{"id":8184,"date":"2015-11-28T14:09:10","date_gmt":"2015-11-28T14:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=8184"},"modified":"2015-11-28T14:09:10","modified_gmt":"2015-11-28T14:09:10","slug":"monarchy-redefined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=8184","title":{"rendered":"MONARCHY REDEFINED"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONARCHY REDEFINED<\/strong><\/p>\n

Queen Elizabeth ll is now the longest reigning monarch in British history. Who knows what British monarchical continuity there may or may not be when the present Queen is called by the King of Kings? Our concept of an earthly monarchy is dependent upon our own age, geographical location and political views. There is little that can be compared between earthly monarchs and the heavenly reality in which Christians believe. Within the ranks of the Baptised there is ample room for both pro and contra views of earthly monarchies.<\/p>\n

Cycle B, of the three-year cycle of Scripture Readings to be read on Sundays, is the only one in which the Gospel refers to Jesus as \u2018King\u2019. It occurs on this 34th<\/sup> Sunday in John 18: 33-37. The concept of royalty is not foreign to us in the UK and this is precisely why we need to revise our mindset before reading or listening to Scripture being read. Peoples\u2019 mindset and the import of the Word of God are becoming increasingly distant from one another. That God\u2019s Word is heard in the vernacular is no guarantee that its content is understood. There is no comparability between the common understanding of earthly monarchy and the divine heavenly reality.<\/p>\n

Queen Elizabeth ll was born a middle-ranking member of the British Royal Family. She was not born to be Queen. Unforeseen events pitched her father on to the throne. For Elizabeth, as the elder of two daughters, her fate was sealed. Jesus of Nazareth, on the other hand, was born to be King of Heaven and Earth. Jesus did not inherit his Kingship; he is his role and has ever been so, being the Only Begotten Son of the Father. Right away, therefore, the fundamental disparity between an earthly and heavenly monarchical person becomes apparent. Human monarchs come and go, the King of Kings is forever. If we are to develop a love for and an allegiance to the presence in our world of the heavenly monarchy, then we must set aside our mindset of an earthly monarch.<\/p>\n

Jesus, by his chosen lifestyle of lowliness and poverty and his teaching, points us away from the privilege, pomp and circumstance normally associated with earthly monarchs. Generations of artistic interpretations of Jesus Christ as King have displayed him clad in earthly monarchical splendour. So long as such pictures continue to depict our own expectation, then we, like the Israelites, will be looking for the second coming of a King whom we won\u2019t recognise in Christ the King.<\/p>\n

In the early Church the celebration of \u2018Christ the King\u2019 was observed on the Feast of the Ascension. The One who ascended to the \u2018right hand of the Father\u2019 (Acts 2:33) is Jesus our scourged, crucified and Risen Saviour still carrying the imprint of the wounds of which Thomas the Apostle had first-hand experience (John 20:27