They do not Want Him to Reign over Them-Palm Sunday

My dear brethren,

 “Pilate … called Jesus, and said to him: Art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered: … ‘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. 18:33-37).

 The Kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ is very clearly affirmed in His Passion, and was the only accusation that Pilate upheld and even wrote on the inscription upon the cross: “Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews”.

 Though that kingship is not of this world, it is undoubtedly a kingship over men, over all men all over the world, even over the kings of this world. The Kingship of our Lord does not take away the kingship of the earthly kings, but rules them with His Eternal laws. The Laws of Christ lead to eternal life; they are good for us, and not only for us as individuals but also for the human society as such: Businesses should follows the Laws of Justice of Christ: “Thou shalt not steal.” Families should follow the laws of Christ: “Honour thy father and mother! … Thou shalt not commit adultery.” All the judicial system should follow the Laws of Christ: “thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” Everyone at every level of society should follow the laws of life: “thou shalt not kill.”

 But not only these laws towards our neighbour. All levels of human society, being designed by God, ought to give God the worship that He deserves. Indeed God created man as a social being: we need one another; that mutual dependence is intended by God, Who gave diverse gifts and abilities to diverse people precisely so that those who have more may give to those who have less, thus practicing Charity! Social relations are thus intended by God, because Charity is intended by God. And the very first society, the family, is explicitly and directly established by God Himself. Every man is not born equal; he is born wholly dependent on his parents, in need of everything, and subject to his parents’ authority to guide him on the path of the Commandments of God, on the path of the Commandments of Charity. All other societies and authorities are somehow extensions of the family.

 Since human society is thus willed by God, and for the food of mankind, and since all societies require an authority that coordinate the works of all towards the common good of that society, it follows logically that all authority comes from God, Who has supreme authority over all. St Paul says so explicitly to the Romans.

 It is good for us that Christ rules over us. It is good for our families that Christ rules over the family, with His Laws protecting life, protecting the transmission of life, protecting the raising up and education of children. These laws include the respect of the natural act of marriage, and reject contraception, which is intrinsically evil because it deprives the act of marriage of its first purpose: the children. What would you think of a man asking for a salary from his boss but refusing to do the work? God has put pleasure in the transmission of life, precisely as a reward and encouragement to transmit life; if one refuses and prevents that transmission of life and still wants the reward, he is comparable to the employee asking for his salary while refusing to work! It is evidently wrong.

 The Law of God opposes all our vices, and this is the reason why some people resent the laws of God – because they want to continue in their vices, whether impurities, or greed, or pride, or violence, etc. Immoral people, who reject the Laws of God, do not want to refrain their evil tendencies; they rather seek means to fulfil these evil tendencies. But honesty would rather acknowledge that our nature is wounded by sin and that there are some tendencies even within ourselves which are not good and need to be refrained – nay “mortified”, in order to bring ourselves in proper order, respecting God and our neighbour. But for that we need the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 Now vicious people, who want to continue in their vices, therefore oppose our Lord Jesus Christ and His Law, because they see the Law of God as opposing their greed, their pride, their lusts, their perversions. For centuries now some of these vicious people have associated themselves in secret societies to fight against Christ and His Church in order to have freedom for their vices; in particular the Freemasons have promoted every perversions that is found in our modern world, from divorce, contraception, abortion, homosexuality and now transgenderism – together with major errors opposed to the Faith, such as evolution, atheism, scepticism, etc. They particularly refuse the Catholic Church’s claim to be the one true Church. They say with the wicked denounced in the Gospel: “We do not want Him to reign over us!”

 Now our Lord Jesus Christ is a marvellous King, who loves even His enemies and came down from Heaven even for them, to save us and them from our wickedness and give us a share of his Blessedness in Heaven. How could he touch the heart of so hardened sinners? By His sacrifice on the Cross! “And all the multitude of them that were come together to that sight, and saw the things that were done, returned striking their breasts” (Lk. 23:48). That same multitude had cried out a few hours before: “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” but now they were striking their breast out of sorrow and contrition. And later when St Peter said to those same crowds: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know most certainly, that God hath made both Lord and Christ, this same Jesus, whom you have crucified. Now when they had heard these things, they had compunction in their heart, and said to Peter, and to the rest of the apostles: What shall we do, men and brethren? But Peter said to them: Do penance and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins: and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:36-38).

 Once converted to Christ by His grace, we ought to fight for Christ our King. We say every day again and again: “Thy kingdom come!” We ask not only for reaching that blessed Kingdom of Heaven, but also we ask for the establishment of His Kingdom on earth: it will never be perfect before the end of the world, but it will be a great blessing wherever it is established, blessing for very many souls. Because where Christ reigns, there very many souls are being saved, and first of all those who are promoting His Kingdom.

 Regnavit a ligno Deus – God reigned by the wood of the Cross. Therefore we make sure that in every room of our houses there is a cross in a place of honour, to constantly remind us of that great Sacrifice of our salvation. Catholic crosses have not only the two beams crossing at right angles, but also the image of Christ on it, i.e. the cross with the Crucified. Bishop Fulton Sheen rightly explains that Christ without the Cross is not the true Christ, and the cross without Christ is unbearable. So, Catholic crosses have always the Cross with the Crucified Christ on them.

 May the Blessed Virgin Mary standing at the foot of the Cross give us a great devotion to the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! She is the Queen. May she help us to serve Christ the King as He deserves, extending His Kingdom in us and around us, for His glory and the salvation of our souls. Amen.

Fr. Laisney