FEAST OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST THE KING

FEAST OF OUR LORD
JESUS CHRIST THE KING

The Last Sunday of October (Sunday between October 25 and 31 inclusive)

Pope Pius XI (whose motto was: Pax Christi in regno Christi) instituted the feast of Christ the King as a solemn affirmation of our Lord’s kingship over every human society; He is King, not only the soul and conscience, intelligence and will of all men, but also of families and cities, peoples and states and the whole universe. In his Encyclical Letter "Quas primas" the Pope showed how laicism or secularism, organizing society without any reference to God, leads to the apostasy of the masses and the ruin of society, because it is a complete denial of Christ’s Kingship. This is one of the great heresies of our time, and the Pope considered that this annual, public, social and official assertion of Christ’s divine right of Kingship over men in the liturgy would be an effective means of combating it.



That Christ if King over all creation is the theme of the whole Mass and Office of the feast. The Mass begins with the magnificent Apocalyptic vision of the Lamb of God, sacrificed but henceforth glorified for ever, acclaimed by the innumerable host of Angels and Saints (Intr.). By its position on the last Sunday of October, towards the end of the Liturgical year and just before All Saints, the feast of Christ the King comes as the climax of our celebration of all Christ’s mysteries and a kind of earthly anticipation of his everlasting reign over the elect in the glory of heaven. It sums up the Christian message that by His Death and Resurrection Christ has conquered sin and death and reigns in the glory of His victory among the elect who are its fruit. Christ is the creative Word; He is the Man-God, seated at the right hand of the Father; He is our Saviour; these are His threes title to kingship.



Prayer to Christ the King



O CHRIST Jesus, I acknowledge You King of the Universe. All that has been created has been made for You. Exercise upon me all Your rights. I renew my baptismal promises, renouncing Satan and all his works and pomps. I promise to live a good Christian life and to do all in my power to procure the triumph of the rights of God and Your Church. Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You my poor actions in order to obtain that all hearts may acknowledge Your sacred Royalty, and that thus the reign of Your peace may be established throughout the universe. Amen.

Blessed Richard Gwyn

Blessed Richard Gwyn – October 25th

Richard was a Welshman who lived in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, ruler of England and Wales, too. Because most of the people in Wales were still Catholic, the Queen and her ministers determined to crush the Faith there by cruel laws. Priests or people who were loyal to the Holy Father were put in prison, tortured and killed by a horrible method. Richard himself only became a Catholic after he had finished college and had become a teacher.

Before long, he was a hunted man. He escaped from jail once and a month later was arrested again. “You will be freed,” he was told, “if you will give up the Catholic Faith.” Bl. Richard absolutely refused. He was brought to a non-Catholic Church by force, but he upset the preacher’s whole sermon by clanking his chains loudly! Furious, the officials put him in the stocks for eight hours, and many came to abuse and insult him.

More time in prison and periods of torture followed. The Queen’s men wanted him to give them the names of other Catholics, but Richard would not. At his trial, men were paid to lie about him, as one of them admitted. The men on the jury were so dishonest that they asked the judge whom he wanted them to condemn! After Blessed Richard was sentenced to death, his wife and baby were brought into court. “Do not imitate your husband,” the poor woman was told. In disgust, she bravely snapped, “If you want more blood, you can take my life with my husband’s. If you give more money to your witnesses, they will surely find something to say against me, too!”

As Blessed Richard was being cruelly martyred, he cried out in terrible agony: “My God, what is this?” One of the officials mockingly answered: “An execution for Her Majesty, the Queen.” “Jesus, have mercy on me!” exclaimed the martyr, and then he was beheaded. The beautiful religious poems Bl. Richard wrote in prison are still in existence. In them, he begged his countrymen of Wales to be loyal to the Catholic Faith.

If today I have to suffer a little, I will not complain.