Readings
Reading I: Daniel 7:13-14 |
Preaching TipBe Careful of Atomizing the Liturgical Calendar
Today we are at the end of another liturgical calendar year. Usually, this weekend we are already swamped with Advent preparations and the beginning of the next liturgical year. We can pause for a moment to recall a very important habit that we as preachers should bear in mind as we move along into another liturgical year.
The early Church had a liturgical calendar that was quite empty at the beginning. They did not celebrate today’s feast of Christ the King, for example. Nor did they have an Advent or Lenten season. There was no Ash Wednesday, no Divine Mercy Sunday, and no Corpus Christi processions.
On top of that, at the time, they had few saints to celebrate. So, there were no parades for St. Patty’s Day, no throat blessings for St. Blaise, no animal blessings for St. Francis, and no parish patron saint to celebrate.
In a sense, there were fewer liturgical “distractions”. The focus was on the Paschal Mystery. Easter was the day to which the whole year pointed. Every Sunday could be seen as a “little Easter” in the sense that it was the Lord’s Day.
This meant that the Sunday masses had a very clear relation to the greatest of all Sundays: Easter. For our brother priests in the early Church, the centrality of the Paschal Mystery was easier to maintain, as there was little other liturgical “competition”.
Fast forward 2000 years and with the plethora of liturgical celebrations, the centrality of the Paschal Mystery can only be maintained with more intentional effort. We are often tempted to “atomize” a feast day and to consider it as a stand-alone celebration. However, everything points back to the central mystery of our faith: the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ.
Today’s feast is a prime example of this. The Gospel for the feast of Christ the King links us back to the suffering of Jesus before Pilate.
To make this connection repeatedly is not a mere pedagogical tool but is theologically an accurate approach to preaching. This intentional effort is what the Homiletic Directory of 2014 reminds us to do:
“The homily is shaped by a very simple dynamic: it reflects on the meaning of the readings and prayers of a given celebration in light of the Paschal Mystery; and it leads the assembly to the Eucharistic celebration in which they have communion in the Paschal Mystery itself.” (Homiletic Directory 15)
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B Cristo Rey
REY DE CORAZONES
Jesucristo es el Señor. “A Él se le dio poder, honor y reino”. Creemos en Él como Hijo de Dios que se ha encarnado en Jesús de Nazareth; como hermano que ha sido glorificado; como Palabra de Dios que nos ha salvado; como muerto que ha resucitado. Cristo es el Rey que está al servicio de la verdad. ¿Qué es la verdad? preguntó Pilato y sigue preguntando el hombre de hoy. Ha venido a este mundo para ser “testigo de la verdad”. La fiesta de Cristo Rey es el broche de oro del año litúrgico y compromete a todo cristiano a luchar para establecer su Reino en su propio corazón, en la sociedad y en el mundo entero.
Hermanas y hermanos:
1. Hoy cerramos el año litúrgico, y la Iglesia nos invita a concentrar toda nuestra mente y nuestro corazón en quien es el centro de nuestra fe, el principio y el fin de la misma, Jesucristo el Señor. Hoy queremos proclamar a Jesucristo como Rey, como aquel personaje que condensa en sí todas las aspiraciones de la humanidad.
2. En nuestra vida cristiana, Cristo Rey ejerce su dominio: sobre nuestra inteligencia por medio de la fe, sobre nuestro corazón por medio del amor, sobre nuestra voluntad y sobre nuestra vida por la sumisión a su Voluntad. Es el alfa y la omega de todo lo que pensamos, de todo lo que amamos y de aquello que somos. Una pregunta surca la historia de la humanidad: ¿Quién soy para ti? Jesús es poco amado porque es poco conocido. Jesús es poco seguido, Jesús es la Verdad más profunda que tenemos.
