Dear Friends,

I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving. I can’t believe it’s already here. Although our circumstances might seem less than ideal this year, I’m hopeful that our observance of Thanksgiving will help us continue to cultivate a grateful outlook on life.

This weekend, we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. This is the last Sunday of the liturgical calendar, and it's right that our church year culminates in this feast. Jesus' kingship undergirds every aspect of Christian life and worship.

Jesus is King. Let's look at what that means.

The narrative thrust of the entire New Testament is that God has become king in and as Jesus of Nazareth. This is the substance of the Christian Gospel (the euangelion, the Good News).

It seems strange to claim that Jesus is King of the Universe when the world is such a mess. But that's actually part of the point.

The world is a mess because we haven't yet lived up to our calling. Man was made to bring God's loving rule to life in the world, but the same free will we need to animate this mission has been co-opted for our own purposes.

But Jesus, embodying God's perfect rule of love, freely and fully lives out man's original calling. Bringing us to new life by his Spirit, King Jesus empowers us to live by - and be agents of - God's rule of self-giving love in and for the world.

That's the primary way Christ's kingship works: in and through his faithful followers. When we abandon ourselves to God - giving our total, undying, allegiance to Christ the King - we bring God's love to life for everyone we encounter.

¡Viva Cristo Rey! Long Live Christ the King!

In the Peace of Christ,

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ

PS Ever wonder what δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ means? It's Saint Paul's Greek expression that translates “Slave of King Jesus"!