Dear Friends in Christ:
This weekend we come to the Feast of Christ the King and the close of the liturgical year. What a year it has been! Soon we will be changing with our secular calendar to a new year on January 1. Most, if not all of us, will be glad to put 2020 behind us. Without a doubt, 2020 has presented us with pains and struggles in abundance but there is more to this year than that. Today’s Feast reminds us that even in the midst of struggle and pain there is cause for rejoicing. And what is that cause? Very simply, the cause of our joy is Jesus who is “the same yesterday, today and forever!” (Heb 13.8). Even in the pandemic, in the midst of social strife and division and so much more, Jesus Christ is still Lord! Christ is our King and heaven is our true and eternal home. Even in these troubled times, we joyfully proclaim Jesus Christ as our Lord and King. He and He alone reigns in our hearts and in our lives. Whenever we encounter pain or doubt, sadness or struggle, this is the time for us to remember this wonderful and beautiful truth!
Our greatest threat during the past year has not been the coronavirus but fear, pride, anger, and judging. Viruses can only attack our bodies but sin attacks and destroys our souls, our relationships, and our communities. We have learned that the virus has a certain rate of contagion but it has been nothing compared to the transmission rate of fear, doubt, and sin that has run so rampant. This year, the Feast of Christ the King is a call to each of us to renew our allegiance, trust and faith in Jesus Christ. While many are waiting for a cure and a vaccine for COVID-19, we already have a cure for sin and death, fear and despair. The cure is Jesus! Like a medicine that has great healing power, Jesus is the cure for all that weighs us down, divides us and ails us. Jesus is both the doctor of souls and the medicine that heals wounded lives. To experience the healing power of Jesus, all we need is to turn and ask Him to come into our hearts each day, to be with us and guide us. Go to Jesus in the sacraments and receive the medicine of His divine grace. With heart and mind say to Him, Jesus, I trust in You.
It is fascinating but not surprising that our world finds itself at this point. The world has been on a path of removing God from our lives for some time. Secularism is an ideology that attempts to remove God and faith in God from people’s lives and from society. Secularism attempts to create a society that makes no allowance for God, religious faith or worship. For many years we have seen a gradual decrease in the number of believing Christians in our society. We have witnessed a gradual and accelerating erosion of Christian values and rights of Christians while, at the same time, an increase in hostility, intolerance and violence towards Christians. Sadly, this has been done by many people who claim to be Christian. In our country, we have seen the sad irony that in the name of protecting lives from COVID, churches have been closed by the government but abortion clinics are allowed to remain open! In England, where there is a lock down, non-essential travel has been prohibited but travel for euthanasia and assisted suicide is permitted! St. John Paul II, in his encyclical, Redemptoris Missio, written in 1990, wrote of the urgency of missionary activity by the Church. He stated that his call to action was due to a modern world which has experienced marvelous achievements but which seems to have lost its sense of ultimate realities and of existence itself. How true!
These are indeed interesting times to say the least. Yet, even in these interesting and challenging times, our mission remains. And the mission is urgent. Our mission is to joyfully and boldly proclaim in word and in action that Jesus Christ is King of the Universe. Our world and our nation need Jesus. Our families need Jesus. You and I need Jesus each and every day.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens! He chose us in him, before the world began to be holy and blameless in his sight.” ~Eph 1:3, 4
Praised be Jesus Christ, Our Lord and King! Now and Forever!
In pace Christi,
Fr. Troy