Videos

Feast of Christ the King

Added Nov 27, 2017 •

Copy this URL:
Embed code:	<iframe class="edlio-embed-player" type="text/html" width="640" height="360" src="//www.allsaintschurch.com/apps/embed/?v=166753" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Change dimensions

Fr. Tom Wilson, Pastor November 26, 2017

Show Transcript

it has been a grim last couple of months for what in our culture we wait we've we functionally treat as royalty people in the entertainment World of Sports World journalism other other play places that politics are other places of of power and influence and it's been it's been a couple of months because of all the the the Seedy underbelly things that have that have come out about how hot too often people in those those walks of life have a Miss used and abused their power and the people under them and in all the all the horrific stories that that we've seen anything anybody with any sort of of conscience or moral compass when we hear these things will we we have reactions of of disappointment of hurts of maybe even being appalled and I suspect most of us in this building this morning probably do but I'll add another one to those three mean Joker descriptors that I suspect very few of us have had and that is surprised I've been hardly anyone anyone of us is actually surprised when we hear that because the truth is we understand we wait wait wait see it in that in a culture and in which we live in way too often way too often people of influence power and authority have have Miss used and abused their power and authority truth is it it it it is so frequent and we are probably so so little surprised by it that it may actually create a heaviness and a cynicism in the hearts that believes that maybe there's nobody in an influencer authority who is actually who is actually a credible human being and in and out and doesn't doesn't abuse that the power and authority that they have that they have been given and the truth heaviness of that having us apart that heaviness of hard in that cynicism that that can breed really is poisonous it's poisonous for us as individuals it's poisonous for us as a community and Anna Society cuz we have to we're going to function function properly and Fry we've got it we've got to believe even in the midst of the Fallen Human Condition and not everybody in it in a thority and influences really out for themselves and their own gratification We've Got to Believe and so I think today as we celebrate the the Feast of Christ the King the universal King wait wait we can really do a nice examination and Analysis what it means to be a king what it means to be loyalty and frankly how it is often too often too often lived out in the in in a culture in which we live as we celebrate that the kingship of Jesus Christ in in and really see the fall from play some of the royalty that that that is at it it develops in in the society in which we live and there's probably a temptation to think that somehow this is this is relatively new but it isn't it really it really isn't in our image that that in the prophecy that Ezekiel shares with us today written probably about 700 years or so before before Christ it's a it's a reminder Ezekiel as he as he speaks for God and tells what a good shepherd and what a good King is someone who binds up injury somebody who looks out for the good of the sheep looks out for the ones that are entrusted to his care is obviously needing to say that to a to a both the probably haven't seen that very much that they probably saw a lot of leadership in the in the midst of their preparation for Exile that they believe was in it for themselves and so Ezekiel has to take the words Beyonce no it's not always like that it's not always like that and I'm going to send you a king that will bind up the injured that will seek out the loss that will care for the sick that won't be in it for himself and of course that came is Jesus Christ the King is Jesus Christ are Universal King and he reminds us of a few things that are very very important not just of him as king but also of his kingdom of which way are subjects and he really turns the whole thing upside down frankly from the world that we live in way way too often we are at we are tempted and in sweet we live in a culture in which we want to go and try to influence and get close to the two people who are in Power Authority and influence it happens everywhere probably see that in your workplace is more often than you would like and we're tempted to we're tempted to do that and yet you said something about his kingdom which is decidedly different he says you need to welcome me in the form of people that don't look like the the the powerful and influential the people who are we the people have no power the people who are sick the people who are in prison the ones frankly who can probably do very very little for us the ones who are not going to be writing stories about as the ones who are not necessarily going to be entered Channing us the ones who are not going to have a whole lot of influence in the culture and society that we live he says welcome them as you would welcome me the king you got to take the blinders off and to be able to see the king the weakest there's anything that we should all know and understand believe and live as Catholics it is that we must recognize the presence of Jesus in the weakest we must always be on the side weakest that's why we are on the side of the pool or that is why we are on the side of people with no power it's why we're on the side of people who are on the outcast because of what they look like or the language that we speak on the side of the child that is unborn in the that is why we do it because the other weakest they're the ones without power for the ones without power but they are also the ones that represent the king to us are the ones who represent Jesus Christ to us we welcome them and we treat them as the king even though they have no power in our lives we are responding to what Jesus has asked us to do we respond to what he is what he is asked us to do but the truth is we live and we live in a culture that often ignores the week and it's it's a great Temptation for us to do that and we can easily succumb to the fact that people have power and authority or just never go to be people a virtue and it's not true we know that hopefully we've got some examples in our own lives of that but the truth is there something in the fall in Human Condition because defined very very well in a quote that that quote all the time but hardly anyone knows who actually set it and so the Lord Acton was an English philosopher in the 18th century who said power corrupts power corrupts and we've all heard that but that it was the Nea said that he said that because the truth is that the more an individual accumulates power in his life the more likely he is his to use it for his own benefit his own glory and then to misuse it with the people around you understood that the primarily an economic and political life but it's but it's everywhere it's so far going to overcome the reality that power corrupts we've got to root it out before we ever get any power in the first place we need to teach from the very earliest age that every single person has dignity as a child of God and it has to begin in our own homes most of us will not believe that we actually have a lot of and I don't think any of us in this church this morning probably has the ability to make or break the career of a young journalist or a young entertainment professional but we all have power and influence in our lives with p play come into our midst beginning in our own families do we teach do we teach by our actions words and behavior the children in our homes that every person is a child of God and we should not use the power that we have buy gifts by Talent by size by age by experience and as an Lord it over them we need to use it to serve the people who are weaker and have less power do we put that out in in in in our own homes do we do we do it in a culture in which we live when we encounter everyday and are very very busy lives running from point A to point B the people that crossed has who are very much less power and influence than we would how do we treat them what a wonderful what a wonderful small exercise this week every person every person that we come in, back with particularly people that we know too so maybe struggle or or or not fit into the particular group of people that we hang out with how do we treat them are they welcomed as a child of God stay out of the welcome as a representative of Jesus Christ the King are we treating them that way and if we're not to change to say you know what I need to do that I need to do that to the shopkeepers I need to do that to the people I we run into at school and in and all those sorts of things even though I'm in a hurry even though and I'm in a hurry to welcome them with a spirit of of dignity the truth is very very discouraging to see that people do misuse and abuse their power and authority the royalty in our culture has really come crashing down and you know what it's not necessarily A Bad Thing provides an opportunity herbs that opportunity for conversion but most importantly for us who are not in the middle of it directly it gives us an opportunity to recognize who the real king is cuz the only way that those people got power is that we gave it to them we simply gave it to them they shouldn't have that kind of power and authority over our lives but we allow them to do so and free if we are going to be be an instrument an instrument of a new Kingdom an instrument of a kingdom of the Dignity of the human person he will Begin by us having Jesus as the king not the people who entertain us not the people who happen to have accumulated power not any of that but Jesus himself it is discouraging and it can create an awful lot of scissors cynicism but those of us who are subjects voluntarily to the real true and authentic King Jesus Christ we can be an influence to lift us from that cynicism by recognizing the Dignity of the people around us that represent cheeses that have no power and holding Jesus himself deep in our hearts as the only true king

Videos

Feast of Christ the King

More videos in LITURGY