Christ the King Seen in the Ten Commandments(2015-10-25)

My dear brethren,

 That our Lord Jesus Christ is King is manifest throughout the Old Testament. The King David himself sang in many psalms to the honour of Christ the King. Thus in the psalms, God the Father says: “I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth” (Ps. 88:28). And the Messiah says: “I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain, preaching his commandment.

 The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron, and shalt break them in pieces like a potter's vessel. And now, O ye kings, understand: receive instruction, you that judge the earth. Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto him with trembling. Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way” (Ps. 2:6-12).

 In the Holy Gospels, Christ is proclaimed Son of David by many sick persons asking for healing: “O Lord, thou son of David, have mercy on us” (Mt. 20:30). He is proclaimed King by the crowds on Palm Sunday: “Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Blessed be the kingdom of our father David that cometh: Hosanna in the highest” (Mk. 11:9-10).

 Our Lord Jesus Christ professes his kingship in front of Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now my kingdom is not from hence. Pilate therefore said to him: Art thou a king then? Jesus answered: Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth my voice” (Jn. 18:36-37). And Pilates recognises this claim and writes it on the cross: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (Jn. 19:19).

 The Kingdom of Christ is the Kingdom of God, and in St Matthew’s Gospel it is synonymous with eternal beatitude, eternal life, kingdom of Heaven… And it starts here below in the Church: the Catholic Church is the Kingdom of Christ on earth: those who recognise His Kingdom. Indeed our Lord Jesus Christ, as God, reigns over the whole universe: He has set all the laws of nature; and all the intellectual and moral laws for men and angels.

 Material creatures all obey these laws perfectly but out of necessity. Spiritual creatures ought to obey out of love; not all obey, and this is the drama of mankind, the drama of sin, disobedience to these laws of God, laws of Christ, which are summed up in the great law of charity: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind” (Mt. 22:37).

 Being creatures endowed with spiritual faculties of intelligence and will, we go to Heaven “by steps of love”, i.e. acts of our intelligence and will, enlightened by faith and inflamed by charity. St Thomas explains that our Lord gives us a double help on this path to Heaven: the help of the LAW is an external help that shows to our intelligence the path and motivates the will by rewards and punishment, the ultimate reward being that of Heavenly beatitude itself and the ultimate punishment being that of everlasting torment in hell.

 This is indeed powerful movers, to motivate our will both attracting it to do good by such infinite reward and deterring us from doing evil by such frightful punishment, proportionate to the evil of sin, the evil of despising such a good God. Hell is at the dimension of the goodness of God despised by the sinner.

 The second help that our Lord Jesus Christ gives us is an interior help, the help of actual grace, actually moving our spiritual faculties to do good, both to adhere to divine truth by faith and loving God and obeying His commandment by Charity, as St Paul says: “the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us” (Rom. 5:5).

 Let us contemplate the Law of Christ: it is a law of life, leading to eternal life. The first three commandments concern our duties towards God, to render to the most Holy Trinity the worship, the adoration, thanksgiving, expiation we owe Him and asking Him his help: worship is the acknowledgement of the supreme excellence of God. Hence all this worship honours God as the Supreme Goodness and our ultimate benefactor: it is the least that reasonable creatures could do towards their Creator.

 And that worship on earth is profitable for us, because it prepares for rendering these duties in the loving face-to-face vision in Heaven, which will be our eternal happiness. These first three commandments remind us that there is one Way to the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me” (Jn. 14:6). There is only one true religion, the religion founded by our Lord Jesus Christ, the Catholic religion.

 There is one true religion for all men, because our Lord Jesus Christ is the Saviour of all men. “Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Thus worship of false gods (like Indian pagan gods), and false worship of the true God (all Protestant and heretical worship, since they reject the Mystical Body of Christ which is the Catholic Church) are both forbidden. Blasphemies are forbidden, and the sanctification of Sundays is commanded to us.

 These commandments are sweet to those who love God: they are a light on our way to Heaven: “the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light” (Pro 6:23). God is calling us to a life of friendship with Him, more even, to a life as a child of God! Se we are delighted to worship Him in the way that He designed, especially through the most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, offering Him the best act of adoration, love and all virtues that has ever been on earth, which our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God Himself, offered to His Father on the Cross.

 After the commandments towards the first source of all life, the Living God, come the fourth commandment with our duties towards those who have transmitted that life to us, our parents – and by extension all those who share God’s authority over us: “Honour thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest be longlived upon the land which the Lord thy God will give thee” (Ex. 20:12).

The fifth commandment tells us our duty to respect all human life: “Thou shalt not kill” (Ex. 20:13).

 The sixth commandment tells us to respect the transmission of life as God intended it, in a family, that is a life-long faithful union between one man and one woman for the purpose of having and educating children in order to fill heaven with elects. “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Ex. 20:14). God’s ways are good; but when man distorts the work of God for man’s own selfish pleasures, it brings untold damages, broken families, children torn apart between separated parents, immorality and all kinds of disorders.

