The Blessed Trinity guards an extraordinary Secret, the revelation of which will manifest to the world the supreme royalty of Christ on this earth. Happy, indeed sublimely happy, are those to whom the Holy Spirit reveals it!
Gospel – Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
Jesus said to His disciples: 31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the Angels with Him, He will sit upon His glorious throne, 32 and all the nations will be assembled before Him. And He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, a stranger and you welcomed Me, 36 naked and you clothed Me, ill and you cared for Me, in prison and you visited Me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer Him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and welcome You, or naked and clothe You? 39 When did we see You ill or in prison, and visit You?’ 40 And the King will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for Me.’
41 Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink, 43 a stranger and you gave Me no welcome, naked and you gave Me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for Me.’ 44 Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ 45 He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for Me.’ 46 And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Mt 25:31-46).
I – True King!
At the close of each liturgical cycle, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, one of the most beautiful feasts of her calendar. Torrents of grace are granted to us in this commemoration, making us aware of our nobility as children of God through Baptism: “He raises the poor from the dust […] to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people” (Ps 113:7-8). All of us, born in the filth of original sin, are elevated to the category of princes by grace, because the Blood of the King himself is poured out for us, making us His brethren, members of the divine family.
We are moved to think that the Only-begotten Son of the Father, King from all eternity by His divine nature, also became King as a Man in the Incarnation, coming down from the heavenly heights to seek those gone astray, to “look after and tend My sheep” (Ez 34:11), as the touching prophecy of Ezekiel contained in the first reading portrays. This is a symbolic image of the Good Shepherd’s extraordinary care for souls, speaking to the conscience of those who fall into the mire of sin, moving them to repentance and carrying them on His shoulders back to the flock. The Responsorial Psalm revisits this figure and takes it to even more sublime heights: “The Lord is my Shepherd; there is nothing I shall want” (Ps 23:1).
Our Lord also holds the title of King by right of conquest, for in redeeming humanity by His Passion and Death on the Cross, He freed them from the yoke of the devil, who had enslaved them since Adam’s fault. And by His glorious Resurrection He triumphed over death, “The last enemy to be destroyed” (1 Cor 15:26), as St. Paul states in the second reading. The Redeemer is therefore King of all men, including those who reject Him and plunge themselves into hell. Even though they do not have Christ as their Head, because they do not belong to His Mystical Body, He will judge them at the end of the world.
After the Judgement, “When everything is subjected to Him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the One who subjected everything to Him, so that God may be all in all” (1 Cor 15:28), the Apostle goes on to say. At that moment of the plenitude of his royalty, Jesus, the most faithful Son, having eradicated satan’s dominion from the universe, will say to the Father: “This is the power which I have conquered. I entrust it to You, and I once again place into Your hands the work of restored creation.”
This wonderful theological panorama is completed with Our Lord’s words in the Gospel, which describe in a detailed and comprehensive manner the great event which will close history and definitively separate the good from the wicked.
II – Children of God, Brothers of Christ
Chapter 25 of St. Matthew opens with the parable of the ten virgins, the crux of which is the arrival of the spouse “at midnight” (Mt 25:6). Following it we have the parable of the talents, in which a man returns from a trip “after a long time” (Mt 25:19) and asks the servants for the goods he had entrusted to them. In both narrations, the Divine Master reminds us of the reward or punishment reserved for every person, according to whether or not they are prepared for the coming of the Lord.
In the subsequent verses, selected for today’s Liturgy, Jesus clearly reveals that a universal judgement will take place, in which He himself will be plenipotentiary Judge. This is a very important truth of our faith, which the Holy Church has enshrined in one of the articles of the Creed.
The glorious throne of Christ on earth
Jesus said to His disciples: 31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the Angels with Him, He will sit upon His glorious throne, 32a and all the nations will be assembled before Him.”
