Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe | Sunday Reflection

One of the many people who impacted my life and helped me discern my vocation to the priesthood is my grandmother. While my immediate family is very religious, whenever we went to my grandparents, as kids, we felt like we were staying in a convent or a priest’s rectory. There were several prayers at several points in the day, prayers before or during some activities, like saying the rosary while walking on foot to the farm, or walking on foot to the market, and of course if we have to hop into the car for a drive to anywhere, if it is a short drive, it will be a short prayer, if it is a longer drive, you just be prepared to say the rosary, sometimes the twenty decades even.

One of the many short prayers, also known as ejaculatory prayers, that I still say several moments in the day is, Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine. My grandmother (and grandfather) would sing it into our ears that we always need to welcome Jesus into our hearts and ask Him to reign in our hearts, to be the King of our hearts, to transform our hearts as to make us good kids like the three children of Fatima (Francisco, Jacinta and Lucy). Their wish for us was always to encourage us to be ever conscious of our need for Jesus in our lives, with everything going on in the world; things that could distract young people and lead them to making bad and costly decision that could even ruin their lives. They wanted us to continually be conformed to the image of God, solely dependent on Our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we can merit the kingdom of heaven at last.

St. Paul prays and desires the same for everyone, that by and through the grace of God, we be “delivered…from the power of darkness and transferred…to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” This is the point of today’s solemn celebration; the truth and fact that our existence in this world is for nothing else other than to know God, love God, worship God in this world and come back to Him in His eternal and heavenly kingdom. This is why God the Son took our human nature, incarnate of the Blessed Virgin, and made Man. His incarnation was to show us how to live and journey in this world to come back to our heavenly homeland. So, we learn from the Incarnate Son, who St. Paul reminds us is the “image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation…all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together…For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross.” This is why He is the King of the whole Universe (or the multiverse, if you will). In Jesus Christ, we find ourselves, in Him we find the meaning of our lives, in Him our image is restored before the Father, in Him, all of creation, including us, live and move and have our being.

Being the “Firstborn of all creation,” He is entitled to the Father’s inheritance. From an African perspective, and even Jewish perspective as at Jesus’s time, the firstborn/first son, prōtotokos (in Greek), succeeded his father as the head of the family, and so inherited the most, if not all, the heritage of the father. The first son could distribute the inheritance however he desires and to whomever he wishes. This probably is the image St. Paul is painting for his Colossian readers. He is revealing to them with a common man’s perspective, the place of Jesus Christ in relation to all of creation, and His place in God’s Kingdom, as the only Begotten Son of God, and being so, prōtotokos, what it means that God bequeaths His Kingdom to His only Begotten Son, hence Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. His Kingship seeks “to reconcile all things for him[self], making peace by the blood of his cross.” St. John tells us that Jesus Christ reigns as King from the throne of the cross; His crucifixion is His glorification, for “when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself.” On the throne of the cross, He was offered as the spotless Lamb to bring peace and accomplish the mysteries of our redemption as to “present to the immensity of [God’s] majesty an eternal and universal kingdom, a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace.”

Stretching His hands on the cross, He bids us come to Him and find rest, to lay on the foot of the cross, the foot of His throne, all of our cares and burdens, our worries, challenges, sorrows, frailties, weaknesses, shame and helplessness. On the cross He gifted the repentant thief the kingdom, when He said in today’s Gospel, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” On the cross He commended His Spirit to the Father, thus inviting us to offer ourselves, our lives, all that we have and are to the Father. For to do this, we advance His kingdom already present nevertheless, yet to be fulfilled “with power and great glory” at His second coming.

Until His second coming and as we come to the end of this liturgical year, today’s solemnity invites us to reexamine ourselves and to personally ask if I have lived according to the purpose for which God created me. He created me out of love to partake of His Blessed Trinitarian life, that I might know, love, and serve Him in this world and be happy with Him forever in the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. The Collect for Mass today prays “Almighty ever-living God, whose will is to restore all things in your beloved Son, the King of the Universe, grant we pray, that the whole of creation, set free from slavery, may render your majesty service and ceaselessly proclaim your praise.” We are invited to seek Him more in this coming new year, that as we await His coming with the season of Advent, we make renewed efforts to continue to configure ourselves to Him, in whom we find ourselves, in whom we find the meaning of our lives, in whom we are reconciled to the Father, through whom we are set free from slavery to sin and death, and in whom our image is restored before the Father.

His coming is for the purpose of “revers[ing] what Adam did by reshaping our image in the likeness of his own,” for “the image Adam bequeathed to the human family was damaged and disfigured by sin.” Jesus Christ, consubstantial with the Father, through whom all things were made, bears the image of restoration, and the reign of His kingdom is a reign of restoration, a reign of holiness and peace. We invite Him today to come and reign in our hearts, to make His kingdom present in our lives just as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We ask Him to bring us into His kingdom where forever we will be restored into His own perfect Image. And so, we pray, Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine. Jesus, King of the Universe, reign as King in my heart forever!