Christ the King


Thou sayest that I am a King
(St. John xviii. 37)

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Christ
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By the I

Reverend i

Joseph Husslein, S.J. j

Price 10 Cents

SEVENTH PRINTING

THE AMERICA PRESS
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New York, N. Y.
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CONTENTS

I. THE KINGSHIP OF CHRIST.

II. THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST.

III. FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING.

IV. THE SOCIAL REIGN OF CHRIST.

V. CULT OF CHRIST THE KING.

Proper of Mass.

Consecration of the Human Race.

Nihil Obstat:

ARTHUR J. SCANLAN, S.T.D.,
Censor Librorum.

_

Imprimatur

:

"V
r

,

+ PATRICK CARDINAL HAYES,
Archiepiscopus Neo-Eb.

New York, September 20, 1926. Copyright, 1926.



I

The Kingship of Christ
<<|^’ING!” That is the title of Christ, not given today

or yesterday, but destined for Him in the eternal
councils of God. It is written large over the pages of the
Gospel and stands out in flaming letters from the Proph-
ecies.

To the birth of the. new-born Saviour came the wise
men from afar, inquiring : “Where is he that is born
king of the Jews ?” And at the death of Christ that title
was nailed to His Cross: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of

t!

e Jews ’ Hebrew, Greek and Latin it was written
that all the world might read -it, as men of every nation
passed and looked up into that face, ineffably sad and
wan, bruised for our sins, yet kingly underneath its
bloody crown of thorns.

.
Jesus Christ, King !” But His Kingdom, though

m this world, is not of it. That is a truth Pilate could
not understand when

.

Christ spoke to him of “My king-
dom. Art thou a king then?” was the puzzled question
of the pagan Governor. Rising to that official inquiry
with the full dignity of His Kingship, aware that all
future ages would be hanging on the answer from His
lips, Christ replied: “Thou sayest that I am a king.”
Those words rang out through the multitude, they passed
from mouth to mouth, they reached the ribald group of
soldiers casting dice in the outer court, and when later
Christ was to be delivered over to them they remembered
His words.. They gave Him a mantle of royal red, they
set a reed in His hand for scepter and platted a crown
of thorns for His head, they fell down before Him, and
as their tribute they spat upon Him. Yet He had said it,
and He truly is a King : their King, our King, King of
the Jews, King of all the nations, King of every individ-
ual, family, society, King of all the earth, King of Glory,
before whom every knee must bow in Heaven, on earth
and under the earth—“Jesus Christ, King!”



2 CHRIST THE KING

It was no new truth, no new cult even, that Pope Pius

XI announced, when in his Encyclical of December 11,

1925, at the close of the Holy Year, he introduced into

the sacred liturgy of the Church the special ecclesiastical

festival which thenceforth was to be known as “The

Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King.”
The beautiful truth of the Kingship of Christ, which

the Church had ever held, her devotion to Jesus Christ

as King, which runs like a thread of royal purple through

the prayers of the Christian ages, were now to be given a

new liturgical significance. And no time, indeed, could

have been more opportune than that which the Holy See

had chosen to proclaim anew unto all the nations and all

the world, the reign of the Saviour over all mankind, the

Kingdom of the Prince of Peace. .
Three subjects are proposed for consideration in the

Encyclical of Pope Pius XI : the Kingship of Christ, the

Kingdom of Christ, and the special feast of Jesus Christ,

King, based upon both these truths. Of the first alone I

shall treat in the present chapter.

Devotion to the Messias King, and therefore to Jesus

Christ, King—as the future Messias expected by the Jew-
ish people—may be said to have been an intimate part of

the Old Testament liturgy and worship. It is expressed

most eloquently in those inspired psalms which were in

truth the nation’s prayer. Not as the King of the Jews

only, but as King of the Gentiles as well, of all the nations

of the earth, Christ was celebrated in these liturgical songs.

They told of the raging of the Gentiles and the council

of the kings of the earth and their princes against
the

Lord and His Christ. But the Lord would laugh them to

scorn. Then, in vivid language, to the beating of timbrels

and the pulsing of harps, the chorus would rise to those

words placed upon the lips of the future Christ Himself,

proclaiming His universal Kingship over all the earth:

But I am appointed king by him
Over Sion his holy mountain,
Preaching his commandment.
The Lord hath said to me:



CHRIST THE KING 3

“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 uttermost parts of the earth

for thy possessions.” (Ps. ii. 6-8.)

Particularly delightful is that wonderful nuptial song,
which the inspired poet wrote to celebrate the Kingship
of Christ, His conquests and His reign. How exquisite
its tenderness when Jewish youths and maidens sang de-
scribing their future Messias King: “Thou art beauti-
ful above the sons of men, grace is poured abroad in thy
bps! And how the chorus swelled and the battle-
trumpets sounded at the words : “Gird thy sword upon

thigh, O thou most mighty. With thy comeliness and
“7 beauty set out, proceed prosperously, and reign.
Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever : the scepter of
thy kingdom is a scepter of uprightness!” (Ps. xliv. 5, 7.)

That idea is carried still further in those ancient rhap-
sodies whose inspiration was from the Spirit of God Him-
self . We are thus given to behold the new Messianic
Kingdom, flourishing in justice and peace, the spiritual
Kingdom of Christ:

He shall come down like rain upon the fleece
And as showers falling gently upon the earth.
In his days shall justice spring up,
And abundance of peace, till the moon be taken away.
And he shall rule from sea to sea,
And from the river unto the ends of the earth.
Before him his adversaries shall bend the knee,
And his enemies shall lick the dust.
The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer him

presents,
The kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts.
And all the kings of the earth shall adore him,
All nations shall serve him.
He shall deliver the poor from the mighty,
And the needy that had no helper. (Ps. lxxi. 6-12.)

Note how everywhere it is the militant idea that is
brought into bold relief. To understand that militancy
of the future Messias, Christ, and to know the enemy



4 CHRIST THE KING

against whom it is directed, we must go back to the very

opening of the Bible, to the very first
revelation, indeed

concerning Him that is recorded in the Sacred Books.

There too, militancy is the dominant
thought, but the

foe is clearly pointed out. It is a
spiritual enemy and the

warfare is waged with spiritual weapons by
Christ the

King. “And the Lord God said to the serpent,
we there

read : “I will put enmities between
thee and the woman,

and thy seed and her seed, and thou
shalt lie in wait for

her heel” (Gen. iii. 15).

That is the struggle. Those are the combatants.
1 he

King on the one side, whom later the Psalmist was to

describe as beautiful above the sons of men,
whose arrows

are sharp to pierce the hearts of His
enemies, and with

whom is the Queen at His right, “in gilded clothing, sur-

rounded with variety” (Ps. xliv. 10), while on
the other

side we behold the ancient Serpent and its seed. I he
com-

bat will last as long as time. For that
combat God s

royal Son came down to earth to conquer sin and death

:

“Thy almighty word leaped down from heaven, from
thy

royal throne, as a fierce conqueror into the
midst of the

land of destruction” (Wisdom xviii. 15). So it is
that

the future Christ is truly previsioned as the
warrior King,

the triumphant King, to whom, as Man, all His
enemies

would at last be made subject by His Eternal Father:

The Lord said to my lord

:

Sit thou at my right hand
Until I make thy enemies
Thy footstool, (cix. 1.)

