The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22nd Mt. 25:31-46 Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
CHRIST AS KING… by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
Jesus of Nazareth is so intrinsically king that the title “King” has actually become His name. By calling ourselves Christians, we label ourselves as followers of the King.
God did not intend Israel to have a kingdom. The kingdom was a result of Israel’s rebellion against God. The law was to be Israel’s king, and, through the law, God Himself.
God yielded to Israel’s obstinacy and so devised a new kind of kingship for them. The King is Jesus; in Him God entered humanity and espoused it to Himself. This is the usual form of the divine activity in relation to mankind. God does not have a fixed plan that He must carry out; on the contrary, He has many different ways of finding man and even of turning his wrong ways into right ways.
The feast of Christ the King is therefore not a feast of those who are subjugated, but a feast of those who know that they are in the hands of the one who writes straight on crooked lines.
- Christ the King has a very specific calling for each and every one of us, expressed in our Profession and Vocation; living this calling out as God intended puts us on the right path to holiness and our eternal salvation!
- Ed enlightens and invigorates our path!
PROFESSIONAL/VOCATIONAL PLAN OF LIFE: PURITY OF INTENTION by Fr. Ed Broom, OMV (Excerpt from Roadmap to Heaven, Tan Books)
Call to Purity of Intention: Do the ordinary with extraordinary love!
Variety is the spice of life. This saying can be applied to the variety of ways that we can compose our Plan of Life. We have already proposed the Chronological Plan of Life in which we presented breaking down our spiritual life into blocks of time, then writing or composing certain acts of piety, penance, or specific prayers that we could incorporate into our lives yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, hourly, even down to using our minutes so as to order the disorder in our lives.
PLAN OF LIFE: MY PROFESSION AND VOCATION. Now we would like to introduce you to another form, manner, or angle that you can use to compose your Plan of Life. We can title this Plan of life: Professional/Vocational. Our sanctification, our growth in holiness, and the realization of God’s Plan for us, depends in large part on our being faithful to our own specific profession and vocation. Then we must strive to carry out our daily duties or obligations with purity of intention, and this combined with energy and exertion!
CARRY OUT THE ORDINARY WITH EXTRAORDINARY LOVE. One of the most famous modern saints is Saint Therese of Lisieux, known commonly as The Little Flower. In her short life, which lasted only 24 years, this contemplative and cloistered Carmelite nun did nothing out of the ordinary. No miracles were attributed to her during the course of her life. Her exterior actions did not seem to be stupendous, sparkling, or even outside the course of the normal and mundane actions of convent life. However, there was indeed something in her life that she excelled in, more than most of us, and it was this: she did the ordinary tasks of her daily life with extraordinary love! That was the key and the secret to her Little Way that has become a modern model for arriving at true holiness. Saint Paul reminds us of this with these simple but profound words: Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. (1 Cor 10:31)
GOD AND OUR ACTIONS. On one occasion Jesus was in the entrance of the Temple of Jerusalem observing people deposit their money in the metallic collections box. Some threw in huge sums of coins that would resound throughout the Temple so that all would be aware of the quantity by the loudness of the dropping of the offering. Jesus did not pay too much attention to these rich, vain, and pompous individuals. Then a poor widow entered the Temple. Being poor, she could offer nothing more than two copper coins—a few pennies and not much more. This was the person that Jesus exalted and praised among the givers. Why? The others gave out of their abundance; whereas, this poor widow gave of her livelihood, all that she had. And for all time and eternity, this poor widow will be praised. This can be applied to us! We may not have too much to give economically. We may not be millionaires. We may not have huge bank accounts which we can delve into and dole out in the thousands! However, there is something that we can do in imitation of the poor widow, and that is we can give generously from what we do have as a gift from God.
BLESSED CARDINAL JOHN HENRY NEWMAN’S RECIPE FOR HOLINESS. On one occasion, the great saintly English scholar, Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman, was asked how to be holy, if you like, a recipe for holiness! Surprisingly, these were the practical daily points to grow in holiness given by this convert to Catholicism and great man of God.
1. Get to bed on time!!! Importance of a good night’s rest!
2. Upon rising offer your first thoughts to God—The Morning Offering!
3, Eat and drink to the honor and glory of God. Sounds like Saint Paul: Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. (1 Cor 10:31)
4. Banish bad thoughts immediately! Keep the enemy outside!
5. Make a good visit to the Blessed Sacrament. Love Jesus in the Eucharist!
6. ROSARY! Honor the Blessed Virgin Mary by praying the prayer that she loves most—the Most Holy Rosary.
7. FINALLY, AND OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE: Do the ordinary things of your daily life with extraordinary love.
Here you have it, a very simple daily plan of life from a convert to Catholicism, a scholar, a lover of truth, and a practical lover of God. His suggestions are not beyond comprehension or beyond our ability. On the contrary, these suggestions and advice can be followed by almost all of us!
GOD READS THE HEART. The essence of the message of this chapter is to arrive at the humble recognition that God does not pay so much attention to exterior actions and the applause one might receive, or the recognition and praise that others may give. Rather, God reads the heart. We pay keen attention to appearances; God, on the contrary, pays attention to the heart, and even the most secret intentions of the heart. Remember how God sent the Prophet Samuel to the house of Jesse and his sons? The strong, tall, handsome and impressive sons were discarded. It was the last in line, the humble shepherd of the sheep in the fields, David, who was called, chosen by God and anointed by Samuel to be God’s King. What man considers great, God despises; what man considers of little or no value, God esteems most highly!
GIVING GENEROUSLY OF ALL WE ARE AND ALL WE HAVE. So it is with us! We may not have much to give, but God receives most willingly from a pure heart, a generous heart, a detached heart, a humble heart. God can multiply beyond our wildest imagination the small things that we give with great love. Call to mind how the little boy offered Jesus all he had—five loaves and two fish. Jesus was so pleased by this small offering given with such great generosity, that He multiplied the loaves and the fishes so that thousands could be fed! Now it is up to us to look into our lives and see what we can do to change and give more generously to God, with a pure heart, and with nobility of intention.
Having set the stage by emphasizing the primary importance of purity of heart and purity of intention in all of our actions, even if they seem to be most insignificant, let us proceed in the next chapters to learn how in concrete we can compose a Professional/Vocational Plan of Life by living out our profession and our vocation to the fullest extent possible.
Editor’s Notes:
1) This is just one of 25 Chapters – each chapter highlighting various areas, ways, and means to grow in holiness. There is also a special Chapter dedicated to a Plan of Life for Teens.
2) Cardinal John Henry Newman was canonized in Rome on Sunday, October 13, 2019.
Copyright 2020 Oblates of the Virgin Mary
St. Peter Chanel Church, Hawaiian Gardens, CA
