St. William’s Catholic Parish
Greenville, Texas
11 / 20 / 2005
Feast of Christ the King
Jesus said to His disciples, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all His 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 the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen
Yesterday in CCD class I told the children who St. Thomas More was and that he was the Chancellor of England under Henry VIII. I told them of the story of St. Thomas More and how his silence was bellowing up and down the coast of Europe and how King Henry VIII had him executed on July 6, 1535, because St. Thomas opposed Henry VIII separating himself and all of England from Rome and then making himself the spiritual leader of his country and then giving himself permission to divorce his wife and remarry another.
St. Thomas More was completely silent on the matter and never spoke of it, even to his wife. His wife was rather miffed about that; you see they lost their position and income in England and it was very difficult for them to live under such conditions. She thought that if he could confide in anyone, he could confide in her. St. Thomas More was a lawyer and judge, an HONEST lawyer and judge and so he feigned as if he were in court and told his wife,
“Dame Alice, raise your right hand; put your other hand on the Bible and answer this question. Has your husband ever spoken to you in public or in private about the king’s marriage and divorce and the matter of the oath?”
Of course she withdrew her hand because he had spoken not a word to her or anyone. The only one he would speak to was to his King Henry VIII himself, and only in a private audience. His silence was his security but the King found his silence so offensive that on July 6, 1535 he had Thomas More’s head severed from his body.
I was about to take the picture of St. Thomas More away but then I recalled his last words. There he is on the scaffold and the executioner is about to raise the ax and St. Thomas addressed the people. He said,
“I die the King’s good servant but God’s first.”
Today is the Feast of Christ the King. I think it was in 1920’s in Mexico; Padre Pro gave a shout similar to the silence of St. Thomas More centuries before and half a world away. Blessed Miguel Pro, Padre Pro lifted his arms in Catholic Mexico and his last words were,
“Viva Cristo Rey!”
Long live Christ the King! Then the government ordered firing squad shot him to death. MEXICO? Maybe I have the wrong country and this is a world away somewhere else but NOT catholic Mexico! The shout, “Viva Cristo Rey” or “Long live Christ the King”, was disturbing the government of Mexico and they thought by killing Fr. Pro they would get rid of one of the ring leaders; one of those Christians. The shout by Blessed Miguel Augustine Pro and the silence of St. Thomas More separated by geography and language, speaks the same message. There is a God and He is King, King of Heaven and Earth.
If you will look on the front of your bulletin you will see a picture of Christ the King. Notice that Christ has a crown on His head as well as one at His feet. What is that about? Perhaps the artist is representing Christ as King of Heaven and King of Earth; a crown for Heaven and one for Earth.
Before the picture of St. Thomas More was placed over there, there was a very long picture, which was the center section of Van Eycks Adoration of the Mystical Lamb. On the Altar was a lamb and it is a picture of Heaven found in the description of St. John in the Book of Revelation. From all sides people are streaming into Heaven and in the background is the Heavenly Jerusalem. If you recall, I mentioned that there is more to this painting. If that Altarpiece were here…oh, that would be great; be still my beating heart! If it were here, it would easily fill the entire back wall of St. Williams. It is in a Church in the Netherlands; the Church is now a museum because the Faith is almost dead in the Netherlands. But the Adoration of the Mystical Lamb is preserved there. As I said, there is more to the painting. Just above the section with the altar and the Lamb is this image of Christ the King. This is the crowning figure of that Altarpiece.
There are a couple of things about Christ the King I want to mention; you see over in the first stained glass window is a crown and a scepter that has a little ball or orb at the end just like the orb or ball under the feet of Baby Jesus, Infant of Prague, over here and over on the statue of Our Lady of Victory, who is holding the Baby Jesus with an orb in his left hand. Notice that in the Van Eyck painting of Christ the King, Jesus is holding the scepter with His left hand; again showing that it is undeniable…Jesus is left handed. [Laughter] The orb here and the one over there represent the entire universe, everything that is created, He holds in His hand; it is in His power. The scepter goes with the crown because it shows that He holds the Office of King of the Universe. Van Eyck has done a beautiful job here.
I want to show you something else that you could easily overlook. This Altar has stood here for years. In the center oculus mosaic and it is a very fine one. This mosaic is of a pelican plucking its breast. This is a symbol of Christ. Before we got all fancy and scientific people saw the pelican and the way it would feed its young, assuming the pelican would pluck its breast in difficult times in order to bleed and feed its young. This is a figure of Christ. Now, look at the picture again on the front of the bulletin and notice the chair behind Christ. You can see the pattern of the pelican plucking its breast that Van Eyck has painted on the chair. No image is spared for Van Eyck, the master of detail. Notice that Christ has His hand raised in blessing; blessing if you are a sheep and condemnation if you are a goat. That hand is raised in both blessing and condemnation and all the writing above the head of Christ, at His feet, on the band of His cape, and even on the hem of His garment in rich gold, pearls and jewels, speaks of His authority and His being King and Lord of Heaven and Earth. Van Eyck didn’t spare us any detail in expressing this.