I have quoted what may be described as the
classic

passages in the Psalms bearing on the Kingship
of Christ.

Many of these are referred to, at least in passing, by
the

Holy Father. But we must not overlook the
Prophets,

to whom also the Encyclical calls attention, who
predicted

in glowing words the future Kingdom of the
Son of Hod,

the Messias who was to save His people Israel,
and to

rule over all the nations of the earth.
The favorite pas-

sage, doubtless, is that which the Holy Father
quotes with



CHRIST THE KING 5

special predilection It is taken from the Prophet Isaias.
whose eyes had looked into the future, and seen the Mes-
sias King. Jubilantly he sang:

A child is born to us,
A son is given to us,
The government is upon his shoulders,
And his name shall be:
Wonderful, Counsellor,
God the mighty,
Father of the world to come,
Prince of Peace.
His empire shall be multiplied,
And there shall be no end of peace;
He shall sit upon the throne of David,
And over his kingdom. (Is. ix. 6, 7.)

In the same sense Jeremias and Daniel are cited in the
*r
ncyc^cal- To establish and strengthen the peace

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ri

i

St
e
n the

^eign ?f Christ is the entire Purpose ofthe Holy See. But this cannot be done except by first
restoring to all mankind that Kingship of Christ whereof
he Psalmist sang, which the Prophets proclaimed, which
the Gospels

.
announce, and to which rulers and people

alike must give the fullest and most unquestioning obedi-
ence, if true tranquillity and happiness are to be restored
to earth.

t

T^r.backin the Book of Numbers the early prediction
ot Christ s Kingship is already recorded : “A star shall

Jacob.and a scepter shall spring up from Is-

wLiNUm;p XXr1V; 17)r>. More definitely, then, Isaias
t°-

r

n
ê “ in the future King, the Son of David, whoseKingdom is to be without end. He is the same Son ofman whom in a vision by night Daniel beheld, on the

clouds of heaven, coming to the Ancient of Days.

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But if Daniel describes His power, Jeremias points out

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,

u®tlce
> lowing Him to us as the Kingwhose reign shall bring peace and salvation

:



6 CHRIST THE KING

Behold the days come, saith the Lord,
and I will raise up to

David a just branch: and a king shall
reign and be wise: and

chaii execute judgment a.nd justice on earth. , 11S
In those diys

g
shall Juda be saved, and Israel shall

dwell «m-

fidently : and this is the name that they
shall call Him . The Lord

our just one. (Jer. xxiii. 5, 6.)

And then still another touch is added to that
prophetic

picture of Jesus Christ, King. It
is given by Zachanas,

who portrays the Saviour’s gentleness and
meekness. He

beholds Christ coming indeed as a
King, but in poverty

and lowliness. Enamored of that
vision, as all future

saints were to be through all the ages,
the Prophet exul-

tantly sings:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion!
Shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem!

• Behold thy King will come to thee,

The just and Saviour:
He is poor,
And riding upon an ass,
And upon a colt, the foal of an ass.

“Wonderful, Counsellor,” “God the Mighty,”
“Prince

of Peace,” our King comes to us
“riding upon an ass, and

upon a colt, the foal of an ass.” He is poor
that the poor-

est can approach Him without fear, though
the mightiest

mSefie before Him. He holds in H,s grasp Wer
and glory, and a kingdom,” His

enemies shall fall down

before Him, and “all the kings of, the
earth shall adore

Him, all nations shall serve Him.
Such is the picture

of Jesus Christ, King-Ruler,
Lawgiver Judge-as in

prophetic vision the inspired writers
saw Him.

And how perfectly, with the coming of the
fulness of

time, all these predictions passed
into realization • -jm a

little Judaean village, to a maiden of
David s royal line,

the Angel Gabriel appeared, foretelling
the Messias whom

she herself should conceive and bear.
Brief were his

words, and yet full of foreshadowings
of throne, and

royalty and kingdom:

He shall be great, and shall be called the
Son of the most

High! and the Lord God shall give unto him
the throne of David his



CHRIST THE KING 7

fatb
?
r

; ,
an<f he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever

of his kingdom there shall be no end. (Luke i. 32, 33.)
And

How like a flourish of trumpets, announcing the en-
trance of a king, sounds that message of the Angel pro-
claiming the coming of Jesus Christ, King! Truly, a
royal embassage, a royal proclamation

!

In poverty and obedience Christ chose to begin His life.
In humiliation and suffering He willed to end it on the
Cross of shame. Yet nevertheless, repeatedly and sol-
emnly He affirmed before the world His Kingdom and
Kingship. Through the wise men He announced it at
His birth to Herod. In person He declared it to Pilate.
As a King He pictured Himself to the Jews when He
foretold His judgment of the world: “Then shall the
king say to them that shall be on the right hand : Come
ye blessed of my Father” (Mt. xxv. 34). As a King the
Apocalypse presents Him to us: “And he hath on his
garment, and on his thigh written: King of kings, and
Lord of lords (Apoc. xix. 16). And as King He will
finally surrender Himself and His Kingdom to the Father
In the strong words of St. Paul

:

Afterwards the end, when he shall have delivered up the kinsr-
^mr lhe. Father, when he shall have brought to noughtall [other] principality, and all [other] authority and power For

”
e'g
T^

Un
?'

1

J
the FatherVha‘h Put a11 his enemies under

(1 Cor
*
xv 24-?6 )

St enemy to be brou&ht to nought is death.

In a word, Christ’s mission is the subjection of all
things to Himself, as St. Paul teaches us, for the Father
hath subjected all things to him.” That mission will

not be fully completed until the end of the world. Then
as Man, Christ the King will present Himself, together
with His Kingdom, the Church, to the Eternal Father
but without forfeiting thereby His own Kingship over
His subjects which is everlasting. So, to conclude with
bt. Paul, shall the Son Himself be subject [to the
Fathcr-J whoi subjected all things to him, that God may be
all in all {Ibid. 28).

y



II

The Kingdom of Christ

DANIEL, the last of the four
great Prophets, on

whom the gift of wisdom was marvelously con-
ferred even as a boy, may in a special way be regarded as

the Prophet of Christ’s World-Kingdom. Others also

proclaimed the universal reign of Christ and the Psalmist

sang of its unlimited extension : He shall rule from sea
to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth . . .

all the kings of the earth shall adore Him, all nations

shall serve Him” (lxxi. 8, 11) ; but their hearts beat high,

above all, for Sion; the hopes of Juda and Israel burned

in their breast like a consuming fire.

Daniel no less deeply and tenderly loved his own, but

he foresaw with vivid clearness the destruction of .
the

nation’s sanctuary, and the desolation that should continue

“even to the consummation and to the end.”
.