After the Ascension, Jesus “is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in Heaven” (Heb 8:1). Therefore, the “glorious throne” upon which He will be seated when He once again returns to earth symbolizes that, in this solemn act, all of creation, from the least mineral to the loftiest Angel, will pay homage to its Creator, Redeemer and King.
When they encounter the God-Man in the supreme splendour of His grandeur, the condemned will be filled with dread, while the Blessed will contemplate Him with wonder. If the Apostles were astonished at the Transfiguration, when they saw His face shining like the sun and His garments resplendently white (cf. Mt 17:2), what will be the amazement of the immense assembly formed by “all the nations” in the face of the refulgence of Christ’s royalty?
Presence that will divide humanity
32b “And He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.”
We must not imagine that Our Lord will address each one of those present to indicate who will occupy the right or the left, for such a task is not the responsibility of a sovereign. His presence will be such that the sheep will gather on His right and the goats on the opposite side, with no possibility of arranging an intermediate position between the two extremes.
The just and the reprobate will have regained their bodies, but with very different characteristics. The bodies of the former will be beautiful, agile and diaphanous; they will reflect the joy of the soul fixed in the vision of God; those of the latter, marked by eternal disgrace, will exude a repulsive odour and be contorted with hatred and envy, constituting together with the demons a frightful spectacle.
The Kingdom of Heaven, inheritance of the just
34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, a stranger and you welcomed Me, 36 naked and you clothed Me, ill and you cared for Me, in prison and you visited Me.’”
The King begins by declaring that the Father’s plan in creating the world has been accomplished in the righteous, namely, that intelligent beings, Angels and men, should share in His own happiness and receive as their inheritance the Kingdom of Heaven.
He then lists a series of life circumstances involving a state of affliction, in which the help of another is needed, so that the judgement is focussed on a point of utmost importance: goodness, the virtue by which we regard creatures as belonging to God and care for them out of love for their Maker.
This criterion encompasses even our attitude towards inanimate beings, but our greatest zeal must be focused on our neighbour. Those who care more for others than for themselves, taking pains to ensure their wellbeing and to facilitate their practice of virtue, will hear this greeting from Our Lord on the last day: “Come, blessed of my Father!”
Mystery of divine love
37 “Then the righteous will answer Him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and welcome You, or naked and clothe You? 39 When did we see You ill or in prison, and visit You?’ 40 And the King will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for Me.’”
By describing the reaction of the righteous, astonished to find themselves rewarded for actions of which they have no recollection, Our Lord indicates that not even on the Day of Judgement will the good comprehend the mystery of God’s love; generous in rewarding the slightest gesture of benevolence towards those who belong to Him. The King calls them “brothers” because by grace they are children of God, as mentioned at the beginning of this article. This is what St. John teaches in his first epistle: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (3:1).
Moreover, on Calvary, Jesus established our filiation with Mary Most Holy. Looking down at Her standing at the foot of the Cross, and beside Her the Beloved Disciple, He said to them: “Mother behold, your son! Son, behold, your Mother! (cf. Jn 19:26-27). We are also brethren of Christ the King because we have the same Mother, and because of this bond He holds us in much higher esteem than that shared among members of a natural family.
If we live with this supernatural fraternity in mind, being generous, patient and full of goodness in our relationship with others, we show ourselves to be true children of God and therefore ready to receive the inheritance of the Father. He, who sees everything, considers every act of charity and selflessness done for our neighbour as a testimony: “I accept Our Lord Jesus Christ as my Brother; I want to belong to His family forever!”
The antithesis of love of God
41 “Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink, 43 a stranger and you gave Me no welcome, naked and you gave Me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for Me.’”
The faults enumerated by Our Lord can be summed up in a single defect, opposite to the love of God: selfishness, by which man closes himself to supernatural help and despises his fellow human beings, seeking to be self-sufficient.
When we ask in prayer for strength not to give in to temptation, we must keep in mind this bad inclination, which often goes unnoticed in a less attentive examination of conscience, especially as regards the omission of good that should be done.