 Families which should be a sanctuary of purity and a school of charity is deeply wounded by all the modern sins, especially that of abortion and contraception – not counting all kinds of fornications, adulteries and even unnatural sins. Truly God’s commandment is most useful to keep us on the right tract of true and pure and faithful love. This is possible with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not only is it possible, but it is the source of great consolations: my grand-father told us on his 50th anniversary of marriage: “After fifty years of marriage, the joys are not the same as at the beginning; however if you can look back at your marriage and see fifty years of fidelity, the joy is not less!”

 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ can even do much better: it can draw souls to a higher, more spiritual life, to a mystical marriage with Christ Himself, in the religious life, practicing the three evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience! If the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ can do that much, how much more it can help married couples to remain faithful all through life.

 The seventh commandment tells us to respect the means of life of our neighbour: “Thou shalt not steal” (Ex. 20:15). Honesty is not only to avoid stealing, but positively to do our duty towards our neighbour, to work well at whatever position Divine Providence has put us. If we think just a little, we should easily see how much we owe to our neighbour: to those who build our dwelling place, those who provide water, electricity, those who made our clothes and provide our food; a single man cannot do all these things at once; so we need the help of our fellow men, and in turn we ought to contribute to the common good. It is only in the measure in which we contribute to the good of our neighbour and to the common good that we deserve an income and a salary. It is not right to live at the expense of others.

The eight commandment directs us to respect the mutual trust without which there cannot be common life among humans, hence “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour” (Ex. 20:16).

 And the last two commandments require of us not only an external justice, but even interior justice, by forbidding and evil desire either of impurity or of greed, and in general any evil desire and thought.

 “The law of the Lord is unspotted, converting souls: the rule of the Lord is faithful, giving wisdom to little ones. The just precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts: the commandment of the Lord is lightsome, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for ever and ever: the judgments of the Lord are true, justified in themselves. More to be desired than gold and many precious stones: and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. For thy servant keepeth them, and in keeping them there is a great reward” (Ps. 18:8-12).

Hence truly “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord” (Ps. 118:1)!

Our Lord Jesus Christ is King by His Law that He has set for all men. But apart for the Blessed Virgin Mary who received the privilege of the Immaculate Conception, and who remained always immaculate, all men have offended the law of God, some more some less – but oftentimes much more! God is a good King: seeing the weakness of His people, He did not condemn them, but rather came Himself down on earth to save us from our sins and to lead us back on the right path that leads to Heaven. The good Shepherd has given his blood for his sheep to pay for the debt of our sins, and He has given us a perfect model of all virtues.

 By His Sacrifice on the Cross, our Lord Jesus Christ has merited all graces that He distributes to us through his mother. We need the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the help of our Lord Jesus Christ in order to fulfil His commandments, and this is the reason why we need to pray every day.

 Our Lord Jesus Christ, far from despising the sinner, goes after him, calling him back to return to a better life, calling him to penance: no matter how big the sin were, our Lord Jesus Christ who shed His blood precisely to save us from the sins we have committed, is more powerful to heal our soul than we were to harm it. “Mercy exalteth itself above judgment” (Jac. 2:13), it surpasses judgement. He offers His grace to all, even to the most wicked sinner, to help them back on the way to heaven.

 He died on the Cross and rose from the dead precisely for this, to save sinners from their sins! But he does not want us to remain in our sins: He is a good doctor, He wants us to return to good health, He does not want us to remain is our sickness. He wants us to be like to him, “dead to sin and living unto God”, as St Paul says (Rom. 6:11); He wants us to “sin no more” (Jn. 8:11) as He said to the woman caught in an adultery. He does not want a “perverse mercy” as St Augustine calls it, a mercy that covers up sin without healing it, that leaves the sinner continue in his sins without requiring a true change of heart: this is not real mercy but a deep corruption of it.

 Since our Lord Jesus Christ precisely offered His Sacrifice to obtain for us to follow His Commandments, wherever the Church goes to brings the blessings of God and His commandments, the Church offers the Sacrifice of the Mass, by which the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ is extended and is applied to all people: each Mass is offered not only for the priest himself, and for the faithful around him, but for all the intentions of the Church especially for the conversion of the sinners.

 May the blessed Virgin Mary, whom our Lord Jesus Christ has crowned Queen of Heaven and earth, obtain for us all the graces we need to obey wholeheartedly and lovingly the commandments of Christ the King, the Ten Commandments, by which we will attain everlasting life, and may she give us a great zeal to extend the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ both in individual souls and in society at large, so that by submitting willingly to the most sweet yoke of our Lord Jesus Christ we may reach eternal blessedness in Heaven! Amen.

Fr. F. Laisney(sspxasia)