Having completed our journey through John 6 and its special focus on the Eucharist, we return to our ongoing study of teachings throughout Church history. Just before the detour, we learned a little about Pope Pius XI (1922-1939). Today, we pick up with his document on Christ the King, titled Quas Primas, which means “which is first.” It was the document he wrote when he added the feast of Christ the King to our Church calendar.
Since he was reigning in the time between the wars and the all the chaos that that ensued, Pope Pius XI was particularly focused on the problem of the world turning away from God. So, he added the feast of Christ the King to the calendar to call people’s attention back to the fact that Jesus was not just a teacher and savior, but also a king. Some people though of “king” as a metaphorical title that just meant to express how great Jesus was and that he was a perfect human being. But, as the pope emphasizes, Jesus is genuinely a king with real dominion and authority over all things. He spends some time highlighting the Old Testament covenants and prophets which all promise that God will raise up a king to rule forever. Jesus, descended form King David, is the fulfillment of these promises.
On top of that, Jesus refers to himself as a king in his parable about the end of the world, in his response to Pontius Pilate, and after he rose from the dead (Matt 25, 31-40; John 18:37; Matt 28:18). The book of Revelation also clearly calls Jesus king several times. As both God and Man, Jesus has authority over everything. So, we should not only honor and praise Jesus Christ, but should obey him as king. Pope Pius then explains the “threefold power” of kingship in terms we should find familiar. Jesus is the “law-giver” or legislator as we can see him give laws and rules to his disciples. He has judicial power as seen when he says the Father has “given all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). His executive power is shown repeatedly in the way he commands his disciples and directs their efforts.
Of course, the kingdom is a spiritual one focused on spiritual things. After feeding the 5000, the crowd wanted to crown him in an earthly way and he fled from them. Jesus explicitly denied that he was here to give political power to the nation of Israel and told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world. To become part of this kingdom, one must prepare by penance and become a citizen through faith and Baptism. The kingdom is opposed to Satan and his kingdom of darkness and to be an effective member of Christ’s kingdom requires us to be detached from earthly things, to work for justice, and to deny ourselves and carry our crosses.
Still, the pope also says “it would be a grave error to say that Christ has no authority whatever in civil affairs.” Without specifying particular forms of government or trying to claim political power for the Church, Pope Pius XI teaches that, because Christ has authority over all, nations will flourish more effectively if they acknowledge Christ as King. He goes on to say that part of the reason for a lack of respect for public authority is that they are trying more and more to base that authority on themselves rather than on God. He says that when rulers realize that the rule “not by their own right” but on behalf of an authority greater than themselves, they will be less inclined to act selfishly. To accomplish this, Pope Pius XI commands Catholics to celebrate Christ’s kingship every year with the feast of Christ the King. This feast is meant to help Catholics first of all recognize that kingship, praise it, and strive to live it out in their own lives. Then and only then can we hope to draw others to accept this redeeming truth.
– In Christ,
Fr. Albert