This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. As a historian I particularly value the opportunity the church year offers us to consider the creature called Time, receive it as a gift, and begin to live differently.
The notion of receiving time as a gift from God is one of the many things which make us Christians counter-cultural.
Christians believe in a linear timeline in history. There is a beginning and an end, a fulfilment, which is a new beginning. We reject the idea that time is a tyrant that traps us into an endless cycle which must be broken. Rather, we proclaim that time is a precious commodity. As St Jose Maria Escriva says, `Time is our treasure, the “money” with which to buy eternity`.
We are invited by grace to come to acknowledge this mystery and then receive time as a gift, a good, to be given back to God through living our lives in Christ for the sake of the world.
Time and what we do with it truly matter. What are we doing with time? The Feast of Christ the King is the day when we are invited to commemorate His sovereignty. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
Christ is the Giver, the Governor and the fulfilment of all time. In Him the whole world is being made new and every end becomes a beginning.
The passing of time is not to be experienced as an enemy, somehow stealing our youth and imposing old age. For those like me who are retired time offers new opportunities. Time offers us a path to holiness and human flourishing. Life is a pilgrimage to Life.
As we move from one Church year to the next, we also move along the timeline of the human life allotted to each one of us. We age. The certainty of our own death is meant to illuminate our life, and the certainty of the end of all time is meant to illuminate the purpose of History and its culmination in Christ.
We are called to bear what Jesus called the `fruit that remains`, a harvest which will accompany us into eternity.
On the night of 11 September 1936 some militiamen took Blessed Joan Roig y Diggle from his home near Barcelona to a cemetery. He was chairman of a Catholic youth organization. When the militiamen pointed their rifles at him he uttered words of forgiveness. The moment they shot, he cried out: `Long live Christ the King! `
We are the ones who, like the Blessed Joan, decide whether we use time for the bearing of good fruit or allow it to become a tyrant who frightens us as we fruitlessly try to resist his inexorable claim. The act of choosing rightly, daily, helps us to develop a disposition; a way of living that involves the proper exercise of our human freedom aided by, and responding to, grace.
When time is perceived as a gift from God and welcomed as an opportunity for bearing the fruits of love and holiness, we learn to receive it in love and perceive it as an arena of choice and an environment for holiness.
We should seize the day of the Feast of Christ the King as a milestone on this last week of the Church year which points to the path along which we become new, beginning now.
The Roman writer Seneca, wrote: `It is not that we have so little time, but that we have wasted so much of it` St. Paul told the Ephesians `Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise making the most of the time. `
The eighteenth-century historian Edward Gibbon gives a salutary reminder that, if we neglect our unique opportunity, then history becomes `little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind`.
Yet it does sometimes seem that my individual struggle against sin, sorrow and injustice is futile. I cannot check each fault, soothe every sorrow and overcome all injustice. That is when I remind myself that I cannot live without faith, the fellowship of fellow worshippers and the grace of Word and sacrament. Then I resolve to pick up the load again.
As we consider the timeline of our own lives and of history, the redeemer of the cosmos, the God who gives and governs time, invites us on this Feast to re-dedicate ourselves to living differently as though time really does matter.
Thus when we face Him on that final Day, we will do so with our arms full of gifts born in time. These gifts will have paved the way for our life with Him in eternity.
3 Comments
Thoughtful and fascinating as ever from Michael.
So right to warn us about the use of time – how much one fritters away on worry, daydreams or trivia!
On the other hand time is simply a human construct so one must not allow its tyranny to distract us from the true ‘passing of our lives in God’s hands’.
Balancing those two is a life-time learned skill!
Thank you.
Resonating with me is your remark that we cannot check each fault, soothe every sorrow, right all injustice. Then the Spirit reminds me that I am part of the whole body of Christ; and am only responsible for the niche made for me to fill with His love and holiness.
Thank you
What’s up?
I found this article very interesting…please read!
Do you remember the blockbuster hit film The Matrix that was released in 1999? You may not know this, but it has deep spiritual implications concerning the times we are living in and Bible prophecy.
It tells a story of how these “agents” are trying to turn us into machines. We are closer then ever before for this to become a reality when they cause us to receive an implantable microchip in our body during a time when physical money will be no more.
You may have seen on NBC news concerning the implantable RFID microchip that some people are getting put in their hand to make purchases, but did you know this microchip matches perfectly with prophecy in the Bible?
“He (the false prophet who deceives many by his miracles) causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name…
You also may have heard of the legendary number “666” that people have been speculating for possibly thousands of years on what it actually means. This article shares something I haven’t seen before, and I don’t think there could be any better explanation for what it means to calculate 666. This is no hoax. Very fascinating stuff!
…Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666″ (Revelation 13:16-18 NKJV).
To see all the details showing why the Bible foretold of all these things, check out this article!
Article: https://biblewoke.com/rfid-mark-of-the-beast-666-revealed
GOD is sending out His end time warning:
“Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name'” (Revelation 14:9-11).
In the Islamic religion they have man called the Mahdi who is known as their messiah of whom they are waiting to take the stage. There are many testimonies from people online who believe this man will be Barack Obama who is to be the biblical Antichrist based off dreams they have received. I myself have had strange dreams about him like no other person. So much so that I decided to share this information.
He came on stage claiming to be a Christian with no affiliation to the Muslim faith…
“In our lives, Michelle and I have been strengthened by our Christian faith. But there have been times where my faith has been questioned — by people who don’t know me — or they’ve said that I adhere to a different religion, as if that were somehow a bad thing,” – Barack Obama
…but was later revealed by his own family members that he indeed is a devout Muslim.
So what’s in the name? The meaning of someones name can say a lot about a person. God throughout history has given names to people that have a specific meaning tied to their lives. How about the name Barack Obama? Let us take a look at what may be hiding beneath the surface…
“And He (Jesus) said to them (His disciples), ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven'” (Luke 10:18).
In the Hebrew language we can uncover the meaning behind the name Barack Obama.
Barack, also transliterated as Baraq, in Hebrew is: lightning
baraq – Biblical definition:
From Strongs H1299; lightning; by analogy a gleam; concretely a flashing sword: – bright, glitter (-ing, sword), lightning. (Strongs Hebrew word H1300 baraq baw-rawk’)
Barak ‘O’bamah, The use of bamah is used to refer to the “heights” of Heaven.
bamah – Biblical definition:
From an unused root (meaning to be high); an elevation: – height, high place, wave. (Strongs Hebrew word H1116 bamah baw-maw’)
The day following the election of Barack Obama (11/04/08), the winning pick 3 lotto numbers in Illinois (Obama’s home state) for 11/5/08 were 666.
Obama was a U.S. senator for Illinois, and his zip code was 60606.
Seek Jesus while He may be found…repent, confess and forsake your sins and trust in the savior! Jesus says we must be born again by His Holy Spirit to enter the kingdom of God…God bless!