This Feast of Christ the King is so important. In the psalms we hear about how the eyes of a slave are always on the hand of his master. If the master’s hand is raised, by the time that sound is made the slave is already on his way to attend his master, just as the servant is ready to serve his king. Christ is the King of the Universe but it has to mean something otherwise it is just a mere symbol and of no consequence to anyone. Again, it was of great consequence to St. Thomas More.
“I die the King’s good servant but God’s first.”
And then we have Blessed Miguel Pro;
“Viva Cristo Rey!”
This Feast Day is very important because the service of Christ is 24/7; we serve Him willingly as our King until we draw our last breath in hopes that we will be welcomed by the Good Shepherd into the Heavenly Jerusalem and worship Him there for all eternity.
Years ago I was about to celebrate Mass with a Nigerian Priest, a Fr. Anthony. He is about this tall. I felt so tall around him. I am not tall but around him I felt like Paul Bunyan. Anyway Fr. and I were getting vested and if I had put on his chasuble I would have known it right away and the reverse is true, right? [Laughter] He would be wondering what all the extra material was there for. So as Fr. Anthony and I were getting ready to celebrate the Mass one of his senior Altar boys came up to him and he was very tall. He came in and announced to Fr. Anthony that this day would be the last time he would be serving Mass. I wish I could do the Nigerian accent but I can’t. It is so cute. Fr. Anthony said to the guy,
“Oh? What is the matter?”
The Altar boy said,
“Well Father, I am too big to serve as an Altar boy.”
Oh, you never, ever want to make a short Nigerian Priest mad. Agh, he pawed the ground and said,
“All these years do you think you have been serving me? Well, you have been mistaken! Anyone who serves at the Altar is serving God!”
Fr. Anthony is right and that young man is still serving Mass. Hahahaha. He’ll retire in a couple of years at the age of ninety-two. [Laughter] But Father Anthony has the nub of this whole issue and there is no escaping it. Either we are in His service or we are outside of His presence and we are with the other goats. Either we are in the presence of Christ the King, Who is also the Good Shepherd or we are with the goats.
I want to back into this Gospel using two examples from my own family. I was either five or six years old and in transition from tricycle to bicycle. I was looking forward to my first bicycle and if you think I am dangerous in a car you should have seen me on a tricycle. Of course I started early, around January announcing that I wanted a bicycle, right? Kids are so subtle. It was a rare time and my dad had either been fazed out of his job or they let him go or he quit, I forget which one it was but he was out of work. My mother’s paycheck was the only one coming in. I have two older sisters and a younger brother and we are all fourteen months apart and since I was five or six at the time…well, you can do the math on the others.
My mother was working for Mr. Hagar of Hagar slacks. In fact I was looking at the history behind the construction of St. Williams in one of the old Texas Catholic editions and Mr. Hagar and his family contributed a lot to the construction of this Church. The second stained glass window of the Holy Spirit on this side of the Church holds the name of the Hagar family at the bottom. Well, my mother was working for Mr. Hagar and the pay was good. There is a little side story to this…Mr. Hal Tehan, who really put the Catholic Foundation on the map, was the Chief Financial Officer for Mr. Hagar and he stormed into Mr. Hagar’s office one day because Mr. Hagar had given my mother a twenty-five cent raise an hour. Their policy said only five-cent increments were possible. Mr. Hagar told Mr. Tehan that she was worth four times the twenty-five cents and excused him from the room. Anyway, Mr. Tehan laughs about that today when my mother reminds him.
Anyway, things were tough and my parents didn’t know where the money for Christmas gifts for the kids were going to come from that year. Then Mr. Hagar gave my mother a big Christmas bonus. Here comes Christmas, right? My dad stayed up all night putting my policeman’s bicycle together. It looked like a real policeman’s motorcycle with the windshield and had the name of the Dallas police written on the front with streamers coming down the handle bars…training wheels….[Laughter] My dad put it together and we have silent movies of this and I am glad they are silent because when my mother presented him with the box containing the leftover parts…I am glad I don’t know what my father said!
Anyway, that was called “the big Christmas” and it was the one that nearly didn’t happen as far as gifts were concerned. It was amazing how God provided for my parents and how my parents provided for us that Christmas. They did what parents do and they stayed up all night, got no sleep; you know the drill.
The other story happened about this time of the year. My father was sending all of us to St. Phillip's grade school and Bishop Lynch high school. At the same time he was being taxed as if we were all four attending public school. Life is fair, right? So my father and two friends with whom he worked at his regular job sixty or seventy hours a week, bought a restaurant. It had a bar connected to it and it was a reputable place. They started this new undertaking and it grew. They say it takes about six years before a business really takes hold but with the three of them hitting it and hitting it hard that first year, by the time this time of the year arrived, the entire calendar was filled throughout November and December and even into the new year. The investment was going to pay back at this time.
I remember it was about two o’clock in the morning that we go the call that the restaurant had burned to the ground. This was back in 1973 when dinosaurs were inventing alarms. The alarm my dad had on the restaurant didn’t work very well so they were going to get another company to install another alarm. When the insurance company had learned that someone had broken in and stolen from the place and burned it down, they said they were not going to pay. My dad died December 21, 2002, may he rest in peace. After he died I learned from one of his friends that his two “friends” had decided that they weren’t going to pay their share of the business off. So, my dad had to pay his share and their shares as well. The reason I bring this up is because I never heard my dad mention it. He still kept these men as associates and I am sure their friendship was strained but he kept them as associates. He never ran them down even though he had good reason to; he never grumbled about it.
Now, when you husbands and wives read this Gospel, the service of Christ the King begins in earnest; sure, as children and adolescence, but it begins in earnest when you marry because husbands begin to serve their wives and wives begin to serve their husbands and the two begin to serve their children. I called Antonio this morning at 7 am. Antonio is the maintenance man at St. Williams. I told him I was sorry to call so early and wake him up but I needed something for the procession today. His wife informed me that they had been up since 4:30 am. Their nephew was over and he’d gone to bed early but he got up at 4:30 am. Many of you know of these 4:30 in the morning terrorists called children. [Laughter]
“Dad, I think I am gong to be sick.”
And then they get sick all over your bed at 3:00 am.
When you hear,
“I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was naked and you clothed me, I was ill and you cared for me…”
I left some of them out but so far I can hear parents saying,
”Check, check, check.”
You are literally slaves to your children and I have pointed this out before. But, you begin the service to Christ the King in earnest because it is a 24/7 undertaking but only the gateway to service to Christ the King because included in the service is the service to the stranger and those in prison. Parents move on to be grandparents and continue their service.
I always think of my dad’s mom, my grandmother. She loved absolutely everyone in the world with the exception of one person. Father points to himself. [Laughter] We were always at odds. I told her I was entering the seminary and she passed away before I actually entered. That wasn’t fair either and I thought,
“Sure, go ahead and die before I get to be a priest.”
She would have probably been the only one picketing my ordination. Anyway, I was thinking of it in reference to her. That is how I see it, she was such a difficult grandmother and I was so easy to live with. It is interesting because every once in awhile I ask a penitent if they have any children and they say they do but they are grown. It doesn’t matter, if you have children at home or grown up and gone, you are still serving them, they still get the lion’s share of your attention, concern, and prayers. Then you have to go on to help raise your grandkids and nieces and nephews. The service of Christ the King is there because if He is King, and we do believe He is King, then He does have real duties because He has real subjects.
“I need this done and I want that done; that’s right, you to do it.”
You look around wondering who He is talking to. YOU!
When St. Thomas more addressed those people from the scaffold in London saying,
“I die the King’s good servant but God’s first.”,
He gave everything there was and there wasn’t any more to give. That is exactly how it is in the service of this King. When you look at this symbol for Christ, the pelican plucking its breast, this is the model for the Good Shepherd and those in the service of Christ the King.
This Feast Day of Christ the King is so helpful. This is the last Sunday of the year. Next Sunday we begin the four Sundays, which lead up to Christmas. These are the four Sundays of Advent. Now this picture we have discussed and this statue of the Infant Jesus are back to back. Father points at the Van Eyck painting of Christ the King and then to the Infant Jesus of Prague. This week…next week. We think of the cuddly little baby being born in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. The problem is, we picture Jesus as the humble Savior being born in such extreme origins that we fail to see Him as He is in all His Glory.
We receive many Christmas cards with Jesus there in the manger with the animals drawing near but we forget Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. That is why this picture of Christ the King is on the front of the bulletin; every home should have a picture of Christ the King. That hand is raised in blessing if you are one of those that serve Him and that hand is raised in condemnation if you prefer to do what you want to. This ridiculous business, like setting a timer and then all of a sudden when you turn sixty-two you retire. People just made this business up about retiring. There is a great retirement plan in the service of Christ the King and it starts to pay off after you die. How many people have decided that they are going to retire at sixty-two and then travel and see the world, spending all of their money on themselves? Well, I hope you like being around a lot of goats. Our Lord wants us ready to do His will whenever He calls and whatever the situation calls for, be it a family member or stranger.
Jesus said to His disciples, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all His 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 the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen