Mother Church celebrates this Sunday, November 26, 2023 as the thirty fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, the last Sunday of Liturgical Year A. It is the Solemnity of Christ as the King of the Universe. In the Entrance Antiphon we pray: “The Lamb who was slain is worthy to receive strength and divinity, wisdom and power and honor: to him be glory and power for ever. Amen.”
The readings of this day's Eucharist centre on the kingship of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In the first reading, the prophet Ezekiel outlines the duties of a good shepherd, one who takes good care of his flock. We are here in the presence of a different kind of king, one who truly serves his people, instead of the other way round. In the second reading, from the First Letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul tells his converts of Corinth of the entire messianic and redemptive work of Christ who, by decree of the Father, was made Lord of the universe. In the Gospel, Matthew gives us an apocalyptic vision of the last judgment, when all the nations – without distinction between Jew and Gentile – are assembled before the Lord on the last day. Those who have invested their talents well for the benefit of the less fortunate brothers and sisters will be rewarded while those who bury their own God-given talent by not stretching out their hand of brotherhood to the poor and the needy will be sent to eternal damnation. In the course of this Eucharist, let us pray for the grace to follow Christ, the Universal King, so that when our time on earth runs out, we will be enlisted among the righteous ones who are invited to enter into the glory of his heavenly kingdom.
First Reading: Ezekiel 34: 11-2, 15-17
Thus says the Lord God: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark. I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord God. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy, shepherding them rightly. As for you, my sheep, says the Lord God, I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats.
Comment
The prophet Ezekiel is one of the major prophets of the Bible, alongside Isaiah, Jeremiah, Baruch and Daniel. He lived during the Babylonian exile, among Jews who settled in Babylon, having been taken away when King Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem in 597 BC. The Book of Ezekiel is one of the greatest works of the Bible, providing a magnificent panorama of what the future holds in store for humanity and the world. His ministry lasted over twenty years, a time contemporary with two other Major Prophets, Daniel and Jeremiah.
In the passage selected for our meditation, Ezekiel talks about the duties of a good shepherd. He should be one who can pasture his sheep, seek out the lost ones, bring back the strayed, bind the wounds of the injured, and heal the sick. This is a different kind of king-shepherd from the princes, priests, elders and professional prophets of those days, and of our day, who exploit the people for their own personal gain. Ezekiel uses this image of king-shepherd to rebuke the kings and priests of Israel, and through them those who are ruling over us these days, for their abuse of power and slackness in office. He proclaims that God would give his people new shepherds, who would pasture them with integrity.
He warns the kings that Yahweh will take back from them the flock they have ill-treated and give his people a shepherd of his own choice, another David. This is the messianic age in which God himself, by means of his Messiah, will rule over his people with justice and peace. In this text of Ezekiel, we already see the outline of the parable of the Lost Sheep but more especially the allegory of the Good Shepherd. Jesus is that Messiah, the Good Shepherd, who came to serve and not to be served. This is the kind of king we Christians are called upon to follow.
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, because you are our good shepherd, help us all to be the sheep of your flock. Gather all into the fold of your love so that there may be but one flock, and only one shepherd: you, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.
Second Reading: 1 Cor 15: 20-26, 28.
Brothers and sisters: Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through man, the resurrection of the dead came also through man. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life, but each one in proper order: Christ the first fruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ; then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. When everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.
Comment
A short history of the Letter to the Corinthians is in order. Corinth was one of the most important commercial cities in the Roman Empire. From Acts of the Apostles (18: 1-18), we know that Saint Paul founded the Church of Corinth with the help of Silas and Timothy, during his second missionary journey. Saint Paul is said to have arrived from Athens, where he had made few converts, despite his brilliant discourse at the Areopagus, the place where he is said to have preached the Good News for the first time in a language the ordinary people could understand. He spent more than a year and a half teaching in Corinth – the period from 50 – 52 A. D. Even though his preaching made many converts in that city, he also faced considerable opposition from prominent Jews, who brought charges against him to the Roman proconsul, Gallio. Considering it a simple quarrel among the Jews over their religious matters of no interest to the Roman Empire, Gallio took no action against Paul.
In the passage the Church has selected for our meditation this day, Saint Paul insists on the solidarity that should exist between Christ and Christians, as members of one body, of which Christ is the head. Once the resurrection of Christ is affirmed, the resurrection of the just and the righteous necessarily follows. He tells his converts of Corinth, and us, listening to this broadcast, that Adam’s disobedience brought death for all; but through Jesus, the new Adam, we have been given the chance to rise to eternal life.
