23/11/2025
Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe—Solemnity
Last Sunday in Ordinary Time
Our liturgical year is ordered so as to lead us through the mystery of salvation that Christ won for us. Each liturgical year begins with Advent, moves on to Christmas, then Ordinary Time. We pause for Lent, the Triduum, and Easter, then return to Ordinary Time. Finally, we arrive at the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, commonly known as the Feast of Christ the King.
Pope Pius XI instituted the liturgical feast of Christ the King and added it to the Church calendar in 1925, with his encyclical Quas Primas. In 1925, the world was in political and social chaos following the end of World War I. Secularism grew worldwide, and communist and fascist ideologies emerged, leading many to question and even abandon their faith. The unity of faith and civil governance, part of Europe’s make-up since the fourth century, slowly crumbled, and God’s sovereignty over the world was readily dismissed. Though the separation of the Church and State can help both the Church and the State, if God’s authority and laws are excluded from human governance, man, left to his own designs, inevitably goes astray. Pope Pius XI felt that he needed to remind the Church and the world that there is only one King, and that King is not only the King of Catholics, He is the King of humanity, of the entire Universe.
When Jesus walked the earth, He instituted the Kingdom of God as a spiritual reality and invited us to participate in it. Those who participate are called to work to establish Christ’s Kingdom on earth, here and now, by governing according to the mind and will of God. In his encyclical letter, Pope Pius XI says, “When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony. Our Lord’s regal office invests the human authority of princes and rulers with a religious significance; it ennobles the citizen’s duty of obedience” ( #19).
This feast also reminds us that in order for Christ to reign as King, He must first govern each soul. Jesus is not only the Savior of mankind, He is also the model of Christian living. Just as the Son of God did His Father’s will while on the earth, so must we. We cannot do our own will, but the will of the Father in Heaven. God’s governance of our lives requires complete obedience to His commands because His commands are perfect, true, and lead us to the fulfillment of human life. Only in Christ do we find peace, unity, harmony, and true purpose.
The ideal society will only become a reality if every individual is governed by God’s will. The more that happens, the more society as a whole will share in the Kingdom of God. We should see the institution of this feast in 1925 as an invitation to share in God’s Kingdom on earth and as a warning that the secular, communist, and fascist ideologies emerging at the time were leading the world toward satan’s kingdom.
The final and most glorious aspect of today’s feast points us to the end of time when Jesus, the great King, will return in His splendor and glory to establish His unending Kingdom on earth, when He unites Heaven and earth into the new and resurrected Kingdom. On that day, Christ “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end,” and we will all share in “the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come” (Nicene Creed).
My glorious King of the Universe, You are perfect in all of Your ways. Your divine Law must reign in my heart and become my life’s purpose. As we honor Your kingship today, I rededicate myself to You and submit more fully to Your sovereign control of my life. Please use me to build Your Kingdom on earth. Jesus, I trust in You.
