Christ the king

Christ the King of the universe. 

Good morning/evening every one. I am so happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass. Our special welcome to all our parishioners, visitors and every one here today. Friends in Christ the king, let us thank God Almighty for brining us all here to this beautiful Church of St. Paul the Apostle. Let's thank Him for sending His only Son our Lord Jesus Christ to be with us for ever. Let us thank Him for showering upon us His countless blessings each and every day. 

Now let us take a moment to prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ calling to mind our sins, short-comings, failure, pain and sufferings, asking divine assistance and Christ our Lord's forgiveness, mercy and compassion. 

Last week one of our parishioners called me saying, "Father, you owe me $50 because you said, "If we pronounce your last name right, you would give us fifty-dollars and I did, you didn't.  I am the only one who speaks my language here and even if you pronounce the name right, I am going to say 'No'. So suck it up butter cup".  

Once a taxi driver and a priest died and were standing in line before entering into heaven. The angel sent the taxi driver into heaven saying, "Well done good and trust-worthy friend". Then looking at the priest, "Go to purgatory for now and we will decide your case later". The priest wasn't happy and said, "Why are you sending the taxi-driver to heaven and I who preached the word of God to purgatory? The angel looked at him and said, "Because every time he drove the taxi, people prayed to God and every time you preached, people slept". So suck it up butter cup. 

Dear friends in Christ, 

Every time we come to Church, we celebrate Christ the king of kings and the Lord of all; we celebrate His unconditional love and forgiveness and every time we come to church, we celebrate the kingdom of Christ where we all be in one day enjoying life-everlasting. 

 At the age of nineteen, my grandpa converted to Catholicism and one day I asked him what made him to accept Christ as his personal Savior and he took me to the Church and showed me the big statue of Christ the king outside standing and underneath were the words saying, "Come to me , you who are weary and heavy burdened, I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gently and humble in heart and my yoke is easy and my burden is light". Every day as he went to school and college, those words of Christ inspired him and thus he became Catholic and he never missed reading the bible. 

Every time I think about him, I thank Christ the king. With this feast of Christ the king, we conclude a liturgical year and next week-end, we begin a new liturgical season called Advent. And when I think about my grandpa, I always remember the story of an old man looking sad and when his grandson said, "Grandpa, why are you looking sad? He said, "its because two forces fighting within me, a good one and a bad one. Which one is going to win grandpa. The grandpa said, "The one which I feed the most". He fed the good one. 

It looks like I am giving you today, 'Family homily'.  

I came to know a story of a king or more like a prince when I was small. You may say that I am still small. That is why, my friends never borrow money from me because I am always a little short or I can say that I am concentrated.  

It's a story of a prince who left his palace first time and he met with four types of people that changed his life for ever. First He met with the old man and asked why the man looked like that. People said, "It's because he is old and it's called aging process. Most of us have to go through this aging process. Then he met a sick man and he was told that he is not at ease but he has disease and people get sick , weak and fragile. Then the prince saw a dead man being carried by others and was told that that is going to happen to all and it is called death. Seeing an old man, a sick person and a dead man made him think about life and living and then he finally saw a Guru,  priest, sage walking by and people said to him, "That man renounced everything and was searching for God".  

That inspired the king and he renounced his kingdom and became a spiritual guru known as Buddha who said, "Desire is the cause for all suffering". Buddha was just an enlightened man but on the other hand, today we celebrate Christ who is fully human and fully divine. Christ the Alpha and Omega. Everything was created through Him, in Him and for Him alone. He is the king of kings and the Lord of all. He is the eternal king. He is the cosmic king. 

Once there was a king who was so famous for his judgement. He was filled with wisdom and knowledge. He feared God and according to the will of God, he did everything for his people. Every one loved to live in his kingdom and then one day, a man was brought before the king for justice.  The man was accused of stealing  and destroying people's property and murdering them. The king listened to all the accusations and then he asked what the man wanted to say. The accused did not say a word but just looked at the king. Then the king granted justice saying, "This man was found guilty and I order him to be executed". There was a deep silence because that was the first time a man was ever executed in the kingdom. Then the unexpected and extraordinary thing happened. The king got up from his golden throne and took off his king's robe and garment, looked at people and said, "As your just king, I granted you all justice but now as the father of this man, I will take his place".  

The king said, "I will take his place and die". This story is called the summery of Christianity. Christ the king of kings and the Lord of all accepted to die for humanity. He gave His life to save us all. 

When Pilate asked Christ, "Are you the king of Jews?' Christ the Lord said, "you say that I am and for this, I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice".  

1. Christ the king said, "I am your servant and I came to serve you and not to be served". And thus the universal king washed the feet of His disciples and asks us to serve one another. The real authority of a person is not in holding on to power but to use his authority to serve one another. 

2. Christ the king said, "I am the Good Shepherd and I lead my sheep to life everlasting. He calls us all by names and feed us with unconditional love and forgiveness.  

3. Christ the king said to the repentant thief, "This day you will be with me in paradise". Yes, His kingdom is heaven and today we are called to prepare ourselves to enter into that one day to be with Him forever.  

Conclusion: As the conclusion, I would say that two years after my grandpa passed away, I decided to join the seminary to become a priest and when I went to the seminary, there I saw a huge statue of Christ the king standing with outstretched arms underneath the same words that made my grandpa became catholic. And I said to myself, "Thank you grandpa". Amen.