OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE:

I think it is worth reminding ourselves of the origin and history of today’s Feast. In 1925, to counter growing secularism and nationalism, Pope Pius XI instituted the Feast, and it was originally celebrated on the last Sunday of October. Pope Paul VI, in 1969, decided to give it greater prominence by having it bring the liturgical year to an end. Well, if secularism and nationalism were concerns one hundred years ago, they certainly are today. You know how fascinated I am by the life and writings of Fr Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and I have finally decided that I must read his defining work, The Human Phenomenon. I don’t pretend to understand all the scientific terminology, but I am totally absorbed by the wonderful way in which he explores the origins of our planet and of life itself. I know he is working his way towards a vision of the culmination of everything, The Omega Point. His faith in Jesus of Nazareth was unshaken and his death on Easter Sunday 1955 provides me with the perfect connection, for he did see Christ as the focus which gives meaning to everything. In his book, The Hymn of the Universe, the first chapter is the remarkable poem, The Mass on the World. It provides us with the most wonderful meditation on how we should approach the Eucharist. All our efforts, all our suffering are caught up in Christ, who, in turn, through his cross and resurrection, transforms us and assimilates us to himself. HAPPY FEAST DAY.