Dear Folks,
This is the Feast of Christ the King! This is the culmination of the Liturgical year, and the happy ending to the great story of life, the universe and everything! Next week we begin the Year of Grace 2025. We will read a lot of the Gospel of Luke, and that has some powerful stories on hope for the sinner.
Pope Francis has said that it is time to strengthen and share hope, so the Jubilee year 2025 will be themed Pilgrims of Hope. Pilgrims are, by definition, on a journey, and so they focus in on a hoped-for destination. Our hope is in the Kingdom of God. We can hope for
good events happening now, but the goods of the earth all pass away. Civilizations rise and fall. We can build things and see them destroyed. The Kingdom is forever.
Our ultimate hope is for Jesus being seen by all as King of Kings, Lord of Lords. “Every knee shall bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (See Philippians 2:10-11).” At this time, all evil will be vanquished, all lies exposed, and justice will reign forever. If we ever get discouraged by world events, and how evil seems to be prospering, we remember
that it will lose in the end and goodness will win.
This is not, by the way, an excuse to be lackadaisical about building a better world now. First, our work to help those in need, defend the helpless, and lift up the lowly is part of our witness to the Gospel. We cannot evangelize if we are not reflecting God’s love with our actions. Second, if we are not doing this work, we are rejecting Christ and will be counted among those who do not know Him (if you doubt this, I challenge you to read Matthew 25
very carefully!).
Those who truly believe in the victory of Jesus can be an unstoppable force for good, because nothing in the world will discourage them. We might not live to see the fruit of our
labors, but Jesus said “One sows and another reaps (John 4:37).” If we try our best ten thousand times and fail ten thousand times, we are still doing the work of the Kingdom, and when the time comes, we will rejoice. Not only that, but we can rejoice now, in good times
and in bad, because the King is coming.
Blessings,
Fr. Jim 

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