His vision

passed far beyond his land and people and his heart em-

braced all the wide earth, which he saw as one vast king-

dom of “Christ the Prince.” Hence, also, particular ref-
erence is made to the Prophecies of Daniel by Pope Pius

XI in his great Encyclical on “Jesus Christ, King.”
Born of royal stock, Daniel had been carried off into

captivity with Joakim, King of Juda. The occasion of

the important Prophecy on the World-Kingdom of Christ,

to which special attention shall be given here, was a dream

which God had sent to the fierce Babylonian conqueror,
Nabuchodonosor. The dream escaped the monarch’s
memory but left his soul terrified. In vain he summoned
his magicians, diviners and wise men to recall it for him

:

“Unless you tell me the dream, and the meaning thereof,”
he said to them, “you shall be put to death” (Dan. ii. 5).

“The thing thou askest, O king, is difficult,” they an-
swered, “nor can anyone be found that can show it be-

fore the king, excepting the gods, whose conversation is

not with men.” But Daniel, hearing of what had come to

pass, prayed for light to the one true God who “changeth



CHRIST THE KING 9

times and ages, taketh away kingdoms and establisheth
them.” Appearing before the king, he told him the dream
and its meaning.

“Thou, O king, sawest, and behold there was, as it
were, a great statue.” The head thereof was of finest
gold, the breast and the arms were of silver, the belly and
thighs of brass, and the legs of iron, with the feet partly
iron and partly clay. But a stone “cut out of a mountain
without aid of hands” struck the feet of the statue and
shattered them to pieces. “Then were the iron, the clay,
the brass, the silver and the gold broken to pieces to-
gether, and became like the chaff of a summer’s threshing
floor, and they were carried away by the wind.” But the
stone itself became a great mountain and “filled the whole
earth” (Ibid. 35).

Turning next to the interpretation, Daniel explained
how the head of gold represented the Babylonian world-
kingdom over which .Nabuchodonosor then ruled. This
would be succeeded by a second and inferior kingdom, of
silver, which in turn would be followed by “another third
kingdom, of brass, which shall rule over all the world.”
The last of these would be of iron. It was .to be a most
mighty kingdom, “as iron breaketh into pieces and sub-
dueth all things, so shall that break and destroy all these”
(Ibid. 40). The traditional verification of this Prophecy
very reasonably sees in the four kingdoms respectively the
Babylonian, under which Daniel lived and which he him-
self identified, the Medo-Persian, the Greco-Macedonian
and finally the Roman. This last, as elsewhere the
Prophet most accurately tells us: “shall be greater than
all the kingdoms and devour the whole earth, and shall
tread it down, and break it in pieces” (Dan. vii. 23).

Nbtice how throughout there is always one dominant
thought—each kingdom mentioned is a world-kingdom,
and such above all others was to be the fifth, or Messianic
Kingdom, the Kingdom of “Christ the Prince.”

For in “the days of those kingdoms,” namely of the
last named, since the kingdoms were to exist successively—in the days, therefore, of the Roman Empire—God Him-



10 CHRIST THE KING

self would set up a Kingdom. Its origin would
not be the

work of human power. For the stone, which
represents

Christ, or more properly still the Kingdom itself
where-

with Christ is identified as its Head, was to
come from

on high, to be “cut out of the mountain
without the aid

of hands.” Of all this the perfect verification was to
he

found in the message of the Angel Gabriel
to Mary:

“The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power

of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore

also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be
called

the Son of God” (Luke i. 35). It was the same
^

Angel,

who also appeared to Daniel and announced to him “Christ

the Prince.”
. . . T^.

That stone, that Kingdom with Christ as its King, was

to increase until it would cover the whole earth:
“But

the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain,

and filled the whole earth.” Once more the words of

Daniel are paralleled by the words of the Angel to Mary

:

“He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the

most High ; and the Lord shall give unto him the
throne

of David his Father, and he shall reign in the house of

Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no

end” (Luke i. 32, 33). . .
But let us hear the Prophet’s own description of the

fifth world-kingdom, the Kingdom of Christ, which shall

follow upon the ruins of the other four, and transcend

them all. The Prophet says

:

The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be

destroyed, and his kingdom shall not be delivered up to another

people [as were all the preceding purely earthly kingdoms],
and

it shall break in pieces and shall consume all these
kingdoms, and

itself shall stand for ever. (Dan. ii. 44.)

Almighty God not merely revealed to His Prophet

Daniel the great world-empires that were to follow each

other in the ancient world. He did more. He showed
all the sum and total of their might and splendor com-

bined into one single image. There could be no more

stupendous image of human power than that statue shown

to Nabuchodonosor, which left awe-stricken and terrified



CHRIST THE KING 11

the. man of destiny who held in his grasp an empire in
which were concentrated all the glories of the conquests
of past ages. But all that worldly greatness which his
astonished eyes beheld in one glance should be shattered
to pieces and scattered like dust to the wind before the
immeasurably greater Kingdom which “the God of
heaven’' Himself would set up and which alone should
never be destroyed.

There is a tone of militancy throughout this Prophecy
which the reader cannot have failed to notice. The same
tone we have previously observed in the psalms and
prophecies regarding the Kingship and Kingdom of Christ.

Why have the Gentiles raged,
And the people devised vain things?
The kings of the earth stood up
And the princes met together

Against the Lord and against his Christ. (Ps. ii. 1, 2.)

.

That is one side of the picture. But in the other the
King, though fair above all the sons of men and filled
with mercy and tenderness for all who accept His sway,
is seen in the end to humble the pride of all His enemies.
For He who is Infinite Justice as well as Infinite Love
had commissioned Christ to subject all things to Himself,
that He may so at last present all His conquests to the
Father, who Himself is imaged forth as thus addressing
the Messias-King.

Ask of me, and I will give thee
The Gentiles for thy inheritance,
And the uttermost 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.

(Ps. ii. 8, 9.)

Let us remember, too, the prophecy of Simeon at the
Presentation of Christ in the Temple : “Behold this child
is set for the fall and the resurrection of many in Israel,
and for a sign which shall be contradicted” (Luke ii. 34),
and then pass to the final scene of all when the King shall
say to those at His right, “Come, ye blessed of My Fa-
ther, possess you the kingdom prepared for you,” but to



12 CHRIST THE KING

them at His left he shall say, ‘‘Depart from me, you

cursed, into everlasting fire” (Matt. xxv. 34, 41). There

is the consummation of the struggle now waged on earth.
The Kingdom of Christ on earth is not, therefore, a

reign of sensuous pleasure, but an armed camp. It is

not of gold or silver, as were those kingdoms of old,

valued and priced in the eyes of the world, but a stone

that crushes all opposition. He who is not with Christ,
its King, is against Him. Compromise is out of question.

We must be friends or foes. “Do not think,” He says,
“I came to send peace upon earth: I came not ,to send

peace, but the sword” (Matt. x. 34). His peace indeed

He gives to those who love and follow Him, a peace which
the world cannot give, but it is a peace within them and

not without. The warfare will not end until even the last
of the enemies, death itself, as St. Paul says, has been put

beneath the feet of Christ.

