Christ the King - Solemnity

2nd book of Samuel

In those days, all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said: "Here we are, your bone and your flesh.
In days past, when Saul was our king, it was you who led the Israelites out and brought them back. And the LORD said to you, 'You shall shepherd my people Israel and shall be commander of Israel.'"
When all the elders of Israel came to David in Hebron, King David made an agreement with them there before the LORD, and they anointed him king of Israel.

Psalms

I rejoiced because they said to me,
"We will go up to the house of the LORD."
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, built as a city
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
The tribes of the LORD.
According to the decree for Israel,
To give thanks to the name of the LORD.
In it are set up judgment seats,
seats for the house of David.

Letter to the Colossians

Brothers and sisters: Let us give thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.
He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him.
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross (through him), whether those on earth or those in heaven.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke

The rulers sneered at Jesus and said, "He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Messiah of God."
Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine
they called out, "If you are King of the Jews, save yourself."
Above him there was an inscription that read, "This is the King of the Jews."
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us."
The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation?
And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal."
Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

St. Clement I(Pope and martyr († 100))

SAINT CLEMENT I POPE AND MARTYR( 100)Dear Brothers and Sisters, Let us devote our attention to the Apostolic Fathers, that is, to the first and second generations in the Church subsequent to the Apostles. Thus, we can see where the Church's journey begins in history.St. Clement, Bishop of Rome during the last years of the first century, was the Successor of Peter after Linus and Anacletus. The most important testimony concerning his life comes from St. Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons until 202. He attests that Clement "had seen the blessed Apostles," "had been conversant with them," and "might be said to have the preaching of the apostles still echoing [in his ears], and their traditions before his eyes" (Adversus Haer. 3, 3, 3).The authority and prestige of St. Clement were such that various writings were attributed to him, but the only one that is certainly his is the Letter to the Corinthians. Eusebius of Caesarea, the great "archivist" of Christian beginnings, presents it in these terms: "There is extant an Epistle of this Clement which is acknowledged to be genuine and is of considerable length and of remarkable merit. He wrote it in the name of the Church of Rome to the Church of Corinth, when a sedition had arisen in the latter Church. We know that this Epistle also has been publicly used in a great many Churches both in former times and in our own" (Hist. Eccl. 3, 16).An almost canonical character was attributed to this Letter. At the beginning of this text - written in Greek - Clement expressed his regret that "the sudden and successive calamitous events which have happened to ourselves" had prevented him from intervening sooner (1, 1). These "calamitous events" can be identified with Domitian's persecution. Therefore, the Letter must have been written just after the Emperor's death and at the end of the persecution: immediately after the year 96.Clement's intervention was prompted by the serious problems besetting the Church in Corinth. The elders of the community had been deposed by some young contestants. The sorrowful event was recalled once again by St. Irenaeus who wrote: "In the time of this Clement, no small dissension having occurred among the brethren in Corinth, the Church in Rome dispatched a most powerful Letter to the Corinthians exhorting them to peace, renewing their faith and declaring the tradition which it had lately received from the Apostles" (Adv. Haer. 3, 3, 3).Thus, we could say that this Letter was a first exercise of the Roman primacy after St. Peter's death. Clement's Letter touches on topics that were dear to St. Paul, who had written two important Letters to the Corinthians, in particular the theological dialectic, perennially current, between the indicative of salvation and the imperative of moral commitment.First of all came the joyful proclamation of saving grace. The Lord forewarns us and gives us his forgiveness, gives us his love and the grace to be Christians: his brothers and sisters. It is a proclamation that fills our life with joy and gives certainty to our action. The Lord always forewarns us with his goodness and the Lord's goodness is always greater than all our sins. However, we must commit ourselves in a way that is consistent with the gift received and respond to the proclamation of salvation with a generous and courageous journey of conversion.The Letter's immediate circumstances provided the Bishop of Rome with ample room for an intervention on the Church's identity and mission. If there were abuses in Corinth, Clement observed, the reason should be sought in the weakening of charity and of the other indispensable Christian virtues. He therefore calls the faithful to humility and fraternal love, two truly constitutive virtues of being in the Church: "Seeing, therefore, that we are the portion of the Holy One," he warned, "let us do all those things which pertain to holiness" (30, 1)."The Lord (delegated) peculiar services (Baptism, Last Supper, etc.) to the high priest, and their own proper place is prescribed to the priests, and their own special ministries devolve on the Levites. The layman is bound by the laws that pertain to laymen" (40, 1-5). It can be noted that here, in this early first-century Letter, the Greek word "laikós" appears for the first time in Christian literature, meaning "a member of the laos"(that is, "of the People of God"). ... Each one (in the Church) ... exercises his ministry in accordance with the vocation he has received.The Father sent Jesus Christ, who in turn sent the Apostles. They then sent the first heads of communities and established that they would be succeeded by other worthy men. Everything, therefore, was made "in an orderly way, according to the will of God" (42). With these words, St. Clement underlined that the Church's structure was sacramental and not political. The action of God who comes to meet us in the liturgy precedes our decisions and our ideas. The Church is above all a gift of God and not something we ourselves created. Consequently, this sacramental structure not only guarantees the common order, but also this precedence of God's gift which we all need.Finally, the "great prayer" confers a cosmic breath to the previous reasoning. ... The prayer for rulers and governors acquires special importance. Subsequent to the New Testament texts, it is the oldest prayer extant for political institutions. Thus, in the period following their persecution, Christians, well aware that the persecutions would continue, never ceased to pray for the very authorities who had unjustly condemned them. The reason is primarily Christological: it is necessary to pray for one's persecutors as Jesus did on the Cross. But this prayer also contains a teaching that guides the attitude of Christians towards politics and the State down the centuries. In praying for the Authorities, Clement recognized the legitimacy of political institutions in the order established by God; ... and expressed his concern that the Authorities would be docile to God, "devoutly in peace and meekness exercising the power given them by [God]" (61, 2).Another sovereignty emerges whose origins and essence are not of this world but of "the heavens above": it is that of Truth, which also claims a right to be heard by the State. ... Let us make our own the invocations of the "great prayer" in which the Bishop of Rome made himself the voice of the entire world: "O Lord, make your face to shine upon us for good in peace, that we may be shielded by your mighty hand ... through the High Priest and Guardian of our souls, Jesus Christ, through whom be glory and majesty to you both now and from generation to generation, for evermore" (60-61).BENEDICT XVI General audience (March 7, 2007)

St. Columban(Abbot († 615))

SAINT COLUMBAN Abbot( 615) St. Columban was born in Ireland during the seventh century. Early in life, he discerned a religious vocation. For leisure, he read spiritual and theological books. After being ordained, Columban went to France and founded several monasteries. He denounced the immoral practices of royal and clerical persons and was exiled. He then went to Italy and founded the monastery of Bobbio. St. Columban reformed clerical organizations and evangelized Europe like many Irish saints. The institutes he founded preserved Western literature and disseminated Christendom. He beholds God face to face forever.

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