We are greatly honoured that our friend Dr Michael Cullinan has allowed us to reproduce his homily for the Feast of Christ the King, delivered at St James's Spanish Place last Sunday.
For those members of the Order and Companions who seek to ennoble their immortal souls though the service of Our Lords the Poor and Sick within the traditions of our Order, this homily will have most fruitful resonance. In the light of the present battles which many face within the Order and the Church, we can only benefit, in our journey to Heaven, from Dr Cullinan's prophetic words.
Holy words are often rather worn-out. Tired, faded words. Like an old, once beautiful piece of furniture, they have knocked around for so long that the shine has worn off. Once they were bright, vivid, and striking. Now they’re just part of the furniture, unnoticed for most of the time.
Most of the words we use in the Mass have become worn, tired, and faded, because we hear them so often that we take them completely for granted. It’s only when you have to try to explain some of these holy words to a stranger that you realise just how worn they have become.
When I explain the liturgy of christening, I always feel a bit awkward about the anointing with chrism. It’s done because every Christian is called to be prophet, priest, and king. The oil of chrism is still used to anoint priests and kings, as it was in Israel three thousand years ago. Aaron was anointed high priest. Nathan the prophet anointed Solomon king. The word Christ and the word Messiah both mean the anointed one. So we anoint tiny babies with chrism and tell their parents that they are now prophets, priests, and kings.
The trouble is that we have forgotten what real prophets, priests, and kings are. There aren’t many prophets around today. Catholic priests aren’t at all like the priests of Our Lord’s day. And there are very few real kings around today. Figureheads and tyrants, but few kings. Sometimes I wonder whether if I changed ‘prophet, priest, and king’ to ‘ace, jack, and king’ would anyone really notice? Tired words, worn away by years of sanctity and over-use.
Today is the feast of Christ the King. In some ways it’s a bit like Ascension Day. It would be easy to celebrate it as something that honours Our Lord but has nothing to do with us. Just as we believe that he ascended to the Father a long time ago, so we believe that he will come back to rule the universe, a long time in the future. Very nice, very holy, and totally unrelated to where we are now. A feast day for him, not for us.
Ascension Day must have left the disciples living in the past, reminiscing about the Lord they had known, lost, found again, and who had now left them, this time for ever. Living in the past. Reliving old glories. Longing for the good old days. Hating the future. Despising the present. No hope or confidence in the here and now. Just like many people today. Longing for the old days, the old ways, the old order. Until Pentecost came.
Christ the King could also make us do the opposite. Go to the other extreme. Live entirely in the future. Long for the day when it will all come right. When the new world will come. Put all our hopes in heaven. Worship all change and everything new, whether it’s any better or not. Long for the new age. Hate the past. Despise the present. Have no hope or confidence in the here and now. Just like many other people today. Longing for new days, new ways, a new order.
But we don’t celebrate feasts because we want to live in the past or in the future. We celebrate them to make us live more in the present. Christ the King is about how to live in today’s world. We celebrate today to give us strength, hope, and confidence to live as followers of Christ in today’s world. Not just in private life, but in public life too. Not just as individuals but as a people. A Church. Part of His glorified body. Christened, anointed to be prophets, priests, and kings. Those words again. Holy words, tired words. What on earth do they mean?
I think they mean freedom. Freedom from depending on others to do your praying for you. Freedom from depending on others to do your thinking for you. Freedom from depending on others to do your deciding for you.
A priest can pray to God directly. He is free from false religion. He isn’t a slave to money, power, or sex. He makes himself holy by developing his conscience and following it, by God’s grace. He doesn’t need a Temple. He criticises corrupt religion. Even within the Church. Even when that leads him to Annas and Caiaphas.
A prophet speaks God’s message. He is free from falsehood and propaganda. From conventional wisdom and from fashionable ideas and from political correctness. He tries to find out the truth. By God’s grace. He doesn’t take his opinions in packages from the media or the blogosphere. He doesn’t depend on experts to do all his thinking for him. Even when other people don’t like what he says. Even people within the Church. Even when it leads him to Pilate.
A king is free from being forced to do things. A king isn’t a tyrant or a figurehead. He has dignity and honour. He decides what to do and takes full responsibility for it. He does and says what he thinks right. By God’s grace. He isn’t cowed by others. By peer group pressure. By the powers that be. Even by spiritual powers. Even when that leads to the Cross.
Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the Prophet, Priest, and King. And remember that we too are christened. As prophets, priests, and kings. Called to be kings. Called to find the truth. To bear witness to the truth in the world out there and in the Church. Wherever it leads us. Even as far as Annas and Caiaphas. Even as far as Pilate. Even as far as the Cross.
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