Evidently, the Kingdom of Christ, as we see it pre-
sented in the Prophecy of Daniel, is a true Kingdom and
to study it we must consider the nature of the sovereignty
within it, and the extent and quality of its dominions.

In the first place, the Kingdom of Christ is not a
theocracy in the historic sense of that word. It is not a

political empire. Its aim was never to supplant the
Caesars of Rome but the paganism of Rome. Its King, as
the breviary-hymn quoted by the Holy Father so beauti-
fully says, is not to snatch away earthly crowns but to
give heavenly kingdoms. It stands in no conflict with
temporal rulers or executives, whose powers it does not
covet, but who in turn must nevertheless be subject to the
supreme dominion of Christ. His throne is above all
thrones, empires and republics of the earth. Correcting
Pilate’s false views of His Kingdom, Christ said

:

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.
(John xviii. 36.)

His Kingdom is in this world

,

but not of this world.
It is here, but not from hence, because as Daniel says it



CHRIST THE KING 13

is set up by the God of Heaven; it is the stone cut out
of the mountain on high without any aid of human hands,
that was to become a mountain and fill all the earth.
Political arms and military warfare are far from it. Even
for the Apostles themselves it was at first hard to under-
stand this truth before the Spirit of God had descended
upon them. Christ remonstrated with Peter

:

Put up again thy sword into its place
;
for all who take the

sword shall perish by the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot
ask my Father, and he will give me presently more than twelve
legions of angels? (Matt. xxvi. 52, 53.)

Again we notice that Christ here speaks as Man. It is
as such that we consider Him when we speak of His
Kingdom on earth.

As “God the Mighty” the government of the world
must indeed rest upon that Child whom Isaias predicted,
and who as Emmanuel, “God with us,” must be the sole
absolute Lord and ruler of all created beings. As God,
He is that Word of whom St. John wrote: “In the be-
ginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God” (John i. 1). Natural and super-
natural life alike flow from Him, and His supreme do-
minion He cannot possibly surrender to any other. But
“the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us” {Ibid.
14). So then, as God, imbued with Divine glory, and in
virtue of His Divine nature, Christ, the Word Incarnate,
must forever be Sovereign Ruler over all mankind.

But it is not under this aspect that we here consider
the Kingship of Christ. Quoting the words of Daniel,
according to which Christ receives from the Father, from
the “Ancient of Days,” “power and glory and a king-
dom” Jvii. 14), Pope Pius XI explains that only as Man
can this be said of Him, “because as the Word of God,
being of the same substance with the Father, He also
shares in common with Him the fulness of the Godhead,
and therefore has an absolute empire over all things.” It
is to the Man-Christ, therefore, that we refer when we
speak of His Kingship and Kingdom.



Ill

Feast of Christ the King

I
T is of Faith that Christ, as Man, has fullest spiritual
power, leading to salvation, establishing the Church

and her Sacraments, and disposing of all graces in the

supernatural order. All this is included in His Kingdom
on earth. But His dominion does not end there. In vir-

tue of the union of His human nature with the Divine,
He possesses also a still ampler power which the Prophet
Daniel had in mind, which the royal Psalmist extols, and

which is the special foundation of “The Feast of Our
Lord Jesus Christ” instituted by Pope Pius XI to be cele-
brated each year on the last Sunday of October.

With repeated insistence the Holy Father urged, in his
Encyclical Quas Primas, the necessity of spreading every-
where throughout the world a clear understanding of the
meaning of this Feast. Already in the previous Year of
Jubilee, 1899, Pope Leo XIII had foreseen the need of
our times and prepared the minds of men for the great
truth of Christ's universal reign over all mankind. Forci-

bly he wrote:

Christ’s reign extends not only over the Catholic people, or

over all those who have been regenerated by Baptism and belong
by right to the Church, even though erroneous opinions have led
them astray or schism has separated them from her, but it em-
braces also all such as have no Christian beliefs, so that all human
kind is under the dominion of Jesus Christ.

It is Christ as Man, who is proposed to us as the ob-
ject of our homage in the special feast devoted to His
universal Kingship. It is as Man, also, that his Kingship
was predicted under the Old Law. He is the Scepter that
should spring up from Israel, the royal Scion who should
rule from the throne of David, the Prince for whom the
God of Heaven should set up a Kingdom that would never
be destroyed, the Lord who should sit as King on the

14



CHRIST THE KING 15

right hand of Yahwe, His Eternal Father. And so in
prophecy after prophecy Christ as Man is the King who
shall rule the nations of the earth and of whose King-
dom there shall be no end.

The royalty thus commemorated in our special feast is
due to Christ as Man for a twofold reason : by nature and
by conquest.

From the inseparable union of the Divine with the
human nature in the Incarnate Word it is obvious that all
power, not incompatible with the purpose of the Incarna-
tion, must be attributed to Christ as Man. Such is the
sovereignty of His universal Kingship over men and an-
gels, given Him by God. It is a glory and a dignity emi-
nently becoming the majesty of Christ in His human na-
ture^ who as the Son of God is Lord of all, coequal with
the Father.

The second reason I have mentioned is the right of
conquest. We are the spoils of the victory achieved by
Him over Hell and Satan. We are a ransomed people,
purchased at the cost of His suffering and death. “For
you are bought with a great price” (1 Cor. vi. 20). St.
Paul reminds us, and St. Peter writes: “You were not
redeemed with corruptible things, such as gold and silver
... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
unspotted and undefiled” (1 Peter i. 18, 19). We our-
selves, as children of the Church, rescued by Him from
the slavery of the Serpent, are in a special way His con-
quest. Admitted into His spiritual Kingdom, we have be-
come the very members of that mystic body whose sov-
ereign Head is Christ Jesus.

But Christ is King of all men and as such possesses
the full triple power of royalty: legislative, judicial and
executive. He is supreme Lawgiver under God, and His
legislation all are bound to obey. He is ultimate Judge
over mankind, for “Neither does the Father judge any
man, but hath given all judgment to the Son” (John v.
22). He is the sovereign Executive whose mandates
everyone must heed and whose sentence no one can
escape.



16 CHRIST THE KING

Finally, the sphere of Christ’s kingly dominion em-
braces in their entirety both the temporal and spiritual

realms. Equally subject to Him are the heads and rulers
of both. His spiritual Kingdom can be entered by all
through Faith and Baptism. Here we behold Him daily
in His twofold character, as royal Priest and Redeemer.
That Kingdom is opposed to no other “save the kingdom
of Satan and the power of darkness.” But Christ as Man
is King of the temporal realm as well and His power here
far exceeds that of any earthly monarch.