3. ¡Yo soy la Verdad y la vida! Dice Jesús. Sabemos que la Verdad nos hará libres. ¡Pero qué difícil es vivir la propia verdad como criatura, creyente y apóstol! ¿Qué es la verdad? ¿Un deseo sincero de instruirse? ¿Es indiferencia, escepticismo, ironía? Jesús, testigo de la Verdad está ante el tribunal del mundo. Es frecuente que juzguemos a Jesús. ¿Qué es la verdad en nuestra vida de cristianos? No debemos temer a la verdad de nosotros mismos. Pedro tuvo conciencia de ella un día y dijo a Jesús: “Apártate de mí, Señor, que soy un hombre pecador”. No debemos tener miedo.
Hermanos: Estamos llamados a ser testigos de la Verdad, una especie de resplandor de Jesús. La Verdad, que es Dios, brilla para todos, aunque muchos se sientan ofuscados por tanta claridad y prefieren cerrar los ojos por comodidad. Celebremos hoy la fiesta de Cristo rey en la humildad y en la sencillez; celebrémosla en el silencio de un amor generoso, totalmente volcados al servicio de la humanidad. Nuestro rey viene del cielo: Es el triunfo del amor sobre el odio, de la humildad sobre el orgullo, del servicio fraterno sobre el amor.
El cristiano debe ser un apasionado del Reino. Apasionado en la lucha por conseguir que el hombre viva con más verdad y vida, más santidad y gracia, más justicia, amor y paz. “Dios no manda cosas imposibles, sino que, al mandar lo que manda, te invita a hacer lo que puedas y pedir lo que no puedas y te ayuda para que puedas”, como bien dice San Agustín. Que así sea.
Solemnity of Christ the King, Year B
THE KING OF HEARTS
Jesus Christ is Our Lord! "To Him was given all power, honor and the Kingdom". We believe that He is the incarnate Son of God in Jesus of Nazareth; He is a brother that has been glorified; He is the Word of God who has saved us; He is the One who died and that Resurrected. Christ is the King who is at the service of Truth. What is the truth?, asked Pilate and this question continues to be asked by mankind today. Christ has come to this world to be the "Witness of the Truth". The Feast of Christ King is the golden clasp of the liturgical year, for it binds every Christian to fight to establish His Kingdom in our own heart, in society, and in the entire world.
Sisters and brothers:
1. Today we close the liturgical year, and the Church invites us to concentrate all our mind and our heart in the One, who is the center of our faith, the principle and the end of all, Jesus Christ - Our Lord. Today we want to proclaim Jesus as our King, as that personage who condenses in Himself all the aspirations of all humanity.
2. In our Christian life, Christ the King exercises His dominion: over our intelligence - through our faith, over our heart - through His love, over our will and our life - in submission to his Will. He is the Alpha and the Omega of everything that we think, of everything that we love and of all that we are. A question cuts through history for all humanity: Who am I for you? Jesus is loved by few - because He is known by few. Jesus is followed by few, yet Jesus is the only profound Truth that we have.
3. I am the Truth and the life!, says Jesus. We know that the Truth will set us free. Yet how difficult it is to live this truth as a creature, in faith, and as an apostle! What is the truth? A sincere desire to be instructed? Is it indifference, skepticism, irony? Jesus, the Witness to the Truth, stands before the tribunal court of the world. He is frequently the One that we judge. So what is the truth in our Christian life? We should not fear the truth of what we really are. This truth touched Peter's conscience one day and he told Jesus: "Set Yourself apart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man". We should not be afraid.
Brothers and sisters: We are called to be witnesses of the Truth, to be a brightness in humanity for Jesus. The Truth, that is God, shines for all of us, although many will stay seated, dazzled by so much clarity, for they prefer to close their eyes to their comfort. Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King in humility and in simplicity; we celebrate it in the silence of a generous love, completely given over to the service of humanity. Our King comes from Heaven: He is the triumph of love over hatred, of humility over pride, of brotherly service over false attachments.
The Christian should be ardently in love with the Kingdom. Impassioned in the fight to show mankind how to live with truth and a full life, with more holiness and grace, with more justice, love and peace. "God does not give us impossible tasks, but, upon giving us what He gives, He invites us to do what we are able to do, then He asks us to do what we are not able to do and He helps us to be able to do so", as is well stated by St. Augustine. May it be - Amen.