A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 4, n. 53)
Christ the King, Year B – November 26, 2006
“A Sacrificial Kingship”
BIBLE READINGS
Dan 7:13-14 // Rev 1:5-8 // Jn 18:33b-37
N.B. This new series of BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD: A LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY LITURGY presents a biblico-liturgical study of the First Reading of each Sunday Mass to serve as background for a better understanding of the Gospel proclaimed in the liturgy. For a biblico-liturgical study of the Gospel for each Sunday, please go to the PDDM Web Archives: WWW.PDDM.US.
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
I was flipping through the pages of James Underwood Crockett’s book, “Roses” when I came upon a picture of the breathtaking and fabulous 13th century rose window of the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. Tinted light glows with incredible beauty as it passes through the stained glass “petals” in the shape of a rose. The glass “petals” radiate from a central figure of Christ the King, seated on his throne. Four small “petals” border the royal image of Christ, forming a fascinating equilateral cross. On this last Sunday of the liturgical year when we celebrate the royal enthronement of Jesus Savior, who died for us on the cross, we recognize and acknowledge with reverence the sacrificial aspect of his kingship. By his redemptive suffering, Jesus is the center of history and the king of all his Father’s creation.
This year’s Christ the King celebration is especially meaningful for us – members of the Pauline Family founded by Blessed James Alberione – for today, November 26, is his 35th death anniversary. Blessed Alberione’s apostolic vision is “the reign of the Divine Master, the Way, the Truth and the Life” and “the restoration of all things in Christ”. In the mind of our Founder, the history of nations attends or awaits the great historical event, the Incarnation, through which God came to restore to himself all creatures as head over all. He would lead them on that great day to his kingdom, with the believers and immense heavenly creatures giving glory to the Divine King. In the preaching of Blessed Alberione, the historical saving event of the Incarnation is not limited to the manger in Bethlehem. No, the Lord’s incarnation is his decisive entrance in salvation history, a unique messianic process that culminated in his death on the cross and the glorious event of his resurrection and ascension into heaven. For Blessed Alberione, the compelling movement towards the restoration of all things in Christ, that is, putting all things under his reign, necessarily involves making the Gospel relevant to the specific historical contexts of individuals and peoples, and making it unfold from within their own cultural situations. In his life of holiness and apostolic service, Blessed James Alberione has made his own the Lord’s prayer for the advent of God’s kingdom: Adveniat regnum tuum.
The biblical readings of this Sunday are meant to help us glean the true meaning of kingship. The idea of kingship has been deepened by Israel’s experience of suffering. According to the biblical scholar, Eugene Maly: “One more important factor conditioned the biblical notion of kingship. It was suffering, a kind of emptying out of one’s very self, a being stripped of earthly glory and power. Once this was experienced and accepted, effective and royal service of others was possible. Israel discovered this in exile … Through suffering to kingship became the working principle … Daniel’s son of man is Israel, suffering now under the persecution of a Syrian king. But this son of man will receive dominion, glory and kingship … his kingship will not be destroyed.”
Indeed, Daniel’s vision of the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven and receiving dominion, glory and kingship originally represented the vindication of the persecuted people of Israel, bitterly oppressed under the reign of the detestable pagan Syrian king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes whose kingship was about to be shattered. The image of the human figure enthroned in glory, however, later came to be applied to the expected Messiah. Christians see the fulfillment of this apocalyptic vision in the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus brought to perfection the enigmatic working principle, “Through suffering to kingship”. Reigning from his cross, the messianic King drew all peoples and creation to himself by the power of his self-surrendering love. The Benedictine writer, Alban Boultwood comments: “In the noblest and truest sense of all, Jesus is king of all his Father’s creation, for in him all things find their purpose, salvation, and fulfillment. The incarnate Son is the only Mediator in the plan of divine love, by which all creation attains its true end and comes to the Father. At the birth of Jesus we sang the old hymn asking What child is this and Christian faith and devotion answered This, this is Christ the King. As this same Jesus was dying on the cross, Pilate set above his head the ironic sign, more to mock the Jews than the Crucified: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. What king is this? Christian faith answers more fervently than ever that this is indeed the true King, whose cross wins redemption for sinners, and whose death wins victory over all the powers of death. Christ gained his victory and established his kingdom not through the power of worldly success, but through a love stronger than all the powers of this world. His authority was from above, from his perfect union with the Father’s will.”
