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DEAR
FRIEND IN CHRIST, DUE TO MY PREACHING COMMITMENTS IN
THE UAE FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH (9TH NOVEMBER TILL THE
FIRST WEEK OF DECEMBER - 2009) A FEW HOMILIES MAY
NOT BE AVAILABLE ON THE HOMILY PAGE. THANKS FOR
UNDERSTANDING. GOD BLESS.
FR. RUDOLF V. D'SOUZA OCD |
CHRIST THE KING - 2009
STORY:
Once upon a time there was a childless King who wanted
to choose a worthy successor to his throne after he
passed away.
He called all the young children in his kingdom to his
palace one day and said: “It has come time for me to
choose the next King. I have decided to choose one of
you as my successor, as my Crown Prince, and groom you
to be the King after I am gone.”
The amazed children listened spellbound as the King
spoke: “I am going to give each one of you a seed today
– Just One Seed. It is a very special seed. I want you
all to go home, plant the seed, water it, nurture it,
and come back here to me exactly one year from today
with the plant you have grown from this one seed. I will
then judge the plants that you bring to me and whoever
grows the best plant will be the Crown Prince, the next
King after me.”
There was one small shy boy who was there that day and
he, like the others, received a seed from the King.
He went home and excitedly told his mother the whole
story.
She helped him get a pot and some planting soil, and he
planted the seed and watered it regularly and nurtured
it carefully.
Twice every day, in the morning and in the evening, the
small shy boy would water the seed lovingly and watch to
see if it had germinated and grown.
After a few days, some of the other children began to
talk about their seeds and the lovely plants that were
beginning to grow, but the small shy boy kept going home
and checking his seed, disappointed that nothing was
growing from his seed.
Days passed, then weeks, and months, but still there was
no sign of a plant growing from the small shy boy’s
seed. But the small boy still kept lovingly watering his
seed regularly hoping that it would germinate.
By now the others were talking about their wonderful
healthy plants but small shy boy didn't have a plant and
he felt like a failure, but he kept persevering and
nurturing his seed with love and dedication in the
optimistic hope that his seed would someday sprout a
plant.
Six months went by and there was still no sign of a
plant in the small shy boy’s pot.
Everyone else had exquisite tall plants, but he had
nothing to show.
Inwardly he feared that maybe he had killed his seed but
the small shy boy didn't say anything to his friends and
kept on tenderly watering and nurturing his seed with
dogged determination and doting devotion in the fond
hope that his seed would grow and blossom into a
beautiful plant.
Finally, one year passed, and all the children of the
kingdom brought their plants to the King for inspection.
The small shy boy was scared and did not want to take
his desolate plant-less pot with just the soil and seed
to the King, but his mother encouraged him to go, to
take his pot with him, and to be honest about
everything.
The small shy boy felt fearful and nervous, but he
listened to his mother and took his barren pot to the
King.
When the small shy boy arrived at the King’s Palace, he
was astonished to see the variety of beautiful and
exotic plants grown by all the other children.
Totally crestfallen, the small shy boy put his desolate
pot on the floor and everyone jeered in derision and
mocked him. A few children felt pity for him and tried
to console the small shy boy.
Suddenly the King arrived, looked around the hall
appraising the plants and showered words of praise to
the gathered children: “It is really amazing – you all
have really grown fantastic beautiful plants, trees and
flowers. I am truly impressed. Today, one of you is
going to be selected as the Crown Prince to be the next
King!”
The small shy boy shivered with tremors of trepidation
and overcome with shame tried to hide in the back.
The King’s eyes searched all over and suddenly he saw
the small shy boy at the back of the hall with his
barren pot.
The King ordered his guards to bring him in front of the
throne
The small shy boy was terrified. “When the King sees my
pot, how badly I have failed in the task he gave me, he
is sure to punish me!”
Seeing how frightened the small shy boy was, the King
stepped down from his throne, walked down towards the
petrified boy, lovingly put his hand on the small shy
boy’s shoulders and announced: “This boy is your new
King!”
The small shy boy could not believe his ears – it was
unbelievable that the King should select a failure and
loser like him who couldn’t even sprout his seed be the
Crown Prince.
