Christ the King
2003.
A young man wanted to lead a good life. He wanted to grow in the ways of God and be
holy, but he needed to know what to do. With
great courage the young man entered a cave where an old monk lived. The holy old man was curled up and sleeping
on the ground. When the old monk raised his head the young man could see in his
eyes the beauty and glory of heaven. The
young man didn’t know what to say. All
at once he blurted out “Fr. Makarios, do
you still wrestle with the devil?” “Not any longer,” the old monk said, “I have grown old now, and the devil has
grown old with me. He doesn’t have
strength enough to wrestle with me. Now I
wrestle with God.”
“You wrestle with
God?” the young man exclaimed. “And do you hope to win?” The old monk said, “With God I hope to lose. But
even at my advanced age, my old bones continue to resist God, no matter how
hard I try to lose to him.” “Yours is a hard life, Father,” the
young man replied. “I also want to be saved. Is
there no other way of doing it?”
The old monk said, “You
mean you want a more agreeable way?”
“No, no,” the young man said, “I only want a more human way.” The old monk said, “There is no human way to God, there is only a divine way. Only the devil points out the human way. You must simplify your life. You must exchange a full stomach for
hunger. You must give up much drinking
and know what it is to thirst. You must
give up comfort and find hope in suffering.
God sits on the mountain top of hunger, thirst and suffering. The devil sits on the mountain top of
comfort. You must choose.”
The young man said, “The
world is very nice and I am very young.
I have a lot of time to choose.” The old monk put his hand gently on the young
man’s shoulder and said, “Wake up, my
child. Wake up before death wakes you up and you find yourself judged and
condemned in a world you did not have the courage to find.”
Jesus had been arrested, bound, beaten, threatened and humiliated. The whole world had turned against him. He was a pitiful sight as he stood before the Roman governor. Pilate said to Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?….your own nation has handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus said “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If it were my subjects would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to you.” Pilate answered, “Then, you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
Even when he is about to die nailed to a Cross, Jesus is King of the universe in the gospel of John. He had come into a confused and crazy world that had chosen the destructive ways of obsession with comfort, pleasure and ease. He had come to bear witness to the truth. When Jesus said that he was born to bear witness to the truth, Pilate said, “Truth, what is truth?” In his lack of interest in the truth Pilate is not much different than the rest of us. Most of us are too busy for the truth. We are interested most in what works, at least for now. We are interested in what will make us a profit, at least for now. We are interested in what brings us pleasure, at least for now. Yet, only the truth will set us free. Only the truth will bring us to authentic life and holiness. Not only are we too busy to seek the truth, I am not sure we believe that there is very much value in the truth. Seeking truth is very tedious. Seeking pleasure is satisfying now. Constant movement, self-gratification and busyness make the pursuit of truth very unappealing. Perhaps that is why so many people feel alienated from themselves and deeply stressed about any deeper meaning in life.
Without letting go of our busyness, our endless pursuit of please and our focus on ourselves we will never find the truth about who we are, where we are going, and what true happiness means. On this feast of Christ the King I am speaking at all the Masses to invite you to spend one solid, uninterrupted hour a week in silent prayer. I am asking, encouraging, even begging you to join with other members of our parish in the wonderful gift of Eucharist Adoration in our chapel. At first it will be difficult to spend a full hour without the busyness, the distractions and the comforts that too often hide us from the truth. Being present to God and to ourselves in silent adoration has the power to reveal God’s truth to us in ways that nothing else will. Jesus said, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Eucharistic adoration is about listening to God’s voice in the very depths of our being. Christ the King is the center of Eucharistic adoration. The Eucharist is Christ’s answer to our hunger for divine, eternal and loving truth at the very depths of our being. Sunday Mass is the highest expression of Eucharistic adoration. Yet without additional time to digest and ponder the Eucharist we celebrate and the communion we receive, we will never understand the power of the Mass with any depth nor experience the mission we are given to bring salvation and justice to the world.
One of the confusing things about coming to Our Lady of
Grace is having people tease me about being pastor of “Our Lady of Cadillacs” parish.
While it would be silly to deny that there are many in our parish who
are financially well off, I do not usually experience you that way. From the moment I came here I have
experienced you as deeply compassionate, loving people. The article in the Catholic Spirit on your generosity to the people of
I invite you to one hour a week of Eucharistic adoration. Please trust me in this. Give yourself the gift of one hour of Eucharistic adoration a week and you will begin to experience a new peace, power, purpose and unity in your life. I invite the ushers to pass out the sign up sheets now. Please fill one out and return it in the collection basket. Scheduling is a great challenge for our dedicated lay leaders. In the name of Our Lady of Grace I thank you for this hour of your time each week.