Feast of Christ the King
Way back in January we began the year by celebrating the Baptism of Jesus
when a voice was heard calling him ‘the beloved Son’. During the year we
have greeted Jesus under all the views of him we find in the gospels. Now to-
day, at the end of the year, we greet him with the all-embracing title:
Jesus Christ, Universal King.
Jesus couldn’t do much for the man on the cross... his own hands were nailed.
He couldn’t take him off, but he gave him more than he could ask for. He gave
him paradise. Where is God in our suffering? What sort of hope can we find
this week in our country? What with so many horrible atrocities taking place.
What has God and the Church to say? God in his love for his people, and the
Church with its social teachings – have they any message of hope?
Where is God? God did not cause the recession nor murders. We may learn a
lot through it and good may come later or now. Our suffering at the moment is
of human making. Not of our making, but of some of our leaders and bankers,
mostly through greed. God is with us suffering like he was with the thief. He
didn’t cause the suffering of the man on the next cross to him. He wants our
happiness and wants justice and prosperity for all.