November 21st |
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Feast of Christ the King Mt. 25/31-46 |
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| Background: Today's festival in its explicit theme is time bound, perhaps obsolescent. In an era when democracy has replaced monarchy and patriarchy is out of fashion (to put it mildly) how can we interpret this festival? Christ the Leader perhaps? Or Christ the President? It really doesn't matter so long as we understand that Christ is leading us by way of example to practice the teachings of today's Gospel. The kingdom he wants us to establish is not a kingdom of power or domination, it is a kingdom of service to the least of the brothers and sisters, a kingdom of self-giving love, a kingdom of unselfish generosity. |
read the padre |
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Story: Once upon a time there was a woman who spent much of her life and energy pursuing good causes. She defended endangered species, especially the whales. She crusaded for the environment. She supported the rights of homosexuals. She urged sympathy for people in the third world. She defended blacks and hispanics and native Americans against discrimination. She worked at a rape crisis center. No one could claim that she did not serve the least of the brothers and sister. However, she had no time for the old people who lived next door to her, or the sick people down the street, or the workers who had lost their jobs, or the confused teenagers who hung out at the street corner till all hours of the night (and about whom she called the police) and she was harsh to the women who cleaned up her house fired them every couple of months. She had so many good things to do that she didn't have time to put up with troublesome old people, or nosiy teenagers or sick neighbors or foreign cleaning women who didn't even speak good English. |
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