Christ’s sovereignty over all creation comes about in history, but it will achieve its final, complete form after the Last Judgement. The Apostle presents that last event – a mystery to us – as a solemn act of homage to the Father. Christ will offer all creation to his Father as a kind of trophy, offering him the Kingdom which up to then had been confided to his care. From that moment on, Saint Augustine tells us, the sovereignty of God and Christ will be absolute, they will have no enemies, no rivals; the stage of combat will give way to that of contemplation.
As we celebrate the solemnity of Christ the King, we acknowledge his absolute sovereignty over all created things. On instituting this feast, Pope Pius XI pointed out “that Christ must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the teachings of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God above all things, and cleave to him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls, or, to use the words of the Apostle Paul, as instruments of righteousness unto God.”
Let us pray to the Holy Spirit to increase our faith so we can better understand the mystery of the kingship Christ is proposing for us today; so that we can better serve, rather than wait and expect others to serve us. We make our supplication through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Gospel: Matthew 25: 31-47.
Jesus said to his disciples: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Comment
The Solemnity of Christ the King, as we said in the introduction to this meditation, brings the liturgical year A to a close. A new season, Advent, is about to start and with it a new liturgical year B. Over the past months, we have celebrated the mysteries of the life of the Lord. Now we contemplate Christ in his glorified state as King of all creation and of our souls. The feasts of the Epiphany, Easter and Ascension also relate to Christ as King and Lord of the Universe.
The texts for today’s Mass emphasize the love of Christ the King. He did not come to establish his kingdom by force. His weapons are goodness and a shepherd’s care. As we heard the prophet Ezekiel in the first reading: “I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness” (Eze 14: 11-12).
The Lord goes for his lost sheep, that is to those men and women who have gone astray through sin. He takes care to heal their wounds. He goes so far as to die for his sheep. Saint John Paul II says that “As king, Christ came to reveal God’s love, to be the Mediator of the new Covenant, the Redeemer of mankind. The kingdom which Jesus initiated works in its interior dynamism as ‘leaven’ and a ‘sign of salvation’ to build a more just, more fraternal world, one with more solidarity, inspired by the evangelic values of hope and of the future happiness to which all are called.”
Each of us is therefore called upon to participate in the building of Christ’s kingdom and expand it through our apostolate. We should bring the Lord into our families, our work places, and our neighbourhoods. Those whom the Lord blesses are not always conscious of having done any special service to Jesus. They ask: “When did we see you hungry and feed you, naked and clothed you?” They have responded with mercy to those in need, without giving much thought to what they are doing. Christ looks upon every kindness done to a person in need, however lowly, as a kindness done to himself.
Those cursed bring doom upon themselves because they fail to respond to simple human needs they see before them. The Gospel challenges us to interpret what we see. Christ still suffers in the people around us who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick and imprisoned. To pay attention to them is to pay attention to Christ himself. As Pope Francis puts it, “Poverty in the world is a scandal. In a world where there is so much wealth, so many resources to feed everyone, it is unfathomable that there are so many hungry children, that there are so many children without an education, so many poor persons. Poverty today is a cry.”
When Pope Francis talks about poor and hungry children without and education, I think of our own children in the northwest and southwest regions who have been deprived of the right to go to school by this senseless war prosecuted by the forces of darkness parading under empty political slogans. We need peace now more than ever before in our land. In his message of last Sunday, which was celebrated as the World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis pleaded with us never to turn our faces away from the poor living in our midst. He called for an end to the wars that are raging across the globe and here in our beloved Cameroon.
In his beautiful book, Harden Not Your Hearts, Cameroonian Jesuit Priest, Fr. Kizito Forbi, says that we, Christian followers of Christ, should be Christ’s eyes that see his brothers and sisters who are naked because of the lack of human dignity and fight for their rights. We should be Jesus’ ears that hear the thirsty and hungry crying for water and bread and satisfying their thirst and hunger for freedom, love and justice, for peace, truth and understanding. We, Christians, must be Christ’s heart that feels for the homeless who are rejected by society, especially the refugees from the northwest and southwest regions in our city of Douala.
We are called to serve Christ, our King, through the least of his brothers and sisters, the poor, the marginalised, the hungry, the despised widow and orphan, those who live, as Pope Francis says, at the peripheries of our lives and our cities. Today’s feast is an anticipation of the Second Coming of Christ in power and majesty. His glorious return will fill the hearts of his faithful with joy and wipe away every tear. This feast also invites us to spread the spirit of Christ in all that we do on a daily basis.
Christ’s leadership or kingship has two sides to it: fighting sin through forgiveness and rendering service to the poor of society. May it be our intention throughout this day to serve Christ in our brothers and sisters. Amen.
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