November 23: The Day of the Lord / El Día del Señor

A prayer we pray at Mass today, the one known as the “preface” to the Eucharistic Prayer, is unique to today’s Feast of Christ the King. That “preface” describes Christ as wanting to present to His Father “an eternal and universal kingdom: a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice and peace.” We cannot help but notice that the world’s kingdoms are not really like that. That’s the bad news. The good news is that there are seeds of Christ’s kingdom everywhere – and sometimes even fruit.

Worldly kingdoms are built on power and wealth, but Jesus’ kingdom is wholly different. When we assert, then, that Christ is King we are not associating Him with secular images of power. It is absurd (even laughable) to imagine Him lined up with any earthly king we have seen or read about, or any other ruler or political leader for that matter.

When our Christian ancestors were persecuted by the Roman Empire for declaring that Christ was “Lord and King,” the Empire’s swift and ruthless reaction was because they assumed that Christ was looking for what the Caesars had – and we were looking to Him for the same. But, again, Jesus was the exact opposite of an earthly king.

For us to call Christ our King may not seem like it, but it is a subversive declaration, as subversive as it was for the early Christians. It is to say that anyone who presumes to lead us must be prepared, like Him, to suffer in order to shepherd the people, to care for them, and to do justice for all – especially the weakest and the lowliest. Let us pray for “subversive leaders” today, for people who are willing to lead us by actually doing these things. And may we happily follow their lead, helping build "a Kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, and a kingdom of justice and peace."

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San Lucas describe con acentos trágicos la agonía de Jesús en medio de las burlas y bromas de quienes lo rodean.(Lucas 23, 35-43) Nadie parece entender su entrega. Nadie ha captado su amor a los últimos. Nadie ha visto en su rostro la mirada compasiva de Dios al ser humano.

Desde una cierta distancia, las “autoridades” religiosas y el “pueblo’ se burlan de Jesús haciendo “muecas” – “a otros ha salvado; que se salve a sí mismo, si es el Mesías.” Los soldados de Pilato, al verlo sediento, le ofrecen un vino avinagrado, muy popular entre ellos, mientras se ríen de Él: “Si tú eres rey de los judíos, sálvate a ti mismo.” Lo mismo le dice uno de los delincuentes, crucificado junto a Él: “¿No eres el Mesías? Pues sálvate a ti mismo.”

¿Qué sería de nosotros si el Enviado de Dios buscara su propia salvación escapando de esa Cruz que lo une para siempre a todos los crucificados de la historia? ¿Cómo podríamos creer en un Dios que nos dejara hundidos en nuestro pecado y en nuestra impotencia ante la muerte?

Hay quienes también hoy se burlan del Crucificado. No saben lo que hacen. Se están burlando del Hombre más humano que ha dado la historia. ¿Cuál es la postura más digna ante ese Crucificado, Encarnación suprema de la cercanía de Dios al sufrimiento del mundo: burlarnos de Él o invocarlo?