The kings of earth have but a limited dominion over
their subjects, and no one can claim rights of ownership
over the personal possessions of the citizens. The King-
ship of Christ as Man, on the contrary, includes not mere-
ly the supreme royal power over all creatures, but also the
universal ownership of all temporal things. Not only do
kings, rulers and supreme executives hold all their pow-
ers under His royal scepter alone, but in the same manner
possessors of property, whatsoever it may be, must equal-
ly acknowledge His supreme and ultimate ownership un-
der God of all they hold. Their possession is absolute as
against all other men, but not as against the Man-Christ,
to whom they and their goods must alike belong by sov-
ereign right. All creation is the inheritance God has be-
stowed upon the Christ-Man, and His Kingship there-
fore can be measured by no other kingship that has ever
been or ever can be upon earth. He alone is King of
kings and Lord of lords. “All power,” He Himself tells
us, “is given me in heaven and on earth” (Matt, xxviii.
15). Pointedly Pope Pius XI writes:

Now it would be a grievous error to deny the Christ-Man’s
power over all temporal things, whatever they may be, since He
has received from the Father the most absolute rights over all
created things. Consequently all are subject to His will.

But it is one thing to possess a right, and quite another
to exercise that right. Christ freely abstained from the
use of His supreme temporal power as well as. of His
universal ownership during His life on earth.



CHRIST THE KING 17

Nevertheless while He lived on earth He completely abstained
from exercising this domination. And, as He despised the pos-
session and procuring of earthly things, so He permitted then,
and permits now, that their possessors retain them.

When the multitudes, seeing the miracles wrought by
Christ, sought by force to make Him King, He fled from
them into the mountains. When Peter, having made his
glorious confession of the Divinity of Christ, was prom-
ised the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, Our Lord at
once commended silence to His Apostles. When after
the Resurrection it seemed as if the time might now at
last

.

have come for the full temporal manifestation of
Christ’s kingly powers, in the splendors of an earthly
Messianic reign, and the disciples eagerly asked Him:
“Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom
of Israel ?” He merely answered it was not for them to
know the hour or moment. So He rose from their midst
and a cloud received Him out of their sight. That was
the end of worldly dreams and political hopes forever.
With the coming of the Holy Ghost the Apostles were
better to understand the meaning of the Messianic King-
dom of Christ.

Yet the Scriptures had not deceived them. No false
hopes were there held out to them. The same Prophet
who had proclaimed the greatness of Christ’s kingly
power had also given them to behold the depths of the
humiliation to which He would submit Himself that so
He might achieve the eternal conquest of His Kingdom.
Was ever human threnody that could compare with these
overwhelming words of Isaias?

There is no beauty in him nor comeliness *, and we have seen
him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of
him. Despised and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with infirmity; and his look as it were hidden and de-
spised, whereupon we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne
our infirmities, and carried our sorrows, and we thought him as
it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted. But he
was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins, the
chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we
are healed. (Is. liii. 2-5.)



18 CHRIST THE KING

And so, too, the royal Psalmist who described in glow-

ing words the Messias-King, the Christ who should re-

ceive for His inheritance from the Father the uttermost

parts of the earth, is the same who previsioned Him hang-
ing on the Cross, deprived of all things, with the soldiers

dividing His very garments among themselves and cast-

ing lots for His seemless vesture.

The council of the malignant hath besieged me,

They have dug my hands and feet,
They have numbered all my bones.
And they have looked and stared upon me.
They parted my garments among them,
And upon my vesture they cast lots. (Ps. xxi. 17-lv.)

What a contrast those two striking pictures—one of
the Scourging, the other of the Crucifixion

of Christ the

King—to the false Messianic hopes ! Carefully Christ
Himself had warned His disciples that they should not

be scandalized in His humiliation. Yet nevertheless
He

also foretold that when thus He should be lifted up He

would draw all things to Him. .
Mighty through the ages has been that image of our

Crucified King, as we behold Him crowned with thorns,

robed in the royal purple of His Precious Blood,
and en-

throned for us on the hard wood of the Cross. Hither the

world has fled to the embrace of those extended
arms and

the refuge offered us within that opened
Heart. Looking

up to that Saviour-King men have joyously bowed beneath

His sway, not through durance, but in tenderness and love.

Gladly we submit to Him our minds and wills and hearts,
knowing of a certainty that He alone is sovereign Truth,

sovereign Lord, and sovereign Love. But woe to those

who still refuse that last and strong appeal ! Theirs alone

will be the blame when with its full weight the iron rod

of power descends to crush them on the Judgment Day.

The source of all the evils of our time is briefly

summed up by Pope Pius XI in a single word, “Laicism.”

Defined with almost equal brevity, it is the rejection
of

Christ the King. In that one evil all others are
included.



CHRIST THE KING 19

It implies the refusal by nations, by civil or private soci-
eties, by families or individuals, that this Man should
reign over them.

The results of this evil are the errors, dissatisfactions
and unhappiness that fill so many lives

; the estrangements
and. divorces that break up homes

;
the selfishness and

egoism in men of wealth and power; the mockery at all
authority by so many from among the masses of the peo-
ple—and their logic is inescapable. Deny God, from
whom alone all human authority can be derived, and there
is no reason except expediency for subjecting ourselves
to our fellow

.

mortal clay. Laicism, in fine, means “a
general confusion of society deprived of its natural foun-
dation” (Ubi Arcano).

.The remedy of all these evils is once more to bring
society back to the gentle rule of Christ, whose yoke is
sweet and whose burden of sovereignty imposed upon
us is light and most desirable. For this reason, therefore,
the Church has instituted the great Feast of Our Lord
Jesus Christ, King.

It is the hope of the Holy See that at the sight of this
inspiring leadership those of her own children, who be-
fore may have been weak and languorous in their Faith,
will now eagerly answer the Christ-Man’s royal appeal
to their loyalty and love, while many who still remain
outside of His spiritual Kingdom, the Church, will come
rejoicing to the feet of their Saviour-King. Under His
banner, then, we are exhorted to advance courageously,
reconciling to Our Lord the souls that have fallen away
from Him, reclaiming the ignorant who know Him not,
safeguarding and defending with apostolic zeal, every-
where and in all things, the sovereign interests of Christ
and of His spiritual Kingdom. So, free from the moles-
tations of worldly rulers and people, the Church will be
able with renewed vigor to devote herself to her one glo-
rious mission, the salvation and sanctification of souls.
Such are the great purposes of that royal Feast of Our
Lord Jesus Christ, King, celebrated each year throughout
the entire world over which He must reign supreme.



IV

The Social Reign of Christ

I
N its practical application devotion to Our Lord Jesus
Christ, King, offers to all Christians a new social and

apostolic outlook upon the world. Better than ever before

men are now made to realize the fact that they are not

isolated human beings, but members of a vast Kingdom

embracing all the earth.

And first, as regards our own individual selves, we
must strive, as the Holy Father urges us, to be subject to

Christ most perfectly, in mind and will and heart. Our

minds are to be subject to Him not merely because of the
superior power of His own human mind and the vastness

of His knowledge, but because He is Truth itself. Our
wills are to submit to His own human will because that

in turn is most perfectly subject to the Divine, and so can

effectively lead us to the very heights of perfection that

God has destined for us. Our hearts, in fine, are to be
ruled by Him because He is meek and humble of heart,
and His whole being is Love itself. Merely to know Him
should suffice to love Him. And in fact, “no man ever
was so loved as Jesus Christ, or ever will be.”

