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We celebrate the feast of Christ the King, and we are the parish of Christ the King in Pleasant Hill. So we’ve got to be careful. We may end up thinking the feast of Christ the King is just for the people in Pleasant Hill or just for the Catholics in Pleasant Hill. But the feast of Christ the King is a celebration for all Catholics throughout the world and all Christians and all who recognize that Jesus is the Lord. And, for all Christians, the foundational event and the foundational text or passages in the Bible are about the death and resurrection of Jesus. The teaching of Jesus, the message of Jesus, the wisdom of Jesus, the stories of Jesus, important though they be, are secondary to that. That’s why St. Paul writes, “If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is in vain and your believing is in vain.” So we celebrate Christ the King as a celebration that Jesus is living, is risen, is alive. That’s what this feast is about.

You know, I mention how the foundational text and event is the death and resurrection of Jesus. Once you move beyond that, what would you say is the most important, central, influential, crucial passage in the Bible, in the gospels, for Christians? I think the answer depends a little on which Christians you are talking about. If you are talking about Lutherans, I think Lutherans would probably point to the writings of St. Paul to the Romans where he reminds us that, in one point of view, we are justified by faith alone. And that’s very central to them. For Baptists, and I haven’t asked any, so I may have this wrong, but I would think a passage about baptism, “Unless you are born again of water and the Spirit, you won’t enter the Kingdom....” I would think that would be the key passage for them.

What about Catholic Christians? What passage in the gospel is the most central, most influential, the most important? To me, the answer is clear. It is this gospel that I just read, Matthew 25. “I was hungry; I was thirsty; I was naked; I was a stranger; I was ill; I was in prison and you did something about it. ....Whatever you do for the least of your brothers and sisters, you are doing it for me.” To me, that is the Catholic, Christian passage. That’s our charter. Why? Well, first of all, the Catholic story and tradition is one of two thousand years of trying to join our faith with our works, trying to put together our belief and service to the needy, and we have lots of hospitals and schools and chaplaincies and Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Service and Campaign for Human Development to point out that that passage is what shapes us and calls us to be Christian. And secondly, the judgment scene that Jesus has is very Catholic. You know, the word “Catholic” means “all-inclusive.” It means “universal.” And in this scene that Jesus paints for us, everyone is included. All the peoples of the earth are gathered around the throne, Buddhists and Muslims, Christians and Jews, agnostics and atheists. It’s very Catholic, and it’s also Catholic in answering the question, “Who are the righteous, and who are saved?” because included among those who are saved are people who reach out and do good, who never even heard of Jesus. “When did we see you hungry? We didn’t know it was you.... When did we see you thirsty? We didn’t know it was you.” “As long as you are doing it, you enter into the joy of my Father’s kingdom,” Jesus says. That’s traditional Catholic teaching, that living rightly and seeking justice are the key to salvation.

I guess there are about six point five billion people on the planet right now, maybe a few more today than there were yesterday, or a few less. But you know, growing up, I had the impression that, somehow or other, they were all going to become Catholic. Or some people have the impression they are all supposed to become Christian. Well, it ain’t going to happen. It ain’t going to happen! There are one point one billion Catholics in the world which is quite a bit, but nowhere near everybody. There are thirty-three percent of the world’s population that is Christian, quite a few, but nowhere near being everybody. That’s not the plan. But it’s absolutely necessary for human life, for the future of the human race that there be a movement, a community, a healthy Church that carries on and passes on the message and the person and the presence of Jesus Christ. That’s what Jesus was talking about when he said, “You’re not the whole world. Don’t get that into your head. You’re the salt. You’re not the whole meal. You’re the salt.” And I think sometimes our task, when we live up to being followers of Christ the King, when we live up to being Christians, is to say, “Do you want me to pass you the salt? ... Do you want me to give a little flavor to this world, and it’s the flavor of Jesus Christ?” And the world needs that, through us. And for those of us who have heard the message of Jesus, and experience at some level, the presence of Jesus and felt the spirit of Jesus, we can’t walk away from that. It’s both a blessing and a demand. It’s both a gift and an obligation, to be part of a community, nourished by the word of Jesus, nourished by the Eucharist, our lives being nourished so that our lives in turn can nourish the whole world.

