I hope everyone had an enjoyable thanksgiving!
Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King which closes the liturgical year. As we enter the final week in ordinary time, approaching the Advent and Christmas season, I feel optimistic.
There's an anecdote about parents who had twins, one always optimistic, the other pessimistic. The parents went to a psychologist to better understand these personalities. The psychologist recommended this: for their birthday, buy the pessimist the best bicycle you can find; and for the optimist, go to a horse stable and gather into a gift box “stuff” from the stable floor.
When the twins opened their gifts, the pessimist began to whine about the bicycle color and lack of gadgets. Meanwhile, the optimist ripped open his box and gleefully giggled. “There’s gotta be a pony here somewhere!” The moral of the story: be an optimist. Look for the good.
Yes, during the liturgical year, the history of our salvation begins with hope for a Messiah in Advent; then moves to the Messiah's birth at Christmas; after that, to the dying and rising of Jesus Christ at Easter; and finally, after ordinary time, the second coming of Christ in glory in today’s Gospel.
The word of God carries us back to the sixth century before Jesus. Ezekiel here criticizes the kings of Israel as wicked, false shepherds, and describes the Hebrews as lost, injured, sick. The author wonders whether there is a Power beyond us who can set things right.
Our Christian heritage says Jesus of Nazareth is that Power, once dead and now alive, who seeks the lost, cares for the injured and heals the sick. Yes, Jesus Christ is the One who re-establishes our relationship with God and our fellow human beings.
St. Paul in his letter to the Christian community at Corinth speaks about life and death, good and evil, and the triumphant return of Jesus. Then the Son will hand over the kingdom to his heavenly Father.
Meantime, we are called to be co-workers with God in ushering in that kingdom. We are called upon to build here and now a social order founded upon truth, justice, love and freedom.
The Gospel describes the final round-up in the parable about judgment. How will God judge us? By how we treat people. In people, we encounter God. Love of God is inseparable from love of our fellow human beings.
Many people still cry out for freedom from systems that dehumanize them. These crises are as painful today as in the times of the British-American activist Thomas Paine, who wrote: "...we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." That's optimism.
Yes, people yearn for a livable, viable social order built upon truth, justice, love and freedom.
Truth is powerful in our Christian heritage. What we say ought to be in sync with what is. Yes, truth is essential in a good social order, and in all our relationships.
Justice is a second powerful element. Give everyone his or her due. To treat others unfairly, to refuse another what is his or her due, is an injustice.
A third powerful word in the Christian heritage is love. Love recognizes that every human being is made in the image of God. Love compels us to go out to others and in reaching out, we reach up to the Other, God Himself. Unfortunately, many limit their love—to their “own kind.” Yet, sharing God's unconditional love is essential to become the best version of oneself.
Freedom is also powerful if we use our freedom well. God became one of us in Jesus to free us from all that keeps us from a relationship with God, one another and the universe. To be freed from is one side of the coin. St. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “You were called to freedom...to be servants.” Yes, we are free so we can serve.
All around us are people with hungers: for bread, for peace, for justice. Only a social order based upon truth, justice, love and freedom can satisfy these hungers. Such a social order frees us to become the best version of ourselves. Often we would like to help someone, but it seems to come at a bad time for us. Yet, putting aside our inconvenience -- being free to compassionately help someone else in need -- is holiness: discipleship.
Christ, the Shepherd-King, calls us to realize that among the many blessings we have from God is the gift to share what we have with others.
And in doing so, we become co-workers with God in building up His kingdom. May we be truly thankful for that opportunity. Amen.
