God in His Omniscience (as God is all knowing) and His Omnipotence (as God has the power to do all things) is the King of His realm - His dominion over all His creation, therefore Our King and rightly the King of earthly kings, as they are of His creation. In St.John’s vision, Jesus Christ is returning to judge the world and establish His earthly kingdom, as He predicted in Mark 13:26. It indicates His sovereignty, thus His Kingship. Christ the King is a title of Jesus in Christianity referring to the idea of the Kingdom of God where the Christ is described as seated at the Right Hand of God. King of Kings" is used in reference to Jesus Christ several times in the Bible, notably once in the First Epistle to Timothy (6:15): “Which in his times he shall shew who is the Blessed and only Mighty, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;” and twice in the Book of Revelation (17:14,) :”These shall fight with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, because he is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and they that are with him are called, and elect, and faithful. (and in Revelation 19:16): “And he hath on his garment, and his thigh written: KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” make clear that Jesus Christ will rule over the whole earth and over every earthly ruler. He will also reign over heavenly kings and lords. In Matthew 28:18 Jesus himself says, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Jesus in His Resurrection is the clearest proof of His Divinity, for thereby He showed that He is the absolute Lord of Life and death, possessing therefore, Divine Omnipotence. Fundamentally, the idea of Jesus being King of kings and Lord of lords means that there is no higher authority. His reign over all things is absolute and inviolable based on His Omnipotence and Omniscience. God raised Him from the dead and placed Him over all things, and he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:21–23). Without faith the great love of God for His creations is inconceivable, incomprehensible with our limited minds. We can only compare it with the deep love of a loving mother for her beloved child; who would rather die for her child by jumping in front of a vehicle rather than let her child be killed. Can we fathom the love of an infinite Divine God for His finite creations to send His only Divine Son to become man and to die the ignominious death on the cross? The Omnipresent God had to send His only begotten Son, becoming physically a man (consider the vast spirit of God which extends throughout the Universe and compare that of man on Earth - “microscopic” compared to the Universe; or compare God’s infinity and man’s finite nature), to save all of humanity by dying such an ignominious death, a great great sacrifice, so that the gates of Heaven be opened again for humanity. If not out of His mercy and love for us, we being finite creatures can never make up for any sins against God who is infinite. Therefore Jesus (who is also God - divine and infinite) was the sacrificial lamb offered to the Divine and Infinite God as a great sacrifice to make up for the sins of this world of finite creatures. It is the greatest act of God this sacrifice. If one believes and acknowledges His great love for us, that great sacrifice that He had made, out of love for His creatures, how can we not, in awe of that great sacrifice, love Him in return. How can we not be obliged to Him as our Saviour, our great Lord and King and Omnipotent Creator? Do we not, in turn, owe sovereignty to Him Our Creator and King, the King of all Earthly Kings, who has rightly dominion over all His creations? If Our Lord has absolute dominion over all that is created, then this applies to every person, and every nation, in every sphere of life. As we can see from the state of the world, this is typically not what people today believe. We live in a cruel, secular world, marked by division, corruption, uncharity, and conflict on all levels, a consequence of the excessive individualism, hedonism, egotism, and increasing hostility to Christianity. It is also a time of increasing societal disorder, a reality reflecting the fact that rejection of Christ as King leads to increased burdens on the individual and society, dysfunction, unhappiness, and ultimately hell. Where Our Lord does not reign, but it is Satan that dominates. The doctrine of the social Kingship of Christ was established when the Feast of Christ the King was celebrated in 1925 by Pope Pius XI and by his encyclical Quas Primas he affirmed the spiritual kingship of Christ. To abandon this article of Faith, not only by liberal Catholics; but also by the hierarchy of the Church, quickly leads to apostasy and the secularization of societies that were once Catholic. If one would consider the many disorders of today, one can identify its roots in the rejection of authority. As Saint Paul said: “..all authority that exists originates from God.” (Rom 13:1). If we were to bear this in mind, we tend to respect persons in authority as we recognize they have authority from God, as all authority originates from God. Likewise, a person having such an attitude who wields authority will then exercise it with the understanding of the God-given authority which only exists within the bounds of true morality and charity; as God ‘s given authority for anything is never contrary to His will; he understands that under his authority, to do anything unjust is against God’s will and would conscientiously avoid it. All of this is a central, at the practical level, of how the social kingship of Christ is actualized. If in the citizen’s misdirected mind, the authority and legitimacy of government are ascribed solely to its crude ability to successfully overcome every challenge to enforce its will by force, then we should expect less respect, less reverence towards the institutions of authority. In some cases, that lessened respect will be justified, as institutions increasingly abuse their authority, by trampling on the citizens’ natural rights, a problem stemming from the misdirected and ungodly attitudes of governing upper echelon. These dual problems originate from a disconnect with the Christian faith, and an unawareness of the Social Kingship of Our Lord. The net result is an increased tendency to instability and oppression. Pope Pius XI aptly stated that, “If, therefore, the rulers of nations wish to preserve their authority, to promote and increase the prosperity of their countries, they will not neglect the public duty of reverence and obedience to the rule of Christ.” This is the crux of the matter. When this foundation is removed, the house gradually collapses. ‘With God and Jesus Christ…excluded from political life, with authority derived not from God but from man, the very basis of that authority has been taken away, because the chief reason of the distinction between ruler and subject has been eliminated. The result is that human society is tottering to its fall, because it has no longer a secure and solid foundation.” The consequence of the current irreverence to God is the loss of much happiness, and an increase in heavy burdens that come from greater human conflict, whether in the home, because the authority of husband and wife are not