The King escorted the small shy boy to the throne and
said to everyone: “One year ago I gave all of you a
seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it,
and bring it back to me today. But what you did not know
is that I gave you all boiled seeds that would not grow.
Except this honest boy, all of you have brought me
beautiful plants with exotic flowers and even trees with
fruit. When you found out that the seed would not grow,
you substituted another seed for the one I gave you.
This boy was the only one with the sincerity to nurture
the barren seed for one whole year with dedication, hope
and perseverance and had the courage and honesty to
bring me the desolate pot with my seed in it. Therefore,
I select him as my Crown Prince to be the next King!”
When
the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the
angels of heaven, he will sit upon his royal throne, and
all the nations will be assembled before him."
(Mt 25) We worship Jesus Christ as Lord and King because
he is victorious in the battle over sin and death. In
His resurrection, which we celebrate and in which we
participate at every Eucharistic Sacrifice, our Lord
established His rule over all creation, and overcame in
Himself the effects of the sin of Adam. Christ is Lord,
for he has conquered what we fear most and have no power
against, the cruel and bitter specter of death. We
cannot but exult and shout for joy with the knowledge
that we can share in His Resurrection. We share in the
Resurrection in the first place by meeting Christ in the
liturgy, in Word and Sacrament. The Christ we receive in
the Eucharist is the Easter Christ, the risen and
glorified Christ as he is now victoriously seated at the
right hand of the Father in glory.
The lesson of the final judgment in St. Matthew's
Gospel, chapter 25, verses thirty-one to forty-six,
makes clear that we are to seek out and to meet Christ
wherever he may be found, in a particular way in human
life in all its stages and conditions. "Truly, I say
to you, as you did it one of the least of these my
brethren, you did it to me." (Mt 25:40)
The
Lord associates himself in a mysterious way with the
poor. We may have great reverence for His true and real
presence in the Blessed Sacrament, and are called to
love him with our whole heart, mind soul and strength.
Yet, we cannot please God or love Him as we ought if we
fail to love our neighbor as our self, doing so for love
of Christ. The divine love and life poured out
abundantly in the Eucharist is given both for love of
God and love of neighbor.
The
Catechism teaches that the requirement of charity for
our neighbor flows from the presence of Christ by the
power of his word and the Holy Spirit.
'Christ
Jesus who died, yes, who was raised from the dead,
who is at the right hand of God, who indeed
intercedes for us,' is present in many ways to
his Church: (Rom 8:34) in his word, in his
Church's prayer, 'where two or three are gathered
in my name,' (Mt 18:20) in the poor, the sick, and
the imprisoned, (Mt 25:31-46) in the sacraments of
which he is the author, in the sacrifice of the
Mass, and in the person of the minister. But 'he
is present...most especially in the Eucharistic
species'. (CCC 1373)
Our
Lord Jesus has given His Body and Blood to us precisely
so that we may overflow with the same love for others
that he has first given to us. It is for this reason
that he will judge us at the end of the world on the
ways in which we have generously and self-sacrificingly
offered ourselves for the life of others in imitation of
the way in which He gives of His own life unceasingly
for His bride, the Church.
It
is fashionable today to take up such causes as feeding
the hungry, building shelter for the homeless, clothing
the naked, giving drink to the thirsty. These are good
and necessary, and a sign that Christ is at work among
many men and women of good will. There remain, however,
the many who are neglected, abandoned, whose lives are
threatened. The Christian will be praised for feeding,
clothing and helping the poor, for being with the
lonely. These are good works and they must be taken up
by the Christian community together with all men and
women of good will. The Christian, however, is condemned
and attacked for recognizing that these works of charity
should also be extended to the confused and rejected
young mother, to the unborn child, to the terminally
ill, and to all those whose lives are determined to be
not worth living.
The
kingdom of Christ, a reign of charity and peace, is for
all. The Lord sends us out as his disciples so that all
mankind may be brought under his reign in the world. We
the baptized are the agents through whom the social
kingship of Christ will be realized. Our baptism is our
commission and our grace for the apostolate.
Today after Mass, with others or with the whole
congregation and with priest or deacon leading, pray
together the "Consecration to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus", in petition that "Thy kingdom come, Thy will
be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
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