I guess it was about three weeks ago, I was with a scripture scholar, nationally known, Jose Ramirez, from Costa Rica. He did his studies in Germany, spent about six years studying in Germany. He said to me, at one point, “You know we have so much stuff without the stuff.” And I said, “Huh? .... What does that mean?” We have so much stuff without the stuff. And he said, “You know, we have coffee without caffeine. We have creamers without cream. We have sweeteners without sugar. We have lots of stuff without the stuff.” He said, “I studied German in Germany for years. It’s very hard. I am standing in an airport bookstore and there is a set of tapes, ‘Learn German Perfectly in Two Months’.” And then he went to another spot and it said, “Learn Spanish While You Sleep.” And this is the truth. Friday night, I was looking at one of these holiday catalogues and they had a set of CD’s that teach you to get three hours sleep in twenty minutes. And we have lite beer, and we have diet cola.....

And here’s the problem. There are forms of faith that become just forms and our faith becomes stuff without the stuff. And we end up with Diet Christianity, and Religion Lite. That’s the danger. You know, we have chosen for all the Masses today, the song “Simple Gifts.” And, for the feast of Christ the King we chose it deliberately because Christ is not a king filled with power or possessions or wealth. It’s simple gifts. The following of Christ the King is really not rocket science. It’s not complicated. It’s not complex. Matthew 25, the gospel we have just heard, makes it very clear that it’s really simple stuff. It’s just caring for one another in a real way, but, even though it’s simple, it’s not Diet Christianity. It’s not Religion Lite because doing it is tough and, secondly, there will be a judgment. Doing it is tough.... feeding the hungry, caring for the poor, visiting the prisoners, it has two sides to it. One side we call charity. The other side we call justice. We have to have two feet to walk on, not just one. And that means we both reach out to individuals who are needy and we also try to change the system. Both charity and justice, both reaching out that is personal and reaching out that is public, both being people reaching out with service to the needy and also with politics on behalf of the needy.

Somebody told me last night that “You shouldn’t say that, Father. You know politics are dirty.” Well, I think there might be some dirty politicians. I have never met one. I never heard of one. Have you ever heard of a dirty politician? ....Well, we won’t worry about that! But, moving into the public square is part of the charity that this gospel calls for. For example, today we have thousands of people, citizens of our country, young people from Carondolet, people from our parish, at Fort Benning in Georgia, protesting and crossing a line in demonstrations. We have the death of Oscar Romero. That was political, political, Christian politics. We have demonstrations on behalf of stopping a death penalty. There’s nothing dirty about that and it’s the other half of today’s gospel. Service and politics. Pope Pius XI said the highest form of charity is politics. Don’t tell the politicians that, but the highest form of charity is politics. So, simple gifts but it’s tough. It’s tough.

And the scene in the gospel reminds us there will be a judgment. Now, I don’t think it’s like the scene in the gospel. That’s a cartoon that Jesus drew, kind of. I don’t think God is keeping track and marking down everything we do and don’t do. I don’t think God is a bookkeeper. But in the light of our God, we begin to recognize and will recognize and realize who we really are and what we have become. There was a phrase, until I got too old for it, that I really liked. It was “After forty, you’re responsible for your own face.” The theory is before forty, I walk like my father. I talk like my mother. I make decisions my parents taught me. But, by the time you’re forty, you are responsible for your own face. Well, it’s not just forty. It’s all the time. It’s every step along the way. It’s when you come right down to it. It’s at the end of the day we are responsible for who we are. We are responsible for what we have become. We are responsible for our own face. And, let’s pray and work together that our faces might be recognizable as followers of Jesus. And, if we are not sure what that looks like, check Matthew 25, today’s gospel. Amen.