accepted, or in society at large. As Pius XI remarked, “Oh, what happiness would be Ours if all men, individuals, families, and nations, would let themselves be governed by Christ … then at length will many evils be cured; then will the law regain its former authority; peace with all its blessings be restored. Men will sheath their swords and lay down their arms when all freely acknowledge and obey the authority of Christ, and every tongue confesses that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the Glory of God the Father.” Our sovereign Lord. We cannot claim to love God if we do not serve Him, and we cannot claim to serve God if we do not subject ourselves to the law of Christ the King. "If you love me," He warned, "keep my commandments." (John 14:15). In Quas Primas, Pope Pius XI explains the second reason that we must subject ourselves to Our Lord. He explains the beautiful and profound truth that Christ is our King by acquired as well as by natural right, for He is our Redeemer: Would that those who forget what they have cost our Saviour might recall the words: “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the Precious Blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled.” We are no longer our own, for Christ has purchased us “with a great price”; our very bodies are the “members of Christ.” The double claim of Our Lord Jesus Christ to our allegiance, as our Creator and our Redeemer, is well summarized in the Book of the Apocalypse, where St. John tells us that Christ is "the ruler of the kings of the earth." (Apoc. 1:5). The fact that the kings of the earth—in other words, the nations and those who rule them—are subject to the Kingship of Christ pertains to what is known as His Social Kingship, that is, His right to rule over societies, as well as individuals. No one claiming to be a Christian would, one hopes, dispute the fact that as individuals we must submit ourselves to the rule of Christ the King, but very few Christians, Catholics included, understand, let alone uphold, the Social Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ. His social kingship can be implemented fully only when Church and State are united. The separation of Church and State* was condemned unequivocally by the Roman Pontiffs until the Second Vatican Council. The Church's teaching is that the State has an obligation to render public worship to God in accord with liturgy of the true Church, the Catholic Church, to uphold its teaching, and to aid the Church in the carrying out of her functions. The State does not have the right to remain neutral regarding religion, much less to pursue a secular approach in its policies. A secular approach is by that very fact an anti-God and an anti-Christ approach. (*January 1, 1802, letter by Thomas Jefferson; The law of 9th December 1905, concerning the separation of the churches and the state, instituted and defined the secularity of France.) Those who ignore or repudiate the Social Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and His right to rule over societies as well as individuals, accept, perhaps without realizing it, the abominable theory of democracy enshrined in the French Revolution's Declaration of the Rights of Man, the declaration which constituted a formal and insolent repudiation of the Social Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the declaration which enshrined the greatest heresy of modern times, perhaps of all times: that authority resides in the people. On the contrary, as the Popes have taught, Omnis potestas a Deo—-"All authority comes from God." "Not so!" reply the revolutionaries. Omnis potestas a populo--"All authority comes from the people." All men, both as individuals and as nations, are subject to the rule of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King, and this for two reasons. Firstly, because, as God, He is our Creator. Psalm 32 summarizes the correct Creator-creature relationship in the following inspired terms: ”Let all the earth fear the Lord: and let all the inhabitants of the world be in awe of Him. For He spoke and they were made: He commanded and they were created.” Psalm 32. 8-9. "For He spoke and they were made: He commanded and they were created." God is our Creator. We are His creatures. Without Him, we would not exist. We owe Him everything, and He owes us nothing. Those who are created have an absolute obligation to love and serve their Creator. This obligation is unqualified; there is no question of any possible right on the part of any man at any time to withhold his obedience. It is only when men live their lives within the correct perspective of the Creator-creature relationship that social and political harmony and order prevail. "The peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ." When men repudiate this relationship, disharmony and disorder take over, the disharmony and disorder of sin, the disharmony and disorder introduced by Lucifer, once the most magnificent of all God's creatures, who, overcome with pride, boasted: Non-serviam—"I will not serve." The Catechism teaches us that our purpose in life is to know, love, and serve God in this world so that we can be happy with Him forever in the next. We cannot claim to love God if we do not serve Him, and we cannot claim to serve God if we do not subject ourselves to the law of Christ the King. "If you love me," He warned, "keep my commandments." (John 14:15). The promulgation of The Declaration of the Rights of Man constituted the first formal repudiation of Our Lord's Social Kingship. It was the most influential act in the process of securing His virtually universal dethronement during the next two centuries. They overthrew the Social Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ in favor of the heresy that authority resides in the will of the majority—the heresy that is the source of all the evils in society today. As Catholics we should, despite the rejection of the Social Kingship of Christ in this world, we can make restitution for the “dethronement” of Our King in society. A noble and meritorious act of reparation would be, to have Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in Our Homes and have Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Traditional Catholics have practiced this devotion since the earliest possible date known was May 29, 1818. This devotional practice to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and having His image enthroned in homes is to honour Him as Our Lord and centre of our lives. The head of the family consecrates the members of the household to the Sacred Heart. Jesus is given authority over our family, He becomes the King in our home, and He partakes in our lives, be it a joyous occasion or a sad event. This devotion comes directly from Jesus who told St. Margaret-Mary Alacoque that He would bless each home where a picture of His Sacred Heart is exposed and honored. This devotion was officially approved by Pope St. Pius X in 1908. There are 12 promises attached to this devotion. The following devotions and prayers are also encouraged to implement in one’s life which would surely please Our Lord.
Information sourced from : What is the Kingship of Christ? Written by Michael Davies |
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