By Fr Joshan Rodrigues –
Monarchy and Kingship are outdated concepts in today’s times though vestiges of it continue to exist in the largely ceremonial royal families and palace courts in some parts of the world. Kings and queens though largely bereft of power and authority, continue to command respect, love and a ‘nostalgic’ pride from their ‘subjects’ who look at the monarchy as a unifying factor, embodying the historical and cultural ethos of the nation, while at the same time rising above the fragility and uncertainties of modern day politics and government.
While citizens continue to pay obeisance to a ‘ceremonial’ monarchy, one Kingship has endured from the beginning of time and promises to continue eternally into the future. This King shuns royal garments, ceremonial pomp and the trappings that come with the crown. He is a King that reigns supreme in the hearts and minds of his subjects, a King who goes out into the streets looking for the poor and the outcast, a King who puts himself on the frontlines of battle against evil and tyranny, a King who comforts and brings solace, a King who dwells in the midst of his people, a King whose ‘darbar’ is perpetually open for all those who desire to encounter him.
The Feast of Christ the King was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as an antidote to secularism, a way of life which leaves God out of man’s thinking and living and organizes his life as if God did not exist. A quick glimpse of the international news on television today throws up striking images of political and social unrest, rioting and violent protest taking places in many countries across the globe. Rampant corruption, rising unemployment, a stagnant economy, a deteriorating way of life, environmental destruction and increasing poverty has broken the hope and trust that people reposed in their ‘earthly’ kings and leaders. This is symptomatic of a society that has increasingly turned away from God and placed its trust exclusively in human knowledge and abilities. A ‘Babel-esque’ event inevitably follows.
The feast of the Kingship of Christ is intended to proclaim in a striking and effective manner Christ’s authority and primacy over individuals, families, society, governments, and nations. It is a recognition of the dependence of humanity on its Creator, and a call to humility made through the prism of human insufficiency. It is a time to remember Christ’s words: “In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). At a time, when many political and world leaders are actively trying to root out religion from the social sphere and relegate it to the private sphere of life, while others use God and Religion to sow seeds of division and discontent among their subjects, the conclusion of the Church’s Liturgical Year exhorts us to return back to a society firmly founded on God. Only a God-centred society will be able to achieve true peace and the fullness of life.
There is one profound effect of reaching the end – we always come back to what is essential, to what really matters. And in this significant period between the Kingship of Christ and the coming of the King on Christmas day, we are given a life-altering opportunity to enthrone the King of Kings in our hearts and our way of life. Jesus must reign in my decisions, my actions, my words and my interactions with all God’s children. Jesus’ life must be my quest for imitation.
The Gospel text on the Feast of Christ the King shows Jesus during his last moments on the Cross, hanging in utter weakness and frailty between two thieves, enduring the mocking and insults of the rulers and soldiers, while the world looks on in helplessness. Yet from the depths of pessimism, hopelessness, despair and a humanity struck by evil, Jesus lifts up a repentant thief into heaven, while he sacrifices his own life for the salvation of the world. Truly, this is the ‘Rule’ and ‘Kingship’ that we need both in society and in our personal lives going forward.
Fr Joshan Rodrigues is currently the Managing Editor of The Examiner, Catholic Newsweekly of the Archdiocese of Bombay. He is an alumnus of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome in Institutional and Social Communications. He has done brief stints with the DeSales Media Group in Brooklyn, New York and Communications Office of the Episcopal Conference of England and Wales, London. He frequently blogs on faith and culture in ‘Musings in Catholic Land’.
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