The celebration of the Solemnity of Christ the King at the end of the Church’s liturgical year is like a jewel set in a crown. It is a reminder to us of the ultimate reality: Jesus Christ is Lord of all. Our gospel for this Sunday shows our King beaten and broken. He wears a crown, not of gold, but of thorns. This is a very different sort of king from what we might imagine. Yet he is king.
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In this week’s second reading, St. Paul tells Timothy (and us) two important things about the gift that God’s Spirit (the Holy Spirit) gives to us. He tells us what it is and what it isn’t.
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Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael What do we know about angels? Not much. Anyone who tells you
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God is willing to go to seemingly ridiculous lengths to welcome the sinner home. Nowhere is this expressed better than in the parable of the Prodigal Son. With this parable, Jesus offers great insight into the ridiculously merciful heart of our heavenly Father.
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St. Paul writes to his friend Philemon to say that he is returning his slave, Onesimus, to him. Some have read this as a tacit acceptance by the Apostle of the institution of slavery, which we naturally have trouble reconciling with brutal and inhumane treatment of African slaves in the American past. How could any Christian, let alone a saint, an Apostle, and the author of most of the New Testament condone such a thing?
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