Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
November 22, 2020 •
What's interesting in our Gospel today, is that Jesus gives us the nature of judgement He will make on His flock. ...
Just because one is a member of the flock, just because one is baptized, doesn't mean their salvation is assured. Jesus tells us that He will separate, from His own flock, the sheep from the goats. And what's the difference according to our Lord? ... The difference is those who have loved, and those who have not. Our Lord decides how He judges love.
It's easy for each one of us as sheep individually to say, "Well, I'm doing my best to love." Or, "I'm loving. This is the way I love."
No. We love the way He loves, or we don't love at all. ...
Now, without His grace and strength none of us are able to love as He calls us to love, as He witnesses to us. As He loves us.
And that brings us to an understandable concern many of us have with more upcoming lockdowns. All you have to do is think back to last time when Church was closed. You couldn't go to Mass, couldn't get to Confession. And all of you in one way or another, I'm sure, didn't do really well spiritually during that time. What you found was: the longer it went, the harder it got to love, the more challenging. You lost patience more easily, it was harder to keep up with your daily prayers.
Why? Because you were away from our Lord's grace in His sacraments. We need the sacraments. Without them, without the life of Christ alive within us - without the Kingdom of Heaven being nourished within us, we cannot follow the Lord.
And I don't know what's going to happen in that regard, what the authorities will say. However I have no intention at this time to stop celebrating public Mass, to stop hearing confessions. We'll take it one day at a time, but I have no intention unless I am forced to do so.
Because you need the sacraments. You need the grace of Christ. We all do.
And if Jesus is truly the King, then He sets the rules. It is He Who said: You gather together on Sunday, and you offer My Holy Sacrifice and you worship Me, and I will nourish you. It is He Who said: when you commit serious sin, you come to the priest and confess those sins, and I will absolve you.
Those are necessities. They are not optional. We need them regardless of what physical dangers may come, whether that's the risk of sickness, or the risk of prosecution.
The Kingdom of Heaven is more important than any other kingdom. Christ's Kingship and His authority need to be first in our minds and in our hearts.
Ez 34:11-12, 15-17; Ps 23:1-2, 2-3, 5-6; 1 Cor 15:20-26, 28; Mt 25:31-46
Homily begins at 22:08