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Sermon for 28 Sep 2003 -- 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings
for
23 November 03
Feast of Christ the King
Thirty-Third Sunday after Pentecost
Today's First Reading is from The Book of Daniel, beginning at the
7th
Chapter and the 13th Verse (Dan 7:13-14)
I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of
heaven there
came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was
presented before him. And to him was given dominion
and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should
serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not
pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
La Primera Lectura es del Libro de Daniel, empezando en
el 7mo
Capitulo, y el 13mo Verso (Dan 7:13-14)
Miraba yo en la visión de la noche, y he
aquí en las nubes del cielo
como un hijo de hombre que venía, y llegó hasta el
Anciano de grande
edad, é hiciéronle llegar delante de él. Y
fuéle dado señorío, y gloria, y reino; y todos los
pueblos, naciones y lenguas le sirvieron; su señorío,
señorío eterno,
que no será transitorio, y su reino que no se corromperá.
Today's Song of Praise is taken from Psalm 93: (Ps 93:1,1-2,5)
R, The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
Robed is the LORD and girt about with strength.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O Lord.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed;
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
El Salmo Responsorial se toma del Salmo 93 (Ps 93:1,1-2,5)
R. El Señor es el Rey, vestido de majestad
El SEÑOR reina, vestido está de majestad
El SEÑOR se ha vestido y ceñido de poder;
R. El Señor es el Rey, vestido de majestad
Ciertamente el mundo está bien afirmado,
será inconmovible.
Desde la antiguedad está establecido tu trono;
tú eres desde la eternidad.
R. El Señor es el Rey, vestido de majestad
Tus testimonios son muy fidedignos
La santidad conviene á tu casa,
Oh Señor, por los siglos y para siempre.
R. El Señor es el Rey, vestido de majestadcia
Today's Epistle is from Revelations,
beginning at the 1st Chapter, and the 5th Verse (Rev 1:5-8)
From Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the
first-born of the dead,
and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us
from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his
God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and
every eye will see him, every
one who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth will wail on account
of him. Even so. Amen.
"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the
Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
Epistolo del libro de Apocolypsis, empezando en el
Capitulo 1mo, y el Verso 5mo (Rev 1:5-8)
De Jesucristo, el testigo fiel, el
primogénito de los muertos y el
soberano de los reyes de la tierra. Al que nos ama y nos libertó
de
nuestros pecados con su sangre, e hizo de nosotros un reino y
sacerdotes para su Dios y
Padre, a El sea la gloria y el dominio por los siglos de los siglos.
Amén.
HE AQUI, VIENE CON LAS NUBES y todo ojo le
verá, aun los
que le traspasaron; y todas las tribus de la tierra harán
lamentación
por El; sí. Amén.
Yo soy el Alfa y la Omega--dice el Señor
Dios--el que es y que era y que ha de venir, el Todopoderoso.
+A Reading from the Gospel of John, beginning at the 18th Chapter,
and the 33rd Verse (John 18:33-37)
Pilate entered the praetorium again and called
Jesus, and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus
answered, "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to
you about me?" Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and
the chief priests have handed you over to me; what have you done?"
Jesus answered, "My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were
of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over
to the Jews; but my kingship is not from the world."
Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that
I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the
world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth
hears my voice."
+Lectura de Santo Evangelio según San Juan, empezando en el
18mo Capitulo, y el 33mo Verso (Juan 18:33-37)
Diálogo entre Jesús y Pilato
Entonces Pilato volvió a entrar al Pretorio,
y llamó a Jesús y le dijo: ¿Eres tú el Rey
de los judíos? Jesús respondió: ¿Esto
lo dices por tu cuenta, o porque otros te lo han dicho de
mí? Pilato respondió: ¿Acaso soy yo
judío? Tu nación y los principales sacerdotes te
entregaron a mí. ¿Qué has hecho?
Jesús respondió: Mi reino no es de este mundo. Si mi
reino fuera de este mundo, entonces mis servidores pelearían
para que
yo no fuera entregado a los judíos; mas ahora mi reino no es de
aquí. Pilato entonces le dijo:
¿Así que tú eres rey? Jesús
respondió: Tú dices que soy rey. Para esto yo he nacido y
para esto he
venido al mundo, para dar testimonio de la verdad. Todo el que es de la
verdad escucha mi voz.
