FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING

The Feast of Christ the King is not one of those that goes back hundreds of years. It was established by Pope Pius XI as recently as 1925 in the aftermath of the First World War in the midst of poverty and deprivation all over Europe the likes of which we cannot imagine today. Like the doctrine of the Assumption in 1950, after the Second World War, it was meant to give hope and encouragement to those who had lived through those terrible years and, in the light of the way things are today, it is interesting to hear what the Pope had to say at that time. Proving once again that there is nothing new under the sun, he wrote in 1925 that ‘the manifold evils’ in the world of his day are due to the fact that, ‘The majority of men had thrust Jesus Christ and his laws out of their lives; that these had no place either in private affairs or in politics,’ and that as long as this state of affairs continued, ‘there would be no really hopeful prospect of lasting peace among nations,’ words which to a very large extent were echoed by Pope Benedict when he addressed the joint houses of Parliament only a few weeks ago. So much, then, for the idea that the world is in a worse state today than in the past. Human nature is the same in every age and what Pius XI offered the world in 1925 is the same thing we offer it today, Jesus; the Jesus we have been meeting throughout this latest journey through the Church’s year; the Jesus we will meet again next year; the Jesus St Paul speaks of so eloquently in that second reading.

And what he says about Jesus – what we have to say about him to the world today – is that, ‘in Jesus, God has brought us out of the power of darkness and created a place for us in the kingdom of the Son that he loves, and in him we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins’ And how important that message was in 1925. The First World War had been an experience of the most profound darkness. Nothing remotely like it had been seen before in history. Millions had died in the trenches and those who were left were struggling to come to terms with the enormity of what had happened. And to that world Pius XI offered the only hope and encouragement he had to give; the Feast of Christ the King. And who could say that in the age of Iraq, Afghanistan and the ever present threat of economic collapse, we don’t need that same message of hope and encouragement. The whole world needs to hear those same words and, as Christians, it is our task to speak them again to the brand new century in which we live.

And that is why, as I have said to you so often over the last year, that there is no place whatsoever in the lives of those who follow Jesus for the pessimism and negativity about the world which we so often find in Church-going people who claim to believe in the Jesus St Paul speaks of today. Yes, there are lots of problems in the world. There are many things which are not right about it. There are days when the News is so filled with doom and gloom and we can feel discouraged and even depressed about it. But from a place of faith deep inside ourselves, from a place far beyond passing emotion, ever-changing mood or mere feeling, we are called upon to speak to the men and women of our time words of hope and encouragement like those Jesus spoke from the cross to the good thief. No matter what goes on in the world: no matter what happens; no matter how desperate things may appear – and to people who lived through the first World War things were pretty desperate – men and women of faith in every age will always be encouragers of those around them. But to be able to do that, we need to be encouraged ourselves, and in that context I would like to say a few words about the Church History Course which begins a week on Wednesday and continues on a monthly basis from February through to June next year.

Now at first sight, a course on the history of the Church might not seem the best place to start if our aim is to encourage each other. It is, after all, a pretty unedifying story at times and as the leaflet I offered you several weeks ago says, there will no punches pulled and no avoiding of unpleasant truths. The scandals and abuses which have existed alongside all that has been good will be faced up to without fear or embarrassment. The story will be told as it was and I know from experience that, counter-intuitive as it may seem to some, this will fill those who take part with the hope and encouragement we speak of. We ran a longer version of the same course two years ago in Kilmarnock attended by around fifty people, and as they were exposed, in some cases for the first time, to the more sordid aspects of the story, without exception their faith in Jesus was deepened and their commitment to the Church, in all its weakness, strengthened.

And to understand how this happens, all we have to do is reflect on our own experience. As small children we think our parents are wonderful and can do no wrong. I remember very well as a six- year-old telling another boy how my Dad could fight anybody. As time passes, however, we learn, sometimes, very painfully, that our parents are flawed human beings and are not quite as wonderful as we thought. In adolescence it is sometimes hard to see any good in them at all until maturity arrives and we finally see them as they really are: human beings like ourselves with their faults and weaknesses whom we love dearly. And something very like that needs to happen with the Church. We need to face up to the truth about it, move beyond both an infantile relationship when we put it on a pedestal and an adolescent relationship when we could see no good in it at all, to maturity when we see it as it is and love it.

The Feast of Christ the King is about the ultimate triumph of Jesus over even our most successful attempts to mess things up, and there is no better place to see this at work than in the history of this sometimes wonderful and sometimes maddening Church which we all belong to. So come along and learn about it. It will be good.

BIDDING PRAYERS

We begin our prayer this week by holding up before God the world at this moment in its history. As we enter into a new century and a new millennium there is much uncertainty about the future. The problems and challenges of our time are global. There are many tensions among nations and between different parts of the world as we struggle to come to terms with these challenges which will shape the future of humanity. And so we ask God to guide the peoples of the world at this time.............Lord hear us

In parts of the world where economies are in crisis or in long-term decline, millions of young people face a future without any real prospect of meaningful work. Worry and anxiety about pollution and the environment leave many feeling fearful about the future. Some feel hopeless and alienated from society, with all the problems that brings. And so, on this Feast of Christ the King, we ask God to stir in the heart of the young a deep sense of hope about their own and society’s future..........Lord hear us

Even today, millions of our fellow human beings live in the midst of violence and warfare. Some of these conflicts have been going on for many years. Whole generations have never known anything else and can hardly imagine what peace might even feel like. And so we pray that, as Pope Pius XI spoke words of comfort and encouragement to the world of the 1920s, the Church throughout the world today will continue that tradition and bring hope into the lives of those who have none.......Lord hear us

At the root of the hopelessness felt by many in the developed world today lies a way of thinking which deeply influenced the century which has just passed. Many writers and philosophers during that time painted a picture of a world without meaning. There was no God, no life after death, no point in living. This way of thinking was reflected in many novels, films and art and has had a profound effect on all of us without our always realising it. And so we pray that the world will discover again the God who gives meaning to everything.......Lord hear us

And we pray for the Church as it makes its long pilgrim journey through history. It has gone through many stages, faced many crises, confronted many challenges, made many mistakes and got lots of things wrong. But it has also profoundly influenced the world for the better. It has produced some of the greatest and most influential men and women in history and done immense good for humanity. And so we ask God to guide it today as it faces up to the challenges of the modern era...........Lord hear us

We pray, too, this week that God will bless the History Course that is about to start in the parish. There is a huge need for adult education in faith at this time and this course is just one part of this. But we pray that all those who take part in it will come to a more mature and adult faith which will enable them, by studying and understanding the past, to understand also the issues and challenges which face the Church at the present, and so enable us to play our full part in responding to them..........Lord hear us