The Christian disciples who are the object of the Father’s grace are called to participate in Jesus Christ’s sacrificial kingship, by living out in their own lives the mystery of his paschal destiny. Alban Boutlwood explains: “Our own heritage in the kingdom of Christ is held in two ways. First, by the free gift of our Father in heaven, and secondly by our following the ways of Christ’s sacrificial kingship in this life, sharing this acceptance of the condition of this world, its suffering and mortality, and transforming these by that self-giving which is filled with grace. Therefore all his followers in the royal priesthood must always form a serving, suffering, loving Church. We inherit the kingship of Jesus by fulfilling the mystery of his blessed passion, death and resurrection in the witness of our own personal life.”
The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, exhort us: “The Church and every Christian community must be, according to their possibilities, an image of this kingdom where, in order to become great, one joyfully becomes servant of all, beginning with the weakest, the most destitute, the lowliest. To follow Christ, King of the Universe, by going against the ways of the world, brings many difficulties … But God gave to the one he made king the nations for an inheritance and the ends of the earth for his possession. We trustfully raise our eyes toward him who, his heart opened on the cross, draws everyone to himself to lead them with him into his kingdom.”
PERSONAL REFLECTION
By Nancy Reinhardt
Staten Island, New York
In today’s Gospel when Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” and Jesus replied, “My kingdom does not belong to this world … My kingdom is not here”, I am sure Pilate breathed a sigh of relief. When we think of kingdom, the first thing that comes to mind is power – power over people, power over the money that is spent, power over other countries, etc. But Jesus is telling Pilate that his kingdom is different … it is not what Pilate was thinking … Pilate doesn’t have to worry about being in competition with Jesus’ kingdom.
Jesus is King in His kingdom, but his power is the power over death and sin. His kingdom is where truth, justice and love reign. As Christians, we pray for this when we pray the Our Father … “Thy kingdom come …” We all want to be part of this kingdom.
How can we be sure that we are part of Jesus’ kingdom? By making Jesus the center of our life, we will not lose sight of our eternal goal. By dying on the cross and conquering death and sin, Jesus assuredly promises us eternal life and will welcome us into His kingdom.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. What are the feelings and insights generated in us by the prophet Daniel’s apocalyptic vision of “one like a son of man coming on the clouds of heaven … who received dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations, and languages serve him …”? Does the figure of the “son of man” who receives everlasting dominion increase in us the conviction that the forces of evil would not prevail and that the reign of God would ultimately triumph?
B. Do we recognize that redemptive suffering is an important aspect of the kingship of Christ? Do we acknowledge that Jesus’ self-surrendering love is what makes for his effective rule? Do we strive to follow the ways of Christ’s sacrificial kingship that entails accepting the conditions of this fragmented world, with all its suffering and mortality? Do we try to be more receptive to the kingship of Jesus by fulfilling the mystery of his blessed passion, death and resurrection in the witness of our own personal life?
C. Personally and as Church, do we resolve to be an image of God’s kingdom where true greatness lies in becoming the servant of all, beginning with the weakest, the most destitute, the lowliest? At the end of the liturgical year and as we begin a new season of grace, do we raise our eyes to him who draws all to himself and leads us into his kingdom of love, justice and peace?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
(Adapted from J. Frie’s prayer, cf. Days of the Lord, vol. 5, Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1993, p. 317)
Assembly: Jesus, Lord, you are king of kings,
Light of light, you!
Light of light.
Leader: O Word, before fulfilling the Law,
You made heaven and earth, You!
You made heaven and earth.
You are the Alpha, You are the Omega,
The core of the Mystery, You!
The core of the Mystery.
You took flesh, Truth of faith,
Only Son of the Father, You!
Only Son of the Father.
Savior, O Christ, a human dead on the cross,
God himself liberates us, You!
God himself liberates us.
Assembly: Jesus, Lord, you are king of kings,
Light of light, you!
Light of light.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“The one like a Son of man received dominion, glory and kingship; all peoples, nations and languages serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion.” (Dan 7:14)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Pray that today’s Christian disciples may understand more deeply the meaning and the challenge of Christ’s sacrificial kingship. Endeavor to promote the kingship of Christ by acts of justice and peace, and by a personal witnessing of love, service and joy in the Holy Spirit. As humble participants in his sacrificial kingdom, let us courageously promote the culture of life and resolve to fight the culture of death that takes shape in many violent forms. If possible, take part in public manifestation of love, honor and reverence for Christ, the King of the universe.
B. ACTION PLAN: To help us contemplate more deeply the incredible dignity of Christ the King and to help bring about the “Adveniat regnum tuum”, make an effort to spend an hour in Eucharistic Adoration. Visit the PDDM WEB site (www.pddm.us) for the EUCHARISTIC ADORATION THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR (Vol. 2, n. 53): A Weekly Pastoral Tool.
Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
60 Sunset Ave., Staten Island, NY 10314
Tel. (718) 494-8597 // (718) 761-2323
Website: WWW.PDDM.US