Тогда Пилат опять вошел
в преторию, и призвал
Иисуса, и сказал Ему:
Ты Царь Иудейский? Иисус
отвечал ему: от себя ли ты
говоришь это, или другие
сказали тебе о Мне?
Пилат отвечал: разве я
Иудей? Твой народ и первосвященники
предали Тебя мне; что
Ты сделал? Иисус отвечал:
Царство Мое не от
мира сего; если бы
от мира сего было Царство
Мое, то служител Мои
подвизались бы за Меня, чтобы
Я не был предан
Иудеям; но ныне Царство
Мое не отсюда.
Пилат сказал Ему: и так
Ты Царь? Иисус отвечал:
ты говоришь, что Я Царь.
Я на то родился и на
то пришел в мир, чтобы
свидетель ствовать о истине;
всякий, кто от истины,
слушает гласа Моего.
Sermon
for
23 November 2003
Feast of Christ the King
Thirty-Third Sunday after Pentecost
Christus Vincit! Christus
Regnat! Christus Imperat!
Christ Conquers!
Christ Reigns!
Christ Commands!
We sang that in the 1950s -- the triumphant hymn of
Jesus as King -- Christos Pantokrator -- who had triumphed over Death,
and now leads us (the Church Militant) ever upwards towards the glory
of Heaven.
Given the exquisitely Politically Correct revulsion
against "triumphalism" of the 1960s and 1970s, it is a bit of a wonder
that the Feast of Christ the King escaped the revisionist erasers of
the Liturgists.
I have to confess that I, too, am not altogether
comfortable with the image of Jesus "magnified" into the shoes of the
Father, who is of course, "Melech ha-Olam" -- King over all the
Universe. As a child of those same 60s, I prefer seeing Jesus in
the light of today's readings from the Books of Daniel and the
Apocalypse:
"...behold, with the clouds of
heaven there
came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was
presented before him. And to him was given dominion
and glory and kingdom,.." The Son is the messenger of the
Father, and shares in the Glory of the Father.
And again: " From Jesus Christ the faithful
witness, the
first-born of the dead,
and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us
from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his
God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. . . . I
am the Alpha and the Omega," says the
Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. "
If I had chosen the Gospel, I would have taken it
from Luke's account of the Transfiguration in the 9th Chapter of his
Gospel:
"And as he was praying, the appearance of his
countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white.
And behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah, who
appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to
accomplish at Jerusalem.
Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, and when
they wakened they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him."
Or in John's words:
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full
of grace and truth;
we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father."
Or the words of the Nicene Creed:
"And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only
begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true
God from
true God, begotten,
not made, one in being with the Father. Through Him all things
were made."
He is the Head and we are the members -- members of
the Mystical Body of Christ. Through Him shines the Glory of the
Father, to illuminate the cold, dark corners of our souls.
"He will Come again, in Glory" as the Creed says -- and,
indeed, He IS come again -- in the
Eucharist, in our daily lives of prayer, in our souls. He is come
NOW, not in some nebulous
future, The "old earth" is passing away, and the new heaven and
earth are a-borning.
I see Him -- and I invite you to see Him -- as the
King in Glory, come to transform the heavens and the earth, and to lead
us back to the burning Love and Glory of the Father. He comes,
not as a military ruler, girt in armor and riding a chariot (or an
Armored Personnel Carrier :), but as transcendant God and Man, come
from the clouds with the hosts of heaven, "with Angels &
Archangels, with Thrones, Powers, Dominations, Cherubim and Seraphim,
and with the whole company of Heaven, lauding and glorifying the Holy
Name"
Let us then, at all times and in all places, give
thanks to the Lord, the Holy Father, almighty and eternal God, who,
with the Son and the Holy Spirit, is worshipped and glorified,
In the
Name of
the Father +
And of the Son
+
And of the
Holy Spirit +
Amen.
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