We have two images coming from seemingly polar opposites. The solemnity of Christ the King was instituted by Pope Pius XI, through the encyclical “Quas primas”. It was a response to the rise in nationalism and secularism observed in societies in the aftermath of World War I. At one end of the solemnity pole, in presenting the Lord as King, we get a figure who is regal, majestic and powerful. Here is the benevolent Lord of all creation who has come to gather all into His Kingdom. At the other end of the Gospel pole we are presented with a stern portrait of a terrible and almost unforgiving Judge. He sits poised to separate sheep from goats, so that He can banished those who have failed to make the mark.
These two images are not as mutually exclusive as they seem.
Firstly, majesty, regality and sovereignty are qualities that inspire and draw us to the person who has them. The problem is we are drawn to the power inherent in these attributes for the wrong reason. A rationale for why a sublime notion of kingship has become alien to us is because we know no better than the collection of classless and crass royalty who at best are mostly narcissistic in their self-importance. (The royalty we know are trapped by their fast cars, royal palaces etc). The closest living example we have of an ideal monarch that inspires is Elizabeth 2nd of England[1]. Forget the pomp and pageantry associated with the UK royalty but instead, focus on how through the decades, she has dedicated herself to serving her people, her country and the Commonwealth. She could be a standard to emulate but alas we have so few of her kind.
Secondly, the dignity of royalty and dominion are meant to ennoble and enthuse us to greater heights, heights in which the self is not defined by power. Instead it is marked by humility and the best expression of this magnanimity is meekness and renunciation. “His state was divine but He did not cling to His divinity…”. Christ the King proved His royal lineage through an oblation of laying down His life for those whom He had come to save—an echo of this can be heard in the Preface later.
Thirdly, inherent in the notion of nobility is the idea of “beau geste” which is attractive simply because it draws us out of our selfish concerns to the care for others. When captivated by the gracious gesture of selfless love on the part of the Lord, we will change. If you did not know it, when we are seized by the splendour of His self-sacrificial love, the narrow space of our heart will enlarge. Just take a look at our saints. Their hearts expand to embrace the universe—like St Teresa of Kolkata’s love for the poor. Saints give their all for the love of their King, their Lord and their Saviour. In today’s context, this care for people must extend to the concern for the environment—a cause quite close to heart of Pope Francis.[2]
Fourthly, the solemnity is a cue that Christ should not remain merely a leader in name. As Head of the Church, we are incorporated into His Body through the Sacrament of Baptism. As members of His Body our task in this world is to make sure that our ecology, both human and natural should be shaped in His image. That way He becomes truly the King or the Leader of our souls. When He is our leader, the two images of Him as our King and Judge become two sides of one coin. The blessed Christ preaching on the Mount of Beatitudes and the strict Christ mounted on the throne of judgement are not two different realities. Instead, when Christ is King of our hearts, when our public life mirrors our private life and we will have no fear of Christ as the terrible judge because our private life can stand up to public scrutiny.
If the basis for the Solemnity arose from a reaction to the forgetfulness of Christian values, we now have our work cut out for us because the world has become so much more secularised than at the time the encyclical was written. We have gone through so many “-isms” and we are not in any shape better than before. Broadly defined, “-isms” are partial efforts at organising reality. “Nationalism” sees life in terms of a country.[3] Secularism undertakes to construct society without God. Socialism defines relationship through the lens of the community. Presently, we have “wokeism” which sets itself up as the ultimate standard in an endeavour to correct the mistakes of the past.
“-isms” can be misguided attempts to improve our world. It is innate in our nature to want a world a better place and we witness this idealism mostly in younger people. However, so many “-isms” and yet nowhere are we near the “utopia” that we aim for. The reason for our failure is possibly as Pope Pius X indicated, "...When once men recognise, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony... That these blessings may be abundant and lasting in Christian society, it is necessary that the kingship of our Saviour should be as widely as possible recognised and understood, and to that end nothing would serve better than the institution of a special feast in honour of the Kingship of Christ" (Quas primas, #19, 21).
Finally, the Last Judgement, even though it is set in coming future, it actually redirects our attention the present. This blends in with the objectives of some of the “-isms” we have—which are to improve the world. We are challenged to assess the current situation in order that our lives, private or public, under the Kingship of Christ, can impact the world. For this to happen, C.S. Lewis reminds us how we can be effective in this mission. “If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next... It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth "thrown in": aim at earth and you will get neither”.[4]
[1] She should be styled as Elizabeth II of England but Elizabeth I of the United Kingdom. At the time of Elizabeth I (1533-1603) she was only the Queen of England and Ireland as Scotland had yet to enter into the Union with England and Ireland. Just like James IV of Scotland became James I of England and Scotland.
[2] The point is, in the pursuit of our Lord and King, what is also ennobling is the prompting to leave behind that which pulls us down. Sin definitely pulls us down and traps us here below in which the more depraved we are, the more entangled we become. Of course, the more we want to follow Him, the more the Devil is will do its utmost to deny us that chance.
[3] It takes “national borders” seriously. But any of the natural disasters will show that “national borders” are meaningless. Think of the annual scourge of the haze from smouldering forest fires in Indonesia. We are more interconnected than “national borders” allow us to admit. The present pandemic may illustrate how “effective” national borders are at keeping down infections but at what cost, to split families, loneliness of elderly and not to mention the economy.
[4] Mere Christianity, 1952. C.S. Lewis
