Matthew 25:31-46

The Feast of Christ the King marks the end of the Church’s liturgical year. It is a significant celebration in our lives. It reminds us of Christ’s sovereignty over all creation and calls us to recognize his Lordship in our broken world. This feast highlights the paradox of a King who rules with love, compassion, and mercy, rather than political power, economic dominion, or military might. In a world distressed by social injustices, political conflicts, environmental crises, family issues, Christ’s kingship challenges us to consider what it truly means to reveal his reign of love.

Christ’s kingdom is not about political power or other traditional kingdoms, economic dominion, or military strength. It is a kingdom of the heart, characterized by love, justice, peace, forgiveness, and hope. In 1925, Pope Pius XV published an encyclical, establishing the feast of Christ the King. He said, “The evil present in the world is due to the fact that the majority of people had thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law of love out of their lives…” Let us renew our relationship with Christ. He always invites us to reflect his reign in our lives and to reveal his kingdom in our broken world, in a world wounded with conflicts, abandonment, hatred and many other issues.

In today’s gospel, Christ invites us to do good and to do something wherever we are to reveal his Kingdom. Christs talks about the separation of sheep from goats. In this, he talks about the separation of those doing good from those doing evil as well as the separation of those doing nothing. Christ invites us to do something and to commit ourselves to what really matters to make our communities and the whole world a more just, peaceful, and loving place for everyone to live in.

Let us recommit ourselves to living out the values of Christ’s kingdom in our daily lives, being beacons of hope and agents of love, working towards a more just, compassionate, and healed world.

As we commemorate the reign of Christ’s Love let us ask ourselves:

How can the idea of the Reign of Christ’s Love be a source of hope and encouragement for us in challenging times, especially in times of adversity and uncertainty?

How does the celebration of Christ the King inspire our acts of love and service in our communities and in the world?

May Christ’s reign shine brightly in the world in moments of despair, offering hope that evil, suffering, and injustice will not have the final say.

Maria Gorreth Nabulya, RSCJ