From the Pastor's Desk | November 23

No Kings?
I’m sure you’ve heard these two words quite a few times over the last several months.  These two words are increasingly used in protest of the current sitting President - Donald Trump.  Of course this moniker of No Kings harkens back to the American Revolution when the colonists protested the reign of King George III in England and wanted a clean separation from monarchical rule.  
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.  So, while I understand the idea behind such a moniker as No Kings - especially given the history of this great country - I think we must ask ourselves do we not have a king?  

In his encyclical Quas Primas, Pope Pius XI established this particular solemnity and added it to the liturgical calendar of the Church to be celebrated on the last Sunday of Ordinary Time.  Quas Primas was promulgated on December 11, 1925 - seven years after the end of World War I.  During the time between the end of the war and promulgation of Quas Primas the world found itself in utter turmoil.  Europe found itself devastated physically, morally, culturally, and spiritually.  Russia, Germany, and Italy found themselves in the midst of political and social unrest paving the way for socialism, communism, and fascism.  God was being pushed out of public life to be replaced by allegiance to the state which claimed it could cure all the social, political, and moral ills of the time.   

Pope Pius XI saw these new movements and ideologies, which increasingly pushed God aside replacing him with the secular state, as false “kingdoms” that rejected the sovereignty of Christ and the moral and natural law.  The ever growing moral relativism and loss of spiritual values was becoming ever more a crisis of faith.  In opposition to everything that was occurring culturally, politically, socially, and economically, Pope Pius XI promulgated Quas Primas to affirm Christ’s Kingship over everything - not just over our minds and hearts but over all political, economic, and social powers.  

In his encyclical, Pope Pius XI affirmed that true peace and justice can only be achieved if and when nations and individuals recognize Christ’s sovereignty over the entirety of their lives.  His encyclical was a means to resist secularism and its destructive ideologies thereby uniting Christians across the world under and around our common spiritual authority - namely Jesus Christ - to whom our ultimate allegiance is owed.
Fast forward some 50 years when Pope John Paul II would visit his homeland of Poland then occupied by the Communist Party who themselves suppressed religion and its practice of worship.  On June 2, 1979 during a Mass in Warsaw’s Victory Square the crowd spontaneously erupted in a chant - “We want God!” - crying out for their desire for faith and religious freedom.    

In light of everything that is happening politically, socially, morally, economically today, I think it is imperative to ask ourselves the question - do we really not have a king?  Or, taking that question a step further, are we increasingly replacing our king with our politics?  Do we look to the government to remedy all of our social, political, economic, and moral challenges as if it can?  

I think it is fair to say that our current cultural climate is increasingly secular and that it is believed that God has no place in the public square.  Why?  Perhaps because we have fallen into the false belief that God is not active in the lives of his people - that he is not a personal God but rather a distant deity who simply leaves us alone to fend for ourselves.  To believe that is to deny the incarnation - that God took on human flesh to come close to us ultimately for our salvation and redemption.   

We certainly live with the effects of original sin and fallen humanity.  We will always face problems and challenges both personally and socially as we move through this life.  Nonetheless, Jesus Christ is victorious over sin.  He’s proven that in his Resurrection.  And, he has promised us that he will come again to destroy it forever so that we can live in his kingdom for all eternity.  

Yes, we do, in fact, have a king!  His name is Jesus Christ and He is king of the universe.  

As we pray today, let us seek the grace of humility, submitting ourselves to the reign of Jesus Christ through Holy Mother Church.  He is Lord.  His reign is absolute.  He possesses power, authority, and influence over each one of us, our culture, our economics, our politics - everything!  

In just a few weeks we will celebrate the great solemnity of Christmas - the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Christmas is the great feast in which we celebrate a God who humbled himself to become one of us.  Let us submit to a king who not only comes close to us but fights with us and for us and who never gives up on us.  

Know of my prayers for you all! 
Fr. Ryan