The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Today's Mass Readings

Preface: Throughout this coming week, we will ponder the daily Mass readings from the perspective of the liturgical texts given to us in the Roman Missal and the Lectionary—the entrance and communion antiphons, the responsorial refrains, and the Gospel acclamations. These texts provide a unique perspective on the scripture passages of each day and often provide a key for understanding the profound spiritual interconnections between these liturgical readings.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. This Sunday opens the 34th and last week of the Church’s liturgical year, presenting us each day with reflections on the second coming of Christ in glory. Our readings today use images of Christ as ¬¬both Shepherd and the Lamb of sacrifice and of us, his followers, as sheep, rams, and goats.

The liturgy opens with a quotation from the Book of Revelation (and we will read from this book each day of the coming week): “How worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and divinity, and wisdom and strength and honor. To him belong glory and power for ever and ever” (Rv 5:12; 1:6). Christ, whose death occurs at the same time as the slaughter of sacrificial sheep in the Jerusalem temple, is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Christ sacrificed his lifeblood that we might have eternal life. As St. Paul tells us in the second reading “For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life” (1 Cor 15:22). He continues, “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Cor 15:25). The antiphon for the Preparation of the Gifts further expounds on this theme, “Ask me and I will give you the nations for an inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession” (Ps 2:8). All things have been subjected to Christ and he has subjected himself to the Father “so that God may be all in all.” This explains the title of this feast of Christ as “King of the Universe.”

In the first reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, God is identified as a Shepherd-King who cares so much for his sheep that he will pasture them, seek out the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the injured and heal the sick among them. Ezekiel also presents this shepherd as Judge: “As for you, my sheep…I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats” (Ez 34:17). The communion antiphon echoes this idea of the shepherd who sits in judgment upon a throne in the opening phrase “The Lord sits as King for ever” (Ps 29:10). Indeed, this is the very image we see in St. Matthew’s Gospel today as the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne as both king and shepherd with all the nations assembled before him. He separates the sheep from the goats on the basis of a life lived for Christ as seen in the neighbor: “I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me” (Mt 25:35-40). Those who fail to recognize Christ in the stranger will face eternal punishment. Those who are righteous will go off to eternal life, or in the language of the communion refrain from Psalm 29: “The Lord will bless his people [those he recognizes as his sheep] with peace.”

Thought for the day: Have I encountered Christ today in the person of someone in need? Did I recognize him?

Reflection by Br. Michael Marcotte, OSB