The feast of Christ The King, also called solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the universe. It is also called magnification of feast of Ascension. Originally it was celebrated on the last Sunday of October. But in the revised liturgical calendar issued by Pope Paul VI in1969 it is moved to the last Sunday of Ordinary Time, prior to the Sunday of Advent. This is a declaration that Christ dominion is a fitting end to the Liturgical calendar. This year it’s on 21st November.

The feast was introduced in 1925 by Pope Pius XI to help the Church respond to the rising secularism and atheism in the world. Pope Pius XI in 1925 in his Papal Encyclical “QUAS PRIMAS” while inaugurating the feast of Christ The King wrote as follows “oh what happiness would be ours if all people, individuals, families, and nations would but let themselves be governed by Christ”. He further said that Feast of CORPUS CHRISTI was instituted when devotion to the Eucharist was waning. So too he notes the feast of Sacred Heart of Jesus was instituted at a time when men were oppressed by the sad and gloomy severity of “JANSENISM”.

Pope Pius XI cites his reason for celebrating the feast of CHRIST THE KING as his desire to remind the world that Christ and His Church are truly Lord over all. As Catholics we wrestle with the crisis of leadership in our Church hierarchy and episcopacy today.

This feast day can perhaps serve us as a testament of our own faith in Christ as the leader of our Church in whom we can place our trust completely.

Christ as a ruler of the universe will guide the Church with his providence and the human leaders of our Church may model themselves after His example.
This feast is always celebrated now on the last Sunday of the church year. A new liturgical year begins the following Sunday with the start of Advent.

This feast is a fitting way to begin the coming of Christ, as we prepare our hearts to receive Jesus Christ on Christmas day.
On this feast day of Christ The King, let us allow Christ to reign in our minds, our wills, our hearts and our bodies to live according to the word and to renew ourselves to live according to the will of God. So also to make the world a better place to live and allow others to live in peace and harmony as Jesus Christ taught us to do.

-Rosarito Coelho
Ward 8