Tuesday, October 30, 2007

King of kings and Lord of lords

Christ is both God and man; Son of God, he became man for our sakes. As God, his power is both sovereign and eternal. Thanks to its union with the Godhead, his humanity is royal, with a royalty that surpasses all others. Since his humanity and his divinity make one Person in Christ, it follows that he is King of kings and Lord of lords, to whom all nations have been given for his heritage, and who will possess the ends of the world. He rules from sea to sea. Christ is our King; royalty is his birthright. His kingship forms part of his nature. he rules over all creation by a right which is not that of force or of anything that is extraneous to himself.
It is equally true that it is not only thanks to his birthright that Christ is our sovereign Lord. His reign is also founded on his victory over Satan, won in deadly strife at the cost of his own blood and by the merits of his sacrifice. Man, born in original sin, lived under the yoke of the power of darkness. Christ, because he loved us, broke that yoke, when in a bloody battle he cast the prince of darkness from his throne. In that combat, we were the stake; it was our soul that he won back from the power of Satan. Formerly, kings of the earth wore a purple mantle, the sign that they were ready to give their life for the ir subjects. Who has more rihgt to wear it than our King, who gave the last drop of his blood for his people? "Behold your King!" What prince can history show us who has more right to the love of his people than Christ, the King of kings? All the titles that nations have ever given to their princes are his by right. He alone among the mightiest is the Almighty. Of his kingdom there is no end; to him is glory and power through all the ages.
He is truly "the Great"; through all the ages his people have greeted him, Tu solus altissimus!
He is "the Good", far above all who have been so called; we call him Father.
He is "the Strong"; Solomon, the wisest of the kings of the earth, says of him: "Behold your King! He is the All-highest, the Almighty, the All-best, the Father who dwells in our true Fatherland."

St Francis, in his Canticle of the Sun, sings:
"O all-highest, almighty, all-good Lord!
To you be praise and glory and honour!
To you be all blessing, for you alone are worthy.
We are not worthy even to name you!"

"My kingdom is not of this world!" His kingdom is of a higher order, a more solid construction than those of earth. The law of the kingdom knows but one commandment; its Magna Carta is contained in one word: Love! Love God above all things and your neighbour as yourself.
His kingdom is a kingdom of love. How can the good Shepherd, the good Samaritan, the generous Father, reign otherwise than by love?
His speach from the throne spoke of salvation. In his kingdom there is but one judge, who is as good as he is wise, as almighty as he is good.
Faithful and True is his name; his judgement is just. On the borders of his robe is written, "King of kings and Lord of lords". He is the highest Sovereign, to whom we must all submit.

"Almighty, everlasting God, who hast willed that in thy beloved Son, the universal King, all things should be made new, grant in thy loving-kindness that all the peoples of the earth, now torn asunder by the wound of sin, may be sundued to the gentle sway of him who is God. living and reigning with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen."

After "With the Church" - ed by Fr Goosens