When the title "King" is attributed to Christ - by scripture and, therefore, by the Church -- what is revealed is the great truth of the Incarnation of God. In Christ, God has taken unto Himself our human nature. God has become our kin. By His Incarnation, God has become our King in the Lord Christ. To no one else has that ancient title been applied more fully and perfectly than to Christ, our King.

St. Paul teaches, with great beauty, the doctrine of the Kingship of Christ in his letter to the Colossians: how He identifies with us, how we live because of His loving death and resurrection, and how we should respond. Please read the letter. It is brief.

The relation of kingship is personal. It is between the king and each of his subjects. It is not in any way "mediated." Even a slight knowledge of the character of Christ as He is described in the Gospels makes evident the personal quality of His style and speech. We must not miss this. It is the heart of the matter. He whose eloquence and power could have attracted and controlled millions, who could have brought the power of Rome to an end - ironically, Judas was convinced of this -- chose instead to spend thirty of His thirty-three years living the ordinary human life which we undervalue, teaching us thereby the unique lesson of the importance of personal human existence. When finally He began His public life, He spent most of it forming and directing the interior life of twelve simple men. That He failed with one of them only displays the tragic and terrible power of the individual man to go his own contrary way, even in the presence of Infinite Love.

It is obvious that the kingdom which our King wishes to build is within us. To restore in sinful man the beauty and innocence damaged by sin; to lead man away from folly to the greatness implied by his existence: it was for this that He came among us, for this He died and rose from the dead. It was for this that He established His Church, and endowed her with His authority to teach and to sanctify. It is for this that He remains with us in the Eucharist to be the powerful way -- bread of our journey.

The Gospels are full of examples of "His delight to be with the children of men," to encounter them and have discourse with them. This is evident in the delightful story of Nathaniel and the fig tree, in the encounter with Nicodemus and with the woman at Jacob's well, with Magdalene, with the woman taken in adultery, with sinners generally and even with those who chose to oppose Him. It is evident poignantly in His great sorrow over His rejection by the people of Jerusalem whom He would “have gathered as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings”-- but they refused.

His wonderfully personal approach is especially evident in the story of Peter, whom He names before being introduced, and then nicknames. He seems to pay special attention to the task of forming Peter, a middle-aged Galilean fisherman. Among many other examples we name the event of the coin in the fish's mouth, the promise of the primary and the reprimand that follows, the delightful scene of Peter walking on the water -- to the apparent delight of Jesus. There is Peter’s protestation at the Last Supper that he would lay down his life for Jesus only to be told that before cock-crow he would deny Him three times; and the cock crowed and "turning, Jesus looked at Peter, and Peter remembered," and his heart broke. There is the final scene at the lake where Peter will not dare say that he loves his risen Lord with any love greater than friendship, and his Lord finds it sufficient and bestows on Peter the "shepherding of His sheep." Then Peter shows a glorious maturity when he says: "But what of this man?" pointing to the young and faithful John, who had stood with Mary at the foot of the cross. But you must read this story for yourselves in John's Gospel and mine its gold for yourselves.

The chapters in John’s Gospel dealing with the last discourse with His apostles, and His prayer for them and us should be memorized by all of us. (see John, Chapters 13 -- 17) His love and concern for His small flock are beautifully revealed. But it is in His prayer to His Father that the completion of the Incarnation becomes clear. His becoming one of us leads to our becoming one with His Father through Him. We are included in that great prayer. Not for His apostles alone does He pray "but for those also who through their word will believe in me, that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they may be one in Us." This is our destiny in Him: that we be drawn into a oneness with the Father which Our Lord compares to the oneness that exists between Him and the Father in the infinite life of the Trinity. That is the truly supernatural destiny that Jesus has intended for each of us.

Our destiny is offered, not imposed. God honors our liberty, with its dramatic responsibility to choose. St. Thomas says that God treats each of us with respect. Jesus used all His unlimited love to teach and persuade us to choose the road that leads to glory. His grace empowers us to make that choice. But we can refuse. We can choose our own road. Judas did. We must permit ourselves to be persuaded by the love of Our Lord to choose Him who is "the Way, the Truth and the Life." Two signposts mark His Way: "Repent" and "Believe." We must, with His grace, toss our sins on the refuse heap of the world's mistakes, and walk with Him the road of Virtue and Truth.

The fundamental realism of our faith is found in the Vision of Daniel, the Book of Revelation and in Christ's own words in Matthew, where Christ is seen as judge coming in divine majesty at the end of history, to show, as His final act of Love, that He honors our choice.

Glory to Christ Our King.