Good day!

Reminding you of the Fourth Sunday Mass on Sunday, 23 November 2008, at 10:45 a.m., at St. Michael Parish, Blacktown. Please invite your family, relatives and friends.
Announcements:

1. MISA DE GALLO will commence 16 to 24 DECEMBER 2008,  4:30 A.M, ST. MICHAEL’S CHURCH, 62 ORWELL ST., BLACKTOWN 2148
2. FOURTH SUNDAY MASS  will be 28 DECEMBER 2008, 10:45 A.M., ST. MICHAEL PARISH, BLACKTOWN
3. NEW YEAR’S EVE MASS will be on 31 DECEMBER 2008, 9:30 P.M., ST. MICHAEL PARISH, BLACKTOWN

The Solemnity of Our Lord
Jesus Christ the King A
November 23, 2008

Reading I: Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17
Responsorial Psalm: 23:1-2, 2-3, 5-6
Reading II: 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28
Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46

Introduction: The Church celebrates the feast of Christ the King on the last Sunday (34^th Sunday) of her liturgical year.  The Franciscan Order was instrumental in establishing this feast and extending its celebration to the universal Church, following the lead of its great thirteenth century theologians St. Bonaventure and Blessed Duns Scotus. It was Pope Pius XI who introduced this feast in the liturgy in 1925.  Although emperors and kings now exist mostly in history books, we still honor Christ as the King of the Universe, by enthroning him in our hearts and allowing him to take control of our lives.  Today the Church presents Jesus, whom we contemplated as preaching, teaching and healing during the last 33 Sundays, as our King and Lord who was and is the visible presence of God in our midst.  The first reading presents God as a shepherd reminding us of Christ’s claim that he is the true shepherd.  In the second reading St. Paul introduces Christ as the all-powerful ruler who raises the dead and to whom every other power and authority must eventually give way. Today’s gospel presents Christ the King coming in his heavenly glory to judge us, based on how we shared our love and mercy with others by genuine acts of charity in our lives.

Focusing the Gospel:

Key words and phrases: the king will say, Come, Depart, what you did . . . for one of these least ones, eternal punishment, eternal life

To the point: This solemnity celebrates the victory and glory of Christ. The gospel gives a clear blueprint for how we ourselves might share in that glory: do good to the least among us.
Christ’s judgment, “Come” or “Depart,” should be no surprise because we have, by our actions, said the same to the needy throughout our lives. Our choices now are already our choice for eternity.

Connecting the Gospel:

to the first reading: Ezekiel reminds us that God tends, rescues, pastures, seeks, and heals us. God’s care for us is the source of our strength and conviction to care for the least among us.

to our experience: Typically we associate “least” with those distant to our daily living—transients, victims of famine in foreign lands, etc.
But those in need are all around us; wherever there is human need, there is Christ, and we are called to serve.

Understanding Scripture

Serving the least among us: The majestic scene in the gospel leaves behind the veiled references of the preceding parables in which the main figure has been a bridegroom, landowner, and master. All such pretense is abandoned: from the outset, we see the glorious Son of Man taking his throne as king and judge.

The scope and character of Jesus’ glorious reign are unlike the reign of earthly kings. First, his rule, and hence his judgment, is over “all the nations.” Even the greatest superpower of the day, the Roman Empire, was not so far reaching.

Second, the kings of the earth demand from their subjects such things as loyalty, taxes, and military service. Christ the King demands care for “the least of my brothers.”

Although all the brothers and sisters of Jesus are members of his royal family, some are without food and drink, others are naked and imprisoned. Jesus accounts care of them as care of him.

This recalls a previous teaching when Jesus had instructed his disciples as he sent them out on mission: “Whoever receives you receives me” (Matt 10:40/Sunday OT 13).

This presentation of Jesus, and the identification of Jesus with his “least ones,” has profound implications for ethical conduct. This is not merely a story of “doing good,” a religious warrant for secular humanitarian action.

Service of others is service of Jesus; service of Jesus is recognition of his sovereignty as King. But the opposite is also true: failure to care for the least among God’s people is failure to serve Christ and is thereby a repudiation of his kingship.

This, finally, is the criterion for judgment. Did you serve me in others?

Herein is fulfilled the golden rule cited by Jesus: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you” (Matt 7:12). We who would have Christ judge us with mercy and compassion must treat the least among us with mercy and compassion.

Message: 1) Discover our hidden king and God in the suffering millions. One of the first lessons that grow out of this parable of the Last Judgment is that our God is hidden most completely in the faces and places of suffering.  Christ demonstrated this truth in his suffering and death on the cross and in his presence in the symbols of suffering, namely, bread and wine in the Holy Eucharist.  When our God is being crucified today in the suffering millions, he is the most hidden God.  The real lesson of today’s parable is to seek God hiding behind the faces and places of suffering people.  The parable of the Last Judgment is an invitation for us to embrace a suffering humanity, just as St. Francis of Assisi did, just as Mother Teresa did.  The first requirement is to have the love of Christ inside of us.  We can’t embrace hurting people unless the love of God lives in us.

(2) Be prepared to answer “Yes” to the king’s six questions: In the parable about the separation of sheep from goats in the Last Judgment, Jesus reminds us to get ready to answer “yes” to his six questions based on our corporal and spiritual acts of charity.  “I was hungry, thirsty, naked, homeless, sick, imprisoned; what did you do?”  When God threatens us with punishment, or threatens us by withholding rewards, it is God’s way of motivating us to do what God wants us to do, just like mature parents have always done. We are reminded that when we care for the hungry, thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned, we are actually taking care of Jesus who lives behind the faces of these people. Mother Theresa explains, “hungry, not only for bread, but hungry for love; naked not only for clothing, but for human dignity and respect; homeless not only for want of a room of bricks, but homeless because of rejection.  This is Christ in distressing disguise.” Jesus lives within these hurting people, behind their eyes, their tears, and their pain.  It should be our prayer that we not only know who these people are, but that we do what God wants us to do for them.  The doing of compassion is much more difficult than the knowing about compassion.  All the sacraments and prayers in the Church are meant to make us truly compassionate and eligible to be rewarded on the day of the Last Judgment by our king and Lord Jesus Christ.