44 “Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ 45 He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for Me.’ 46 And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Stunned, the reprobate raise questions similar to those of the Blessed, not out of a desire to apologize, but as a typical reaction of those who are hardened in selfishness: they are only concerned with the existence of others when they feel disturbed by them. How many will be shocked at the time of Judgement, when they are faced with the consequences of the right or wrong done to others, not only in situations of material difficulty, but also at times of spiritual need, when support, a counsel, or a prayer was denied!
In this admonishment, the Divine Judge does not use the term “brothers” but “least ones,” that is, the innocent, in order to point out our obligation to take an interest in those who, without fault, are not yet part of His supernatural family, in order to lead them to it through Baptism.
It should also be emphasized that among Our Lord’s intentions in speaking of the Last Judgement is to prepare us for that day when He will appear to us in the person of each one of those who have lived with us on earth. If we take today’s Gospel seriously, we will begin to consider others with esteem and respect, and it will not be difficult for us to serve them, for we shall see Jesus Christ himself in them. The model for our fraternal relationship should be the honour we render to the Blessed Sacrament when we are in His presence, for God dwells in the soul of every baptized person in the state of grace.
III – The Secret of Christ’s Royalty
Filled with magnificent principles and revelations, the Liturgy of this Solemnity invites us to contemplate the care of Providence for humanity throughout history. On seeing the state of misery to which the descendants of Adam were reduced, the Only-begotten Son became incarnate, and through His sufferings and Death on the Cross, effectively became King. However, since a great number of men rejected His Most Precious Blood, the present state of the world is much graver than it was then.
Now, from all eternity, the Most High has seen the ungratefulness of His children and has fully understood the weakness of the generations that would follow, but He has not diminished the displays of His love. Therefore, the Incarnation and Redemption itself allow us to hope that He will intervene once again, and with even greater efficacy.
However, an inevitable question arises: what other solution could there be after the Divine Word became flesh and dwelt among us?
The Most Holy Trinity guards an extraordinary Secret, the revelation of which will manifest to the world the supreme royalty of Our Lord on this earth, as a harbinger of the glory that He will have in the Universal Judgement. It is the Secret of Christ the King or, as St. Louis Grignion de Montfort discerned it, the Secret of Mary:
“Happy, indeed sublimely happy, is the person to whom the Holy Spirit reveals the secret of Mary, thus imparting to him true knowledge of Her. Happy the person to whom the Holy Spirit opens this enclosed garden for him to enter, and to whom the Holy Spirit gives access to this sealed fountain where he can draw water and drink deep draughts of the living waters of grace. That person will find only grace and no creature in the most lovable Virgin Mary. But he will find that the infinitely holy and exalted God is at the same time infinitely solicitous for him and understands his weaknesses. Since God is everywhere, He can be found everywhere, even in hell. But there is no place where God can be more present to His creature and more sympathetic to human weakness than in Mary. It was indeed for this very purpose that He came down from Heaven.”1
If humanity never before arrived at the extremes of weakness and misery which it has reached in our days, the mercy that God reserves for it is incalculable, unimaginable for Angels and all the more so for men! This divine clemency will descend upon souls through Our Lady with unprecedented superabundance and efficacy, inaugurating a new historical period in which Christ’s Kingdom will be established in the world through the wise and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, instituted by Pope Pius XI almost a century ago, will only truly be understood in this Marian era to come. Nevertheless, let us ask Him to reign from now on in our hearts, always keeping alive the certainty of His intervention in history, which will mark the future and eternity with the triumphant cry of Christ the King: “Confidence, I have overcome the world! Confidence, I have established the Reign of Mary, my Mother!” ◊
Notes
1 ST. LOUIS-MARIE GRIGNION DE MONTFORT. The Secret of Mary, n.20. In: God Alone. Bayshore, NY: Montfort Publications, 1988, p.268.
