another as he, Christ, has loved us and continues to do so.

It’s a love that knows no bounds, that always takes the initiative. It’s freely given even if it is not properly reciprocated. We should see to it that everything that we do here on earth, or that we get involved in, no matter how mundane, technical, insignificant human speaking, should redound to the development and growth of love that is a participation of the love Christ himself has lived and commanded us to have.

And that can mean, as we are reminded in the gospel of the Solemnity of Christ the King, that we truly reach out to the poor, those in the peripheries, and even those who may be in the mainstream of society but who are unlovable because of how they are and of what they have done.

This is the love that is expected of us and that would resemble us with Christ. We have to go all the way to loving even the enemies, as Christ himself has told us. This is how we can truly make Christ our King!

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com