Christ, therefore, is King over every human being, re-
deemed by Him, as we all are, and purchased at the price
of His own Precious Blood. We are Christ’s, as the
Scripture says, and Christ is God’s. Christ is our one

Mediator with the Father, though Mary mediates for us
with Christ. Mary is our Mother, but her sublime func-
tion is to bring us to Christ, as she first gave. Him to. us.
The graces that all come to us through her intercession,
she obtains from Christ alone, to whom she too is sub-
ject, even more perfectly than any other creature, with all
her mind and will and heart.

Our joy, then, is that we belong to Christ entirely,
and in all things are under His dominion. His power

is exercised to do good to us. “All things are delivered

to me by the Father,” He says, but immediately adds:
20



CHRIST THE KING 21

“Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I
will refresh you. Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of
me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and you
shall find rest to your soul. For my yoke is sweet and
my burden light” (Matt. xi. 27-30). Such is the King
whom we serve, and our service is love.

But Christ, too, is King of the Home. The service
we owe Him as individuals, we owe to Him no less in
our domestic relations. In His name husband and wife
give to each other the fidelity and love they have pledged.
Wives are to obey their husbands, husbands to cherish
and love their wives, as the Scripture teaches, but all in
obedience to Christ and under His kingly rule to which
both alike are subject and to which both must render their
account. It is Christ alone whom the Christian obeys in
others and it is Christ he loves. And so it is Christ who-
inspires that mutual afifection in the hearts of husband
and wife who cherish each other for Him, with Him and
in Him. The greater their devotion to Christ, the greater
their love and respect for each other.

With the family relations so conceived, divorce or im-
morality are unthinkable. The domestic problems that
disturb the modern world cannot even find an echo in
that sanctuary of the Christian hotpe. There is but one
supreme Ruler in that house, Christ, the King. On the
walls His picture can be found as a perpetual reminder,
and to His Sacred Heart the family is solemnly dedicated,
with a dedication often renewed.

#

For love of Him the children have been brought into
this world, to be a joy and sacred charge. For Him they
are reared and taught and trained, that in their turn they
may spread His Kingdom upon earth and rule with Him
everlastingly in His eternal courts. All this implies a
Catholic education, whenever possible, from first to last.

But the rule of Christ does not terminate here, for no
distinction is made, as the Holy. See teaches us, “between
individuals, the home, or civil society, since men are no
less under^ the power of Christ when united in society
than as single individuals.” Christ alone can be the



22 CHRIST THE KING

source of public no less than of domestic and individual

welfare : “For there is no other name under heaven given

to men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts iv. 12).
Christ, then, is to be proclaimed King of All Human

Society. He alone must ultimately rule our conduct in
all our relations with one another, be they civic, social,

economic, industrial or commercial. He is King of every
social group and over all these He must rule no less than
over each individual soul. He can no more be excluded
from the conventions of the labor unions or deliberations

of finance than from the councils of the Church. The

former are just as much subject to His dominion as the

latter. There is even more reason that His complete and

sovereign kingship and dominion be constantly kept be-

fore our minds in secular matters, since here the danger

of forgetting Him is greatest. All the chaos in our so-
cial, economic and industrial relations today is ultimately

due entirely to men’s forgetfulness of Him, or to their

wilful disregard or even denial of His Kingship over them

in their relations with each other. There is consequently

no final solution to the ills of our day except a return to

Him.
Nowhere do men and women enter into relations with

their neighbor, whether in work or trade, in civic interests

or social relaxation, that issues of ethical moment are not

at stake, matters of justice or charity, and the laws of God
are not either complied with or transgressed. So the will

of Christ must be decisive, whether in the fixing of a fair

wage or a just price, in the decision of a labor union or

the cold calculations of a board of directors, in the polit-

ical or social life of the people wherever they may be. To
Christ they must revert at the ballot box, no less than in

their act of private charity or devotion. They may not al-
ways consciously have Christ in mind, but His principles,

His laws, His desires are to be the guide and rule of all

their public actions and decisions. That is what we mean
by Christ ruling over society.

In a word, men and women, in all their civic, social
and economic relations are to do what Christ would have



CHRIST THE KING 23

them do, since He is King of their public as well as of
their private actions, He holds supreme dominion over
the group as well as over every individual that composes
it, He is Lord of society as well as of the home and of
the heart.

But still more than all this, Christ is King of Nations.
He may no more be excluded from parliaments and in-
ternational parleys, leagues or committees, than from our
own family circle. “All kings of the earth shall adore
him,” as the Psalmist wrote, “all nations shall serve him.”
And again : “I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inherit-
ance, and the uttermost parts of the world for thy posses-
sion.” There may, therefore, be no international discus-
sion, no international decisions from which Christ is ex-
cluded, for His is the sovereignty of the nations just as
well as of the social groups and the individual souls.

That the Kingship of Christ has been shamefully ig-
nored, whether in national parliaments or international re-
lations, we know too well. “Why have the Gentiles
raged,” we heard the Psalmist exclaiming, “and the peo-
ple devised vain things?” Not merely has Christ been
ignored, but He has been openly attacked in national as-
semblies and by public rulers : “The princes have met to-
gether against the Lord and against his Christ.” Not con-
tent with control of secular affairs—which itself they
could hold only by His permission—rulers and public
executives have in countless instances treasonably sought
to extend their dominion even over Christ's spiritual King-
dom, His Church. Thus have arisen those constant perse-
cutions with which we are familiar, the banishment of
priests, the confiscation of Church property and the clos-
ing of Catholic schools.

But the more that dear name of Our Redeemer, as
the Holy Father says, “is passed over in shameful silence,
whether at international meetings or in parliaments, so
much the more necessary is it to acclaim Him as King
and announce everywhere the rights of His royal dignity
and power.”

The very fact, also, of publicly acknowledging these



24 CHRIST THE KING

royal honors which truly belong to Christ cannot fail to

impress upon the minds of men the fact, as the Holy Fa-
ther argues, that

:

The Church, which was established by Christ as a perfect so-

ciety, cannot but demand as her right—a right which she cannot

renounce—full liberty and independence from the civil power.

Moreover, the Church, in the exercise of her Divine ministry of

teaching, ruling and guiding to eternal happiness all who belong

to the Kingdom of Christ, manifestly cannot depend on the will of

others. The civil power, too, must allow to Religious Orders and
Congregations of both sexes the exercise of a like liberty, since

they, besides being a help to the Church and her pastors, also co-

operate greatly in the extension and development of the Kingdom

of Christ, either because by their profession of the three
religious

vows they fight against the threefold concupiscence of the world,

or because by their leading a life of greater perfection they
show

forth daily to all men that holiness which the Divine Founder of

the Church foretold would be one of the marks of the true
Church.

Rulers and governments, therefore, no less than the

least of their citizens owe obedience to the Divine King,

since they rule “not so much in their own right as by a

mandate from Him.” His royal dignity demands that

society conform to all the dictates of God s command-

ments and the principles of Christian life. But above all

things, the Holy See declares, are the souls of our young

people to be prepared “for the acceptance of sound doc-

trine and the leading of holy lives.” Thus men and wom-

en will become better citizens, better husbands and wives,

better employers and laborers, and the whole social order

will approach more nearly to the Divine ideal.

