This weekend we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King.  I want to tell you three things about the Feast of Christ the King. 

First of all, it’s not just here.  Secondly, its much more ancient than you would think.  And thirdly, its very political the Feast of Christ the King.

Not just here!  They’re celebrating it at St. Catherine’s in Martinez today, St. Stephen’s in Walnut Creek, St. Patrick’s in New York, and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.  It’s a universal feast of the whole Church, not just us folks at Pleasant Hill.  So it is nice to be part of a big celebration of the Feast of Christ the King.

The second point I want to make is it is much more ancient than you would think.  Well aren’t all these feasts ancient?  I mean, we started celebrating Christmas about the year 300.  That’s a long time ago.  Oh, we had that feast a few weeks ago the Feast of St. John Lateran.  That was first celebrated in 325.  The most modern feast I could find to think of was the Feast of Corpus Christi and it was begun in the 1200’s.  So, of course, Christ the King is ancient.  Or, not really.  The Feast of Christ the King was begun and instituted by Pope Pius XI in less than 100 years ago – 1925.  Mussolini was taking over Italy – Il Duce, the leader.  Hitler was taking over Germany – the leader, the Furor.  And Pius XI said “we must remember that for us Christ is the King, Christ is the Leader” and that’s when it was introduced.  Although I say it is much more ancient than you would think because it’s nothing new.  From the very beginning the first Christians refused to call Caesar the Emperor Lord.  They said Jesus is the Lord.  That’s why they persecuted, that’s why they got in trouble, that’s why they were illegal.  So we go way back to being people who celebrate that Christ is King.

And finally, the Feast of Christ the King is very political.  Obviously, it was set up in opposition to two dictatorships, Mussolini and Hitler.  Pius XI is the Pope who said “the highest form of charity, the highest form of charity is politics”.  Politics is the highest form of charity.  Now in the bulletin today I write about politics, I write about the recent election and some people like what I write and some people didn’t like it at all.  So just read it when you have something better to do like now when I’m talking maybe, and just check it out and let me know, especially let me know if you don’t like it.  You know, because I’ve made mistakes before.  I can handle it.  I’ve made at least one or two that I can think of in my lifetime.  Once I thought I was wrong and I was right.  (Laughter)  I know, that’s an old one.  I see you shaking your heads.  But when it comes to politics, our faith does not tell us who to vote for, but our faith tells us what values to have and what to stand up for. 

Then the question is:  By what standard, or measurement, or criteria do we test and weigh what values to have and what we need to stand up for.  Well, I think a very good criteria is the gospel we just heard, Matthew: 25.  Will you put that picture up?  This picture is sometimes called Matthew: 25 or Jesus in the breadline.  You notice the people alongside Jesus are dressed like you would be maybe in the 1930’s during the great depression.  It might be time to dress that way again given the present economy.  But this Matthew: 25 calls us to at least three things.  Two of them are expected, the third one might be a surprise to you.  Matthew: 25 calls us to service, to witness, and to persuasion. 

To service.  I just have to complement everyone in our Parish here.  I mean we do a great deal for the poor.  Every day of the week you can come by and see our volunteers working with the poor at our front door.  And it is possible because of your outreach, because of your generosity.  Everyone here is involved in service to the poor. 

We are called to service, we’re called to witness.  When I say “witness” I just don’t mean that we stand up but also we don’t hide what’s going on.  One of things I’m proudest of and some people criticize me for it, but when we bring the poor to be served at Christ the King we ask them to come to our front door.  They walk in the front door, not the back door.  Not in the back of the property.  The front door where everyone becomes aware of the suffering that goes on in our community. 

We are also called to be people who witness by standing up, standing up for what has to be done and we have lots of parishioners who do that.  In fact, this weekend we have parishioners in Fort Benning, Georgia among 10’s and 20’s thousand that are protesting the School of America asking the government to close it down because it has produced so many deaths in Central America from its graduates.  Like the Jesuits and the Nuns that were killed.  We have had members of our Parish who have gone into political forums protesting the death penalty or spending nights in vigil outside of San Quentin.  We have members of our Parish who protest abortion and we offer counseling and financial aid and support for people to avoid abortion. 

We have to stand up and be witnesses, but the third thing is not service, not witness, but persuasion.  We have to be a people who persuade one another simply because the values of Jesus are first of all not automatically accepted by our community, our society and, secondly, because we don’t even agree with one another.  The things I mentioned we wouldn’t get 100% if we asked for a vote on them.  We don’t agree with one another and we have to take the same values, the things that we have to stand up for and work it through with persuasion to one another.  The famous example is William F. Buckley who “Mr. Conservative”, the founder of the National Review Magazine, the interviewer of thousands of hours on Firing Line, Mr. Conservative.  And along with him put Dorothy Day, who lived at the same time.  Pacifist, founder of the Daily Catholic Worker.  Both of them agreed on Jesus, agreed on the Church, went to Eucharist together every day.  They were both practicing daily communicants, and yet, on how to make things work they disagreed greatly, but yet they could receive communion side by side. 

One other thing about this picture and this Gospel, it tells us something about ourselves and it tells us something about God and something very important.  I think one of the things that keeps us from being deeply spiritual, keeps us from growing in the spirit, keeps us from being deeply religious people is we have in our head and in our Catechism the belief that God is everywhere, but we don’t think that way at all.  We think God is located somewhere else.  Wherever God is it’s somewhere else.  We think of an elsewhere God.  Well, when you ask the question, “Where is God located?  Where is God revealed?  Where is God recognized?”  This passage of scripture gives us two definite answers.  The first answer is:  When we act with compassion, when we act with generosity, when we act with caring, God is located, God is expressed, and God is present in and through us.  Isn’t that fantastic?  That’s not elsewhere --  in and through us.  And the second answer this passage gives is that God is located and at present in the least of our brothers and sisters.  Where people are hurting most. 

In fifteen minutes I’m going to ask you to take the bulletin and rather than the Nicene Creed to recite together on this Feast of Christ the King our Parish Mission Statement.  May we be a community of service, of witness and of gentle persuasion with Christ as our King may be express and recognize and celebrate in and through ourselves the presence of God.

rjs