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_{Feast of Christ the King
November 26, 2006}         

When I was a student I always enjoyed studying History.  In one of my previous careers I taught History at Aquinas Catholic High School in Augusta for a brief period of time.  I still enjoy reading about United States and World History.

England's Arnold Toynbee is generally considered one of the great historians of all time.  His masterpiece is a 12-volume work called A Study of History.  It studies in detail the history of 26 civilizations.  It analyzes how they began, how they developed, and how and why they declined and eventually died.

Summing up the place of Jesus in the parade of these civilizations and their people, Toynbee writes:  "When we set out on this study, we found ourselves moving in the midst of a mighty host.  But as we pressed forward, the marchers, company by company, have fallen...And now as we stand and gaze with our eyes fixed on the distant shore, a single figure…fills the whole horizon." That figure is Jesus of Nazareth!

Another student of history, James C. Hefley, spelled out Toynbee's summary of Jesus' place in history this way, and I quote: 

"He is a man who was born in an obscure village, the Child of a peasant woman.  He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. 

          He never wrote a book.  He never held an office.  He never owned a home.  He never had a family.  He never went to college.  He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness…

          While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him.  He was turned over to His enemies.  He went through a mockery of a trial.  He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.

          His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while He was dying…and that was His coat.  When he was dead, He was taken down, and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.  Such was His human life…

          Nineteen hundred years have come and gone and today He is the Centerpiece of the human race… I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built…and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon earth as powerfully as has that One Solitary Life."

All of this prompted another British historian, H.G. Wells, to draw this conclusion about Jesus.  He said: "The reader and I live in countries where to millions of people, Jesus is more than a man.  But the historian must disregard that fact.  He must adhere to the evidence that would pass unchallenged if his book were to be read in every nation under the sun.  Now it is interesting and significant that a historian, like myself who does not even call himself a Christian, finds the picture centering irresistibly around the life and character of this most significant man… The historian's test of an individual’s greatness is 'What did he leave to grow?  Did he start men to thinking along fresh new lines with a vigor that persisted after him?'  By this test Jesus stands first!"

That brings us to today's feast:  The Feast of Christ the King.  It serves as a kind of grand finale to the entire liturgical year.  As such, it invites us to do two things.  First, it invites us to honor Jesus as the Lord and King of all creation and of all human history, as we are doing here at this Mass.  Second, and more importantly, it invites us to express that honor in a practical and personal way in our lives.

Consider this true story of a young woman who, for privacy sake, I will call Christine.  She was excited about being received into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil Service.

She had one apprehension, however.  Her deceased father had been active in a church that was openly hostile toward the Catholic Church.  She feared he would not approve.

The priest at the Easter Vigil Service had prepared a keepsake for each of the candidates being received into the Church.  On it was typed a poem dealing with the kingship of Christ.  The poem was entitled "I Carry a Cross in My Pocket."  It read:  "I carry a cross in my pocket…It is not for identification… For all the world to see.  It's simply an understanding… Between my Savior and me… It reminds me to be thankful…For my blessings day by day…And to strive to serve Him better… In all that I do and say… Reminding no one but me…That Jesus is Lord of my life… If only I’ll let Him be!" 

When the priest handed Christine the card, she looked at the poem and burst into tears.  She told the priest later that just before her father died, he reached into his wallet, pulled out a piece of paper, and handed it to her as a keepsake.  On it was a copy of the poem "I Carry a Cross in My Pocket."  She told the priest that when he gave her the poem, it was if her father was reaching down from heaven, putting his hand on her shoulder, and saying, "It's all right, Christine.  I approve!"