If the Kingdom of Christ were truly acknowledged

in fact over all the earth mankind would be but one great

brotherhood, conflicts would cease and hatred be turned

into love. Then, as Pope Leo XIII so powerfully wrote,

“would many wounds be cured, and every right would

regain its ancient force, the blessings of peace would re-

turn, and swords and weapons would fall to the ground,

when all would willingly accept the Empire of Christ and

obey Him, when every tongue would proclaim that, ‘Our

Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of the Father.’
”



V

Cult of Christ the King

DEVOTION to Christ as King is no innovation in theliturgy of the Church. Turning over the vellum of
Jong-past ages we find it most typically expressed in the
liturgical rites observed for the consecration of emperors
and kings in the glorious Ages of Faith.

“Hear, O Christ !” the chanters three times repeated,
and each time the choir answered, taking up in turn the
prayer for Pope, Emperor and lastly for “the armies of
Franks, Romans and Teutons” that victory might rest
upon their standards. Then, passing beyond the splendors
of the royal scene before them, beyond the solemn mag-
nificence of Emperor and Pope, the chanters lifted up and
carried along with them that mighty throng into the pres-
ence of the one supreme Sovereign, the King of kings and
Lord of lords. Forgetting earthly crowns and scepters,
as straws and baubles of the moment, they burst forth
into a thunderous acclaim of Christ the sole Eternal King

:

Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ rules.
King of kings, our King, our Hope!

Christ conquers, our Glory;
Christ conquers, our Mercy;
Christ conquers, our Help

;

Christ conquers, our Strength;
Christ conquers, our Liberation and Redemption

;

Christ conquers, our Arms against the foe;
Christ conquers, our Light and Way and Life;
Christ conquers, to Him alone be rule, glory and

power through immortal ages. Amen!

Such is the rhythmic cry, from the Ages of Faith, to
Christ the King. That cry we today have taken up in a
liturgy no less beautiful. We cannot, it is true, recall
that scene of centuries forever past, with its fair ladies,
stern-faced warriors, lords and knights and squires, but
we can join with them in one common loyalty. With a
faith and love no less intense than theirs we are now privi-
leged to celebrate, on the last Sunday of each October,

25



26 CHRIST THE KING

our own most royal festival, “The Feast of Our Lord

Jesus Christ, King.”

One of the most beautiful of all our liturgies, in fact,

is that which the Church has prepared for this feast.

Office and Mass—which I shall here consider together

—

are conceived in the most artistic form to do royal honor

to the King of kings. Like the precious veil of many

colors that hung before the Holy of Holies, they are of

richest texture, “wrought with embroidered work and

goodly variety.”

Antiphons, verses, answers and responsories flash with

allusions to the Scriptural predictions concerning Christ

the King or His Kingdom here and hereafter, which have

already been quoted at length in these articles. To the

mind familiar with Scripture lore they are full of mean-

ing and suggestiveness. The tents of the Patriarchs rise

before us, the harpings of David throb through the lines,

the visions of the Prophets are recalled to mind all bear-

ing on the Kingship of the future Messias.

A word or a phrase will often suffice to bring back an
entire scene. “The stone fallen from the summit, in-

stantly summons up in our memory and imagination the

court of ancient Babylon and Daniel interpreting the

dream of King Nabuchodonosor. We see the gigantic
statue, representing the four great world-kingdoms, shat-

tered by that stone which becomes a mountain covering

the earth,” the everlasting Kingdom of Christ which shall

never be destroyed. The prophecies of Daniel, giving us

the very date even of the coming of Christ the King, or

“Christ the Prince,” as he calls Him, are frequently re-

ferred to in various parts of the Divine Office.

So again, to give but one other instance out of many,

the clause, “And He shall be Peace,” is there used as a
refrain for the two sections of the Michean Prophecy that

tell respectively of the earthly and the eternal generation

of Christ, thus recalling to our minds what Isaias had pre-

dicted of the Child to be born, on whose shoulders would

be the government of the world, who was to be Prince



CHRIST THE KING 27

of Peace,” and in whose Kingdom there would be “no end
of peace.” The clause itself, however, is evidently taken
from another passage in Micheas, which reads : “And this
man shall be our peace” (v. 5). Thus, then, the beau-
tiful Prophecy foretelling the birth place of the future
Messias King becomes a responsory with “And He shall
be Peace” inserted as a refrain

:

And thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thou-
sands of Juda, and out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is
to be the ruler in Israel [And He shall be Peace] : and his going
forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity. [And He
shall be Peace.]—(Micheas v. 2.)

So Mass and Office for the new feasts are thickly
jeweled with allusion to the Scripture prophecies of
Christ the King, or brief quotations from them. Every-
where there is a flashing of light as from a thousand
facets, admirably cut.

Interesting, too, are the three new hymns composed
respectively for Vespers, Matins and Lauds. The theme
of the first is the Kingship of Christ. We begin by
making our total submission, mind and heart, to Christ,
as King of all the nations. Next there bursts upon us
the shout of the irreligious crowd with their cry: “We
will not have Christ reign over us !” But turning to Him,
we plead that as Prince of Peace He may subdue to Him-
self these rebellious minds and bring back the erring to
His Fold. Were not His arms extended for that purpose
on the Cross and His Heart opened by the spear? Does
He not still daily hide Himself beneath the Eucharistic
veils, while “from His pierced breast salvation flows forth
for His children?” And so then we pray in particular
for all those in power or possessed of influence: “May
heads of nations give Thee public honor, may teachers
and judges worship Thee, may laws and arts convey Thy
spirit.”

The second Hymn has for theme the Person of the
King, who is “the eternal Image of the Most High,” as
He is also “the Flower of the most chaste Virgin.” He
is Teacher, Priest, Lawgiver, and on His garments is



28 CHRIST THE KING

written: “Most high Lord of lords and King of kings.”
But to convey a more adequate conception of these sacred
songs I shall translate the third into its corresponding

English lyric form. Its theme is the blessings of Christ’s

Kingship.

Hymn for Lauds

His glorious banners on the air
Triumphantly unfurled,

To Christ, the King of kings, give praise,
Ye nations of the world.

No kingdoms fall beneath His sword,
In bloody conquests grim,

But lifted on the Rood He draws
All things by love to Him.

Thrice happy city, basking fair
Beneath His royal sway,

Where at the mandates from His throne
All hearts with joy obey!

No godless conflicts there will rage,
But Peace outstretch her hand,

With smiling Concord at her side

—

Firm shall that city stand

!

Where wedded love will keep its troth,
And youth can blossom fair,

And all the household virtues pure
Will grace the threshold there.

Then may Thy reign in splendor come,
O King, most true and sweet!

Till all the earth, by love subdued,
Shall worship at Thy feet.

• To Thee be glory, Jesus, King!
O’er crowns and scepters high,

With Father and with Holy Ghost,
While endless ages fly.

