THE SOLEMNITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE, NOVEMBER 23, 2025

Aerial view of the statue of King Jesus Christ in Swiebodzin Poland

MASS READINGS

Gospel Luke 23:35-43

The rulers sneered at Jesus and said, "He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God."

Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, "If you are King of the Jews, save yourself."

Above him there was an inscription that read, "This is the King of the Jews."

Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us."

The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal."

Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

He replied to him," Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

REFLECTION

Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King.  It marks the end of the liturgical year. This last Sunday of ordinary time directly leads into Advent. But what does it mean? Why now?

During the general audience of November 12, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI tells us about the parousia, the advent of Christ, His second coming, and how we should not be afraid of it.

The main points the Holy Father expresses are:

1. The certainty that Jesus is Risen and is with the Father and thus is with us forever.

   
   

2. The certainty that Christ is with me. And just as the future world in Christ has already begun, this also provides the certainty of hope.

   
   

3. The conviction is that the Judge who returns at the same time as Judge and Saviour has left us the duty to live in this world in accordance with his way of living. He has entrusted his talents to us

We are celebrating Jesus' second coming, and this is already happening. We should not do it in a fearful manner, but in the hope that we will rise with Him.

Another point that the Holy Father reminds us in this general audience are the words of St. Paul to the Corinthians: Maranà, thà! which means literally, "Our Lord, come!" (1 Cor 16:22)

The Holy Father concludes with these beautiful words, reiterating that when we pray for Jesus to come back, we are not praying for the destruction of the world, but a world transformed by Him:

"Come, Lord Jesus!" Can we pray like this too? It seems to me that for us today, in our lives, in our world, it is difficult to pray sincerely for the world to perish so that the new Jerusalem, the Last Judgment and the Judge, Christ, may come. I think that even if, sincerely, we do not dare to pray like this for a number of reasons yet, in a correct and proper way, we too can say, together with the early Christians: "Come, Lord Jesus!". We do not of course desire the end of the world. Nevertheless, we do want this unjust world to end. We also want the world to be fundamentally changed, we want the beginning of the civilization of love, the arrival of a world of justice and peace, without violence, without hunger. We want all this, yet how can it happen without Christ's presence? Without Christ's presence there will never be a truly just and renewed world.

... And come into our hearts, come and renew our lives, come into our hearts so that we ourselves may become the light of God, your presence. In this way let us pray with St Paul: Maranà, thà! "Come, Lord Jesus!" and let us pray that Christ may truly be present in our world today and renew it.

God bless y'all!