Sunday, October 26, 2014

The Feast of Christ the King, a Meditation by Don Pietro Leone



There are some who call the Church “triumphalistic” as if She were a  mere, mediocre human organization centered on a mere man;  they think of Her as an organization that has nothing at all to glory in and that She should take Her modest place alongside all the other religions and modestly keep silent.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  The Church is a perfect society, sanctified by the Holy Ghost Himself: She is the infallible, all pure, Immaculate Bride of Christ. The other religions are all false and their followers must convert, be evangelized, catechized, baptized and sanctified under the rule of Christ the King, Who is the King of all men.  There is no other way of salvation since Christ is God, the only God,  as St. John the Evangelist says  in the Apocalypse: “One like to the Son of Man […] and his eyes were as a flame of fire, […] And his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars. And from his mouth came out a sharp two edged sword: and his face was as the sun shineth in his power. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying: Fear not. I am the Alpha and the Omega,  And alive, and was dead, and behold I am living forever and ever, and have the keys of death and of hell.” (Apocalypse/Revelation 13-18).
Thus, Our Lord Jesus Christ+ Who is the King of the Universe, Pantocrator, being God and Man in virtue of the hypostatic union between His Divinity and His Humanity, is also King of all men in virtue of His Passion and Death on the Cross.
The Holy Catholic Church is not ashamed of Him, otherwise He will be ashamed of Her before His Father and all the Angels in Heaven.  Rather She exalts Him, especially today on the Feast of Christ the King, when She commemorates His  triumph over Satan, sin and death; She exalts Him and Herself, as She knows with absolute certainty that in following Her King onto the battlefield of this world, She will also triumph with Him.
On this earth, we are part of the Church Militant, militant against Principalities and Powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the spirits of evil that inhabit celestial regions, and we glory in battling them under the banner of Christ the King (the words in the last prayer of today’s Mass), so that we may reign with Him in the Church Triumphant, in Heaven, forever.
The word “triumphalistic” like the word “traditionalist” are modern words invented by modern minds in order to present as false and evil, that which is true and good.
The Church has always viewed our life on this earth as an arduous battle against the enemies of our salvation, that is: the world, the flesh and the devil. Against these enemies, we fight in collaboration with Our Lord Jesus Christ + , a collaboration that will culminate in His Glorious Victory over the world.
This is the vision of the Church, the traditional vision , which like everything traditional in the Church has to be accepted by us as fully Catholic.
Let us glorify then in combating under the banner of this King decked in Crown and Crimson Robes more glorious than those of all the kings that have ever lived on this earth, being the instruments of the work of His Divine Love; let us glory in Our King for Whom we will be honoured to give our life, as He gave His for us by shedding the last drop of His Most Precious Blood.
Let us glory in following Him in this life, not in arrogance and pride, however, but rather in sincere humility, carrying our cross behind Him, aware only of His infinite majesty and of our iniquity and nothingness; our iniquity that put Him on the Cross, and following Him like this in humility, denying ourselves, and carrying our cross, we will win the battle against our enemies, and we will triumph and reign with Him forever in the glory of the Heavenly Country.[Translation: Francesca Romana]
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-feast-of-christ-king-meditation.html#more

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