November 26 Solemnity of Christ the King

A Reflection by Fred Schaeffer, OFS

In the Gospel of today, we listen to Pontius Pilate as he asks Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?" Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants (would) be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here." So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." (John 18: 33-37)

Jesus has spoken and now we know that His Kingship is over the divine and spiritual. He came into this world to bear witness to the truth. Secular Franciscans have a very special mandate from the Church, to give a bold and consistent witness of Christian and Franciscan life, with the aim of building a more fraternal and evangelical world and so bringing about the Kingdom of God. We can begin by giving witness to Christ's Kingship, to bear witness to the truth. In Rev. 1:5, "Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth." - That is also what we must be, faithful witnesses of the truth.

When he died on the Cross, in such an awful and cruel manner, he did not appear very regal, and actually throughout his life, he lived not as a king with all the trimmings of castles, and big armies, but he lived frugally and he was obedient to his Father. He did not conquer nations, instead he accomplished much more: "He, the obedient Servant, is King because he has "the keys of death and Hades" (Rv 1:18). And, because he is the conqueror of death, hell and Satan, he is "the ruler of kings on earth" (Rv 1:5). In fact, everything on earth is subject to death. Instead, he who has power over death opens the prospect of immortal life to all humanity. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the fulfillment of all creation (cf. Rv 1:8), so that every generation can repeat: Blessed is his kingdom that is coming (cf. Mk 11:10)." (from a Homily on Christ the King, 1997, Pope John Paul II).

What are we doing with our lives that we might inherit the Kingdom of God? Jesus said that His Kingdom shall have no end. Are we living sensible lives, obeying the Rule of St. Francis set aside especially for men and women who are not religious but who are members of the laity and followers of St. Francis of Assisi? Are we showing Jesus by the way we live in fraternity, that we are active participants in his Kingdom, or are we there just waiting for someone else to step up to the plate?

Giving witness does not just consist of going outside of the fraternity to minister to people, but it means also that we minister to one another inside the fraternity, praying for sick members, visiting them in their homes so that they may keep in touch with the rest of the brothers and sisters, and in general making an effort to communicate. In my fraternity life I may see the sisters and brothers once a month, but there seems to be no special effort to keep in touch in between meetings. That’s the way it was in 2009, when I first wrote parts of this reflection; now that we have fewer members, the interaction is better. Let our behavior toward one another show that we are part of an active community and faithful witnesses of the truth, the Gospel, the love in Jesus we show toward other people.

So let us build a more fraternal and evangelical world, and let us begin at home, and, in our fraternities. Let us treat everyone in the fraternity as family, and those outside of fraternity as our sisters and brothers. When we are judged if we may enter His Kingdom, I believe the question will be how have we treated our earthly sisters and brothers. I pray to Christ the King that we can then say that we were actively involved and did a lot of good everywhere we went.

God bless you!

Fred Schaeffer, OFS
2009, Rev. November 5, 2023

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