Feast of Christ the King

Apocalypse 19:15-16:

And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two-edged sword, that with it He may strike the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty. And He hath on His garment and on His thigh written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Jesus Christ is not just the Divine Physician, the Good Shepherd, and the Master of Love; He is King. And He is not just any King; He is the King of all Kings.

God made promises to Father Abraham and King David. These promises are revealed in Genesis 22:16-18 and II Kings 7:10-19 respectively:

These prophecies and others like them (e.g., Numbers 24:17-19; Daniel 2:44; Daniel 7:13-14; Psalm 2:2-6; Isaias 9:6-7; Jeremias 23:5) are fulfilled in Christ, Who is King of Israel ("Christ" means "Anointed One," and the anointing referred to is the anointing King David received). Our Lord, though, is not only the ruler of the restored Davidic Kingdom (the Church), but is the King of Kings -- the King of All. The only way for peace to have a chance in this world is for all to see Him for Who He is: the King before Whom we must bow and Whom we must obey.

To those who bring up John 18:36 and say, "but His Kingdom is not of this world, so His Kingship should have nothing to do with politics and how nations are run," heed the words of St. Augustine as recounted in St. Thomas Aquinas's Catena Aurea:

[H]e does not derive His kingdom from the same source that earthly kings do; but that He hath His sovereignty from above; inasmuch as He is not mere man, but far greater and more glorious than man: "If My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews." Here He shews the weakness of an earthly kingdom, that it has its strength from its servants, whereas that higher kingdom is sufficient to itself, and wanting in nothing...

...[W]hen He says, My kingdom is not from hence, He does not deprive the world of His government and superintendence, but only shews that His government is not human and corruptible.

Though this Feast is a new one, promulgated by Pope Pius XI in 1925 in his Encyclical Quas Primas, it is a most awesome and important one, a feast rooted in one of the greatest and most ancient Christian truths: that the Davidic kingdom has been restored, and that Jesus Christ sits on its throne. Quas Primas can be summarized by this excerpt:

On this day, we pray for the conversion of all to Christ, and for all people to work so their governments recognize Him as King and conform their laws to His teachings. This is the only way to peace and a sane social order that truly serves the common good. If you haven't thought about this before, think about it now! To quote myself (from the Traditional Catholicism 101 page):

Someone's ideas of morality -- of the True, Good, and Beautiful, of what should be allowed and disallowed -- will prevail. If one stops to think about it, it is quite obvious that there are only a few options in this regard:

We can have no rule of law at all.
We can have a rule of law based on Catholic morality -- rooted in natural law and the Catholic view of the Common Good, and marked by common sense tolerance -- and have our civic holidays and symbolism based on that belief system.
We can have a rule of law based on Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Wiccan, or other non-Catholic views of morality, and have our civic holidays and symbolism based on that belief system.
We can have a rule of law based on secular precepts of radical individualism and tolerance for the sake of tolerance, the effects of which:

deny any role of religion or of the religious in the public sphere unless they deny their own precepts. This forces the religious into "schizophrenic" lives split in half between their "religious, private selves" and their "public, political selves";
end in abortion, "homosexual marriage," euthanasia, divorce, rampant pornography, un-Catholic economic systems, the genital mutilation of children, attacks on the family via social programs (or, in a libertarian system of this sort, result in no support via acknowledgment of the rights of fathers), etc. One need not be religious to see the social effects of such policies;
secularize historically Christian holidays and symbolism in order to appease all religions, either denying those things any civic status at all, or forcing recognition of these aspects of all religious systems equally, giving equal weight in law, for ex., to Satanism, Scientology, and Wicca;
sacrifice: man's needs for culture (rooted in the word "cult"); a society's need of a shared vision of the Good, True, and Beautiful; and a sense of historical continuity and rootedness, all in favor of ideologies which have shown themselves to be divisive and socially and psychologically unsatisfying.
result in "the paradox of tolerance" which Karl Popper wrote about, whereby unlimited tolerance results in the intolerant seizing power. Tolerance itself cannot be the highest value.

That's it. Those are the options. Which builds community, a sense of place, of belonging and rootedness? Which system is more likely to be coherent and lead to happiness? Which supports strong families and a sane social order? Which is consistent with Catholic teaching? Which is most likely to lead to the salvation of souls? And why do so many think that the secular-minded have more of a "right" than Christians do to determine the moral thinking that undergirds law?

Christians must become more bold in asserting the truth of Christ's Kingship! Doing this is not a push for some sort of theocracy (the rule of priests); St. Augustine wrote clearly, centuries ago, about the differences between the City of God and the City of Man. No, it's a simple matter of realizing that there can be no peace, justice, or good order without a rule of law based on a true idea of the nature of man, and without concepts of the True, Good, and Beautiful that are rooted in reality.

Customs

Today you may receive a plenary indulgence by praying the Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart, going to Confession, and receiving the Eucharist. We beg God to bring all people to Him and to be our King. Read more about this on the page about Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. There will be a Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament after Mass, too.

If you haven't consecrated your home by Enthronement of the Sacred Heart, today is another perfect day to do so! If you've already done so, it is a good day to renew the consecration!

Another way to consecrate yourself to Christ the King:

A beautiful prayer for the day, one originally meant for the Feast of Corpus Christi, but which is also perfect for the Feast of Christ the King is this one:

O sweet Saviour and Redeemer of mankind, Jesus Christ, Who in the impenetrable designs of Thine infinite wisdom bearest with the audacity of the impious and sufferest the violence of the wicked, reserving to Thyself the sovereign right of judging the impious man and his perverse works, turn Thy merciful regard upon Thy children, who in the blindness of their hearts have turned from Thee in rebellion. With the eyes of a Father, and with the power of the sovereign King of the Universe, stretch forth Thy hand to bless and regenerate modern society, which is rebelliously turning its back upon Thee, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Be moved to compassion for Thy people, whom Thou hast purchased with Thy Blood, regenerated with Thy grace, and exalted with Thy love. Thou hast given them true liberty, Thou hast called them to the inheritance of thy Father, Thou hast numbered them among Thy brethren; but in the delirium of their rebellion they have preferred the slavery of Satan, and live in abject misery, without joy, without hope.

O my Lord Jesus Christ, King of eternal glory, restorer of all things in heaven and on earth, supreme and omnipotent, who with infinite wisdom reunitest at Thy feet things scattered and dispersed; enlighten the Kings of the earth, the rulers of nations; instil Thy spirit into all civil institutions, into every form of government, into laws and armies; grant that all the powers of earth may recognize in Thee the majesty of the eternal God, the source from which all authority is derived; illuminate the nations that they may understand that Thou art the origin of rights and duties, that it is through Thee that the Kings of the earth rule, and that it is to Thee that Kings and people alike owe obedience. O most sweet Jesus, Tho hast deigned to descend into this valley of tears, and to dwell with us, suffering and dying for the salvation of us sinners, and who in an excess of charity hast set up Thy abode in the midst of men, hidden under the sacramental species, and who in the fullness of the Godhead, corporally present in our tabernacles, makest Thyself the food and life of our souls; oh, receive the humble but sincere and profound homage of our hearts, offered in reparation for the falling away of the rebellious. We firmly believe in Thee and all that the faith infused into our hearts by the Holy Spirit has revealed to us about Thee. We see in Thee the beginning and the end of all existing things, we adore Thee as the one true God, we wish to live only for Thee and in Thy service. Do Thou, O Lord, save our brethren, reunite the scattered members of modern society gone astray, that we as brethren may together be one with Thee, as Thou art one with Thy Father in Heaven. May Thy will be done by all and in everything. May Thy Majesty shine forth on the throne of thy earthly dominion, and the world confess Thee to be the true Son of God, through Whom all things were created.

O Jesus, God of love, set free from his chains Thy Vicar, the successor of Peter; re-establish him in the exercise of that liberty which Thou Thyself didst give him, together with the supreme keys, that he might effectually carry on Thy work of regenerating mankind; and so hasten on that longed-for day, in which Thou wilt be glorified by the return of Society to its paternal home. Gather together, O King of the nations, the sheep and the lambs under the care of the one shepherd. O Lord, do not abandon us; we are Thy children, we love Thee; recognize us still as thy children, unworthy, yet ever Thine; save us, and together with us, save Kings, Rulers, and Nations. Amen.

And for a litany -- a most complete and intense litany -- The Golden Litany is a good one for this feast.

A good hymn hymn for the day is Christus Vincit, sung here by the Cappella Victoria Jakarta, and conducted by Sabrina Pugliano:

Vivat Christus Rex! (Long live Christ the King!)

See also the Queenship of Mary (31 May); for every king there is a queen, and for Israel, it is the king's mother -- not his wife -- who fulfills the role!.

Note: In the Novus Ordo, this Feast was moved from the last Sunday in October to the last Sunday of the Season after Pentecost, which is the Sunday before Advent Sunday. The effect of this is to interrupt the relationship between the reign of Christ with His Saints, who are commemorated en masse on 1 November, and the necessity of our recognizing His Kingship now, during this "thousand years" of the Church Age. With the Feast moved to the very last Sunday in the Time After Pentecost, it leads one to believe that Christ isn't King now, and that all persons and nations don't need to recognize Him as King now -- but that He will be recognized as King only at the end of time when He reveals Himself at His Second Advent. In other words, the moving of the Feast symbolically defeats the very purpose of the Feast, which is to not only honor the very fact of His Kingship, but to pray for the conversion of all people and nations to His Church so that souls will be saved and the social order will conform to the moral law.

This page is dedicated to my Dad, who died on the Feast of Christ the King, 2012.
If you are reading this, please say an Ave for his soul.