For a full understanding of the feast it is important to

note how much attention is given, both in the Office and

the Mass, to those words of St. Paul to the Colossians

which portray with Divine eloquence the splendor and

power of the Saviour-King who here appears before us as
Creator and Redeemer, no less than Head of the Church



CHRIST THE KING 29

and Lord of all, before whose sovereignty not merely the
kings of the earth must bow, but thrones and dominations,
principalities and powers of His invisible Kingdom as
well. We behold Christ as King placed in the focal light
of all Revelation. It is a wonderful picture which can
best form the climax of our study and will be found in-
troduced as the Epistle in the Mass for this feast. The
Proper of that Mass, as I have rendered it, follows here

:

PROPER OF MASS
For the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King.

Introit. Apoc. v. 12; i. 6.
The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power, and divin-

ity, and wisdom, and strength, and honor. To Him be glory and
empire for ever and ever. Ps. Ixxi. 1. Give to the King Thy
judgment, O God, and to the King’s Son Thy justice.

Prayer.

Almighty, everlasting God, who didst wish to re-establish all
things in Thy beloved Son, King of all the world, graciously grant
that all the nations of the earth, separated by the wound which sin
inflicted, may be made subject to His sweet rule: Who liveth and
reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without
end. Amen.

(Commemoration of the current Sunday.)

Epistle. St. Paul, Coloss. i. 12-20.

Brethren : Giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made
us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light, who
hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have re-
demption through His blood, the remission of sins; who is the
image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature

;
for in

Him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or dominations, or principalities, or
powers : all things were created by Him and in Him, and He is
before all, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of
the body, the Church, who is in the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead, that in all things He may hold the primacy; because in
Him it hath well pleased the Father, that all fulness should dwell,
and through Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, making
peace through the blood oi His cross, both as to the things that
are on earth, and the things that are in heaven, in Christ Jesus
Our Lord.



30 CHRIST THE KING

Gradual. Ps. Ixxi. 8, 11.

He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends
of the earth. V. And all the kings of the earth shall adore Him

:

all nations shall serve Him.
Alleluia, alleluia. V. Dan. vii. 14. His power is an everlast-

ing power that shall not be taken away: and His kingdom that

shall not be destroyed. Alleluia.

Tract . Ps. Ixxxviii. 27, 28, 30.

He shall cry out to me : Thou art my Father : my God, and the
support of my salvation. V. And I will make Him my firstborn,
high above the kings of the earth. V. And I will make His seed

to endure forevermore : and His throne to the days of heaven.

Gospel. St. John xviii. 33-37.

At that time, Pilate said to Jesus : Art Thou the King of the

Jews? Jesus answered: Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or

have others told it thee of me? Pilate answered: Am I a Jew?
Thy own nation, and the chief priests have delivered Thee up to
me; what hast Thou done? 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.

Everyone

that is of the truth heareth my voice. Creed.

Offertory. Ps. ii. 8.

Ask of me, and I will give Thee the Gentiles for Thy inherit-

ance, and the utmost parts of the earth for Thy possession.

Secret.

We offer up to Thee, O Lord, the oblation of human recon-
ciliation. Grant, we beseech Thee, that He whom in these sacri-
fices we immolate, the same may bestow upon all nations the gifts

of unity and peace, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son: Who liveth
and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost,

world

without end. Amen.
Preface.

It is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salvation that

at all times and in all places we give thanks to Thee, O holy Lord,
almighty Father, eternal God; who with the oil of exultation

didst anoint Thy Only Begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Priest

forever and King of all things, so that, in offering Himself as an

Immaculate Victim on the altar of the Cross, He might complete



CHRIST THE KING 31

the mysteries of human redemption, and with all creatures entirely
made subject to His dominion, He might deliver to Thy Majesty
an eternal and universal kingdom; a kingdom of *ruth and life;
a kingdom of holiness and grace; a kingdom of justice, love and
peace. And therefore with the angels and archangels, with the
thrones and dominations, and with all the array of the heavenly
host we sing a hymn to Thy glory, and unceasingly repeat : Holy
holy, holy, etc.

Communion. Ps. xxviii. 10 . 11.
The Lord shall sit King forever : the Lord will bless His peo-

ple with peace.

Postcommunion.

Having partaken now of the food of immortality, grant unto
us, O Lord, that we who glory in battling under the standards of
Christ the King, may also reign with Him in our heavenly home:
Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost,
world without end. Amen.

So we have seen Christ proposed to us as King under
every aspect. Even on the Cross itself the early ages of
the Church pictured Him as a victorious Monarch, the
artists knowingly replacing the wreath of thorns by a royal
crown. In the Sacred Scriptures the prophecies of the
Old Law begin with His coming as the Child born to
rule the nations of the world and end with the solemn
drama of His kingly entrance into Heaven, as the Psalm-
ist presents it after our human way in that thrilling dia-
logue between Saints and Angels at the celestial gates.

“Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up,
O eternal gates, and the King of glory shall enter in,”
sings the choir of the Saints as they accompany their tri-
umphant King at His ascension into Heaven. And from
the heavenly bastions the Angels fling the challenge

:

“Who is this King of Glory ?”
“The Lord who is strong and mighty, the Lord mighty

in battle,” rings back the answer of the Saints. “Lift up
your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal
gates, and the King of glory shall enter in.”

“Who is this King of glory?” the hosts of Heaven
once more inquire. And the vast multitudes of the sancti-
fied shout as the eternal gates fly open: “The Lord of
hosts, he is the King of glory.” (Ps. xxiii. 7-10.)



32 CHRIST THE KING

“BE THOU KING”

Consecration of the Human Race

to the

Sacred Heart of Jesus

Prescribed by His Holiness, Pope Pius X/

MOST SWEET JESUS, Redeemer of the hitmanrace, look down upon us humbly prostrate before
Thy altar. We are Thine, and Thine we wish to

be; but, to be more surely united with Thee, behold each

one of us freely consecrates himself today
to Thy Most

Sacred Heart. Many indeed have never known Thee;

many too, despising Thy precepts, have rejected Thee.

Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw

them to Thy Sacred Heart. Be Thou King, O Lord, not
onlv of the faithful who have never forsaken Thee, but

also of the prodigal children who have abandoned Thee;

grant that they may quickly return to their Father’s house

lest they die of wretchedness and hunger. Be Thou King

of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom
discord keeps aloof, and call them back to the harbor of

truth and unity of faith, so that soon there may be but one

flock and one'Shepherd. Be Thou King of all those who

are still involved in the darkness of idolatry or of Islam-

ism, and refuse not to draw them all into the light and

kingdom of God. Turn thine eyes of mercy toward the

children of that race, once Thy chosen people. Of old

they called down upon themselves the Blood of the Sav-

iour; may It now descend upon them a laver of redemp-
tion and of life. Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church assur-
ance of freedom and immunity from harm; give peace and

order to all nations, and make the earth resound from pole

to pole with one cry: Praise to the Divine Heart that

wrought our salvation; to It be glory and honor forever.

Amen.



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