CHRIST THE KING

If you were to see Jesus on the street today, would you recognize him as your King.


To be genuine followers of Jesus, Christ our King, you have to recognize who and what you are. What your strengths and weaknesses are, what gifts and limitations you have.
For example, you may have the gift of intergenerational persuasion but be limited in your ability to organize. Obviously what you need to do, while you are enhancing your gift of persuasion, like a concert pianist practicing, is to develop your ability to organize.
St Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians enumerates with inspired mathematics the many and varied gifts received from the Holy Spirit. There is the expression of wisdom; the expression of knowledge; the gifts of healing; the gift of prophecy; the discernment of spirits; the varieties of tongues and the interpretation of tongues.
So too you all have gifts from Christ the King. All you can do comes from the power of Christ the King living within you like an electric current. All gifts are given to you. All gifts are gratuitous.
Where do poets get their words, artists their colors, architects their shapes, sculptors their forms, doctors their healing power, mechanics their skill, computer programmers their organization if not from Christ the King?
In all you are able to do, all your power comes from Christ your King.
But no matter what gifts Christ the King gives you, you have to use your cooperative efforts to make these gifts effective in your lives and relationships just as a sprinter uses her legs to demonstrate her ability to win a race.
In the movie, Appearances, one of the characters says, God gives us the ingredients but not the recipe.
And someone else observed, God feeds the birds but he doesn’t throw the food into their nests.
When you pray, “Thy will be done” or “Thy kingdom come,” these are not pleas for something to happen but pleas for the grace and power so that you can make something happen.
As a true follower of Christ the King, you can never expect God to do it all. God never waves a magic wand and makes it all nice.
For example, if you are having difficulties in your marriage, you can pray for guidance. But then you need to examine the quality of your communication, the selflessness of your giving, the sensitivity of your understanding. Then you have to work on what is weak or lacking. There is where your cooperative efforts come into play.
Or, for example, if you’re a teenager, and you feel left out, unpopular, you can ask God to help you to be liked more. But then you must take stock of how you are interacting with your peers. Are you self-centered or disinterested in others? Then what you need to do is work on being more outgoing, more concerned for what is happening in the lives of others. These are your cooperative efforts.
Your cooperative efforts must be rooted, like a flower in a garden, in your beliefs.
The feast of Christ the King challenges you to do what you can do according to the beliefs that rule your heart and mind and according to the values that govern your every decision, according to the gifts and talents you have.
This is why you have to stop in meditative prayer and find out just what beliefs and values and talents you are living by.
Bernard Bush in his book, Belonging, says, “We are being driven by God’s inner activity and our cooperation toward the fullness destined for us in Christ.”
XXXSoon you will be contemplating Christ the King whose palace was a stable, whose throne was a manger, whose scepter was a stick of straw, whose retinue was dumb animals.
This is Christ your King who is commanding you to use all your God-given gifts and talents and abilities to give loving service to all those around you who are in need.
Speaking of talents, there’s a humorous story about an elderly man who showed up at the country club with a beautiful, young blonde on his arm.
His friends gathered around him after the beautiful blonde went off to the powder room. “Where did you get the trophy girlfriend?” one friend asked the elderly man.
“She’s not my girlfriend,” the elderly man answered, “she’s my wife.”
“Well,” another friend exclaimed, “what did you do to get her to marry you, tell her you were 50?”
“Nope,” the elderly man responded, “I told her I was 90.”

Ask Jesus, you King, to help you to use your cooperative efforts to make his dream for all of us come true.
THOUGHT: Always use your talents cooperatively.

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT A 7:30 & 10:30
A newly commissioned colonel had just moved into his office. A private entered. To impress the private, the colonel said, “I’ll be with you in moment, soldier. I got a phone call while you were knocking.” Picking up his phone, the colonel said, “General! How good to hear from you. How can I help you?” A dramatic pause followed. Then the colonel said, “No problem, sir. I’ll phone Washington at once and talk to the president about it.” Putting down the phone the colonel said to the private, “Now what can I do for you, Private?” The private shuffled his feet and said sheepishly, “Sir, they sent me over to hook up your phone.”
Sadly, nothing is so gratifying than to see the balloon of exaggerated self-importance punctured.
Exaggerated self-importance is an ego trip.
And this is what I want to talk about today – exaggerated self-importance. You may find this topic as exciting as the middle of a bottle of glue, but bear with me.
As you begin or have begun your preparations for Christmas, you might meditate on the God who did not cling to his importance as God, but humbled himself to become one like us in all things but sin. As St. Paul said, “Christ Jesus who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped at but emptied himself, being born in human likeness.”
In the sprawling Roman Empire, clanging with the swords of victory and overflowing with the wine of luxury, how important could the birth of a baby in a stable have been?
Our gospel story reminds you of the end time when the Son of Man will come when he is least expected. And he will come as your judge.
The feast of Christmas indicates one of the issues you will be judged on: whether or not you lived your lives filled with Christ Jesus or filled with your own egos.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen, for example, in one of his television talks made this comparison: if a box is filled with salt, it cannot be filled with pepper. So too if you are filled with your own exaggerated self-importance, how can you be filled with Christ Jesus? Exaggerated self-importance is an ego trip.
Robert Furey in his book, So I’m Not Perfect: A Psychology of Humility, points out that pride can be an exaggerated opinion of our own importance or superiority. Sounds like the colonel in our story, doesn’t it?
What people who are filled with their own exaggerated self-importance don’t realize, for example, is that egotism is the overcompensation for mediocrity. Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of insecurity. People refuse to recognize that exaggerated self-importance is a sign of inner emptiness and self-doubt.
Some of the characteristics of exaggerated self-importance are, for example, haughtiness, sarcasm, put downs and airs of disdain, arrogance and obnoxiousness.
For example, a man who abuses his wife, not necessarily physically but mentally and emotionally has a self-important ego that wants not only domination but enslavement. Exaggerated self-importance is an ego trip.
How, for example, can you meditate on the humility of the Babe of Bethlehem and persist in your exaggerated self-importance?
You may have talent oozing out of your every pore. You may have accomplishments stacked as high as Mount Everest. But as St. Paul asks, “What do you have that you have not received?” Christmas reminds you that everything you have and are is a precious gift from God.
As you continue to prepare for the Christmas feast, make every effort to fill yourself with Christ Jesus. How? By filling yourself with generosity, sensitivity, the willingness to forgive, compassion, eagerness to help others no matter how draining this is.
Christmas is not just the time for filling people’s arms with gifts; rather it is the time for renewing your efforts to fill your lives and the lives of others with Christ Jesus, born in a stable in Bethlehem.
HUMOR: There’s a cute story about a lady who made no secret of the fact that she resided on the top of the upper crust of society. She said to the kennel owner, “I want a dog I can be proud of and show off. Does this dog have a pedigree?” The man answered, “Oh, yes, if he could talk he wouldn’t speak to either of us.” Exaggerated self-importance is an ego trip.
THOUGHT: Always strive for the humilty of the Christ Child.