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_{Thirty-FourthSunday in Ordinary Time
November 25, 2007} 

Back in the mid 1960's Jimmy Rose was a young man growing up in a devout Catholic family, was quite active in his church and entered a seminary to study for the priesthood.  Then came the turmoil of the Vietnam years.  During this time three students at Kent State University in Ohio were killed during campus protests against the war.  Race riots tore apart our cities.  National leaders, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, were assassinated.  Suddenly everything became unglued!

The young man left the seminary, joined the anti-war movement, left the Church, and began ridiculing the faith he once embraced.  His family was shocked by his change in attitude.  And when his behavior became more and more hostile to religion, they all but gave up hope.

Then came Holy Week and Good Friday in 1970.  The young man, then 22 years old, was driving past a Catholic church.  He recognized the name of a priest on the sign in front of the church.  It was a priest he had once respected very much.

Something prompted him to stop his car and go inside the church.  As he walked through the door, the Good Friday "Adoration of the Cross" was beginning.  He sat down in the very last pew.  He watched people file forward to reverence the cross while the choir sang "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?"

Then something remarkable happened.  The young man writes, and I quote him exactly:  "Something inside me snapped and I began to cry.  Overcome with emotion, I remembered the peace I had felt years ago in church.  The simple faith I was witnessing now seemed more meaningful that what I had been professing.  I got out of the pew and went forward to kiss the Cross.  The priest recognized me, came over, and hugged me.  On that day I became a born-again Catholic."  He concluded with this observation:  "Why I stopped in the church that day, I still don't know, but I know that I am happy with the results."

I like that story because it fits so well with the readings for today's Feast of Christ the King.  For the Gospel reading describes another angry, irreligious young criminal whose life was turned around completely on the first Good Friday, two thousand years ago.

And what turned that young criminal's life around was the same thing that turned around the life of the young seminarian in the story.  It was the crucifixion of Christ.  It was the crucifixion of Christ the King!  And what the crucified Christ said to the young criminal on the cross, He also said to the young seminarian:  "Amen, I say to you…you will be with me in Paradise."

There could hardly be a more appropriate reading with which to end our liturgical year.  It summarizes why Jesus came into the world.  It was to forgive sinners, like the young criminal...and like the young seminarian.

And this brings us to the practical application of all of this to our own personal lives.  It is this:  What Jesus did for the young criminal and the young seminarian, He wants to do for us, also.  He wants to forgive our sins, no matter how great they are or how long-standing they may be!

He wants to say to us what He said to the young criminal and the young seminarian:  "Amen, I say to you...you will be with me in Paradise."

This same message is re-enforced and expressed in different words by St. Paul in today's second reading.  St. Paul tells us:  "God rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of God's beloved Son.  Through Him we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins."

Jesus wants to enter our lives and do for us what He did for the young criminal and the young seminarian.  This is what we come together to celebrate on this the Feast of Christ the King.

Let me close with this prayer to Jesus Christ, the King of Kings:

Lord Jesus, it is not enough for us to look at you carrying your cross and to proclaim you to be our king.  It is not enough for us to bow our heads and call you Lord of Lords, King of Kings.  It is not enough for us to praise you on your feast day.

We must pick up our cross and follow you.  We must follow you every day of our lives.  We must follow you even to the cross, if that be your will.