November 23-24, 2011, Christ the King Cycle A Homily Over the past few weeks, we have been

hearing about the end of the liturgical year which ends this week. The readings have been about accountability and getting ready because the end is near. Would we rather hear of God's mercy than hear of His justice? In truth, the Lord's justice results from the choices we choose for ourselves. When we fail to love, we choose the darkness. A life without love is a life in darkness with the gnashing of teeth. So the accountability in today's Gospel is another way of telling us about the choices we make. Each of us in our Baptism has been called to be a priest, prophet and king. Because of Baptism we share in the Christ's mission to bring His kingdom to the world. We share in today's feast day, Christ the King. Jesus in the first reading is not only the king, but also shepherd. In our participation in His mission, we are called to seek out the lost, heal the sick and injured. Just as Jesus has done, we are called to offer a sympathetic ear to someone who really needs someone to listen. We are called to show the face of God in our smile when someone really needs a smile. We are called to offer a firm handshake to someone who needs to be accepted. In the Gospel, we are told that are called to share the love we have received from God with others. As we share this love, Christ tells us today that we help bring about the kingdom of God. Some are called to be heroic and role modes for us in this sharing. Mother Teresa in accepting the Nobel peace prize in 1979 said, It is not enough for us to say: I love God, but I do not love my neighbor. Saint John says that you are a liar if you say you love God and you dont love your neighbor. (1 John 4:20) How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbor whom you see, whom you touch, with whom you live? And so this is very important for us to realize that love, to be true, has to hurt. Certainly, Mother Teresa lived this love. Some of us are called to love in more quiet ways, yet we follow what Mother Teresa lived. When she was asked with so many sick and dying, how did she decide where to start? She said as she walked by a dying man in the street. "He is in front of me, I choose him." Many in the world follow this advice and

choose to extend God's love to those with whom they live and work with. Christ the King calls us to stretch and go a little further. We don't need to go to Calcutta to spread the kingdom of God. There is so much work right here. I recently read of a book review about the Congress woman, Gabby Giffords. She credits her recovery to the gifted physicians and the physical therapists who have assisted her daily. When we read about this, it seems heroic, but it is the day to day work similar to the work done by many of our parishioners in helping to restore health to the sick and injured. They and we are just doing the job, and helping to bring about the kingdom of God. When we go down the list of corporal works of mercy listed in today's Gospel, there is reason to give thanks that our community of St. Joseph's offers so many opportunities to assist in these works and build the kingdom of God in Beltsville. One of the true evils of the world is the denial of the problems that are right in front of us. Change is not only desirable but necessary. As Mahatma Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world. " I think this is what Christ the King calls us to do today.