His unique holiness.
Friday, November 20, 2020 at 11:13AM 
for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.
At the moment we in the United States are rightly concerned (obsessed?) with the election, an odd transition, the constitution. And Sunday is the Feast of Christ the King.
This is from Fr. Michael at All Saints Margaret Street --
Jesus' kingship is to be understood in that context: it is a re-set of what royalty and power means. The authority of Jesus is not dynastic or constitutional but born of his unique holiness. No one on earth conferred that authority on him and no one could take it away. His kingdom, as we hear in Sunday's Gospel, is one that attends to people who are ignored in every other kingdom: the poor, the broken and the wounded. Christ the King comes among us, in his kingdom, like that, in solidarity with the poorest of his brothers and sisters. His royal progress is Palm Sunday. But it is also Good Friday and Easter. Jesus was born and lived and ministered and died and rose again to remind us that true celebrity, true royalty, true distinction belongs to every one of us, for we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people set apart. We need to take that seriously: who we are and the priorities of the kingdom we serve are as counter-cultural today as they were in Jesus' time.
Throughout his ministry Jesus shared forgiveness; even as he died on the cross he was still doing that. He died as he had lived, reaching out to the distressed on either side of him, still finding time for others in the midst of his own suffering. The crown he wore was made of thorns; his throne was the cross; his royal banner was an ironic scribbled sign that proclaimed him 'King' of the Jews. There is the Gospel image of royalty: the king and the criminal who go together into paradise, This is the king we celebrate and whose values we are pledged to live by. We see his kingship above all in the resurrection, the defeat of death and the affirmation of true life.
This sentence caught my attention - " The authority of Jesus is not dynastic or constitutional but born of his unique holiness." There's the connection with parish development. Of course we should care about the here and now affairs of our nation and world. And, the primary contribution we can make to all that is to be the Body of Christ. We can continue the apostolic practice of the daily prayers of the church and the Sunday Eucharist. We can open ourselves to holiness of life. We can shape an apostolic climate in the parish.
The parish is not a political club, nor is it a social justice movement, nor a society for the preservation of old ways, nor a medical clinic--though at times we may engage work of such a nature. The parish is the Body of Christ in place. Much of our fear and anxiety, our frustration and anger, will ease as we focus ourselves on the places of our influence and duty.
Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
rag+
Reader Comments (4)
Holiness is itself a scary path. Too often we may confuse it with self-righteousness or being puritanical - it's easy to recoil from those things and avoid the real work of holiness, of conforming ourselves to Christ. It's also easy to dismiss holiness as something unattainable, something those saints of old achieved but which we can't approach and so don't bother trying. I like the explicit connection of holiness to parish development, as well as noting it starts simply with clergy teaching parishioners to pray and with parishioners developing their own capacity for prayer. I'm reminded of Evelyn Underhill's statement that saints "do not stand aside wrapped in delightful prayers and feeling pure and agreeable to God. They go right down into the mess; and there, right down in the mess, they are able to radiate God because they possess him. And that, above all else, is the priestly work that wins and heals souls." Any parish development work that forms saints through prayer, engages the mess, and radiates God in the process has to be doing something right!
I don’t much new to offer to these two posts except that I was in profound agreement with them. Christ the King just might just be my favorite lesser-known Feast because of what Bob and Michael have said. It is a feast that helps us think about priorities and perspective. Where and how does Christ fit in our lives? Who is our king? And Michelle nailed the challenges I experience in my context - an aversion to holiness for fear of being too pious, puritanical, or not worthy. I think part of the journey of embracing holiness is following the calendar more intentionally with observance of feasts and fasts throughout the week/month/year. Taking off work for the feast of the Epiphany in January 6 would be an example. Making holidays holy days.
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