November 24, 2025

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My homily notes on “Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe!”

 

Friday when praying the Morning Office we read this from Zechariah:

“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and petition; and they shall look on him whom they have thrust through, and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only son, and they shall grieve over him as one grieves over a first-born.” This sets up my theme to discuss The power of the Cross.

 

Our first Sunday reading is from Samual: King David is a type of Christ as King / Davids Kingdom continues through the eternal Kingship of Jesus Christ / Israel is now redeemed through the Church of Christ the King / So, in our Baptism / We receive a Kingdom / What do we inherit?

 

Two main points:

Point #1: Christ is King of the Universe / King of All created things.

When we look at life & death through this lens / It brings clarity and hope to our lives.

 

Our second reading is from Colossians: 12-20: On The cross Christ reconciled all things to God / This is basically the same as Recapitulation that St. Paul uses in Ephesians: It simply means to right wrongs.

 

-St Irenaeus of Lyons (190AD) wrote about St. Paul’s use of recapitulation stating: “All creation is redeemed (Recapitulated) thru Jesus Christ” / The Catholic Catechism states: “Christ's whole life / All Jesus did, said and suffered had for its aim restoring fallen man to God.” I say Jesus came to restore our dignity and give us purpose / To right our wrongs and take away the effects of original sin.

 

-In today’s reading St. Paul’s says “THROUGH HIM, AND WITH HIM, AND IN HIM” (The priest says this at every Mass right after the Eucharistic Prayer) / So down to our very cells we are Redeemed / Restored / All Thru Jesus Christ!

 

-Do we live as if we believe this / The Word Spoke all into existence / The Word HOLDS all of this (and us) in existence / Jesus is truly King of all things / The Universe / Our very happiness and lives and fulfillment depends on being connected to His eternal kingdom / Thank goodness for the Cross.

 

Point #2: Christ took up the Cross so we could inherit His Kingdom.

-St. Luke in Sunday’s Gospel presents the Kingship of Jesus at the moment of His Crucifixion / The good thief on the cross is only found in Luke’s Gospel.

 

-We will experience the cross / What do we do with our crosses? / Will we be like Dismas or the other thief?

 

-The good thief (Dismas) sees Jesus on the cross, disfigured, unrecognizable and yet he still trusts that this is the King as written above the cross / The other thief jeers Jesus and calls Him to come down off His Cross / To save them if He is God.

 

-We are called to be with Jesus, like Mary and the Good Thief, and not ask Him to come down from the Cross, but rather stay there with Him / The Glory of Easter Sunday always follows Good Friday and the cross.

 

-We know from the Gospels that the cross was a critical point of faith for Peter and the apostles / They couldn’t understand a crucified Messiah / They kept trying to save Jesus from His Cross.

 

-Peter’s full conversion comes when he stops wanting to save Jesus and accepts to be saved by Him / Our crosses can and will be recapitulated and redeemed if we follow the examples of Mary and the Good Thief / And Peter and the Apostles after witnessing the Glory of the Cross (Resurrection) remain with Jesus.

 

-When we understand Recapitulation / And that as King / Jesus has the power to restore (make right) and renew all things / Even with our crosses and death we will not be confused like so any today who seem to be ridiculing the Kingship of Jesus / Laughing and jeering at Him, His church, and His Cross / Or simply ignoring Him / Today we try to ignore any discomfort and do not want to think about death.

 

-If we, and the world would start asking the right questions about our origins, how all this came into being / our existence / our purpose / It will lead us to God and Christ, who is King over it all / For He holds all things into existence.

 

-Thank goodness there are many in the world like the good thief / asking the right questions / And then like Dismas we say: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” We sing these words on Good Friday when we venerate Cross / There is a great power in these simple words.

 

-Now that is a Kingdom I desire to belong to / Please pray for Patience, Persistence, Perseverance, and Fortitude, and let us end with the words of the Good Thief: Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

 

-These words have brought a deeper meaning to my parents deaths / To my own eventual departure from this world.

 

Vivat Jesus and Viva Cristo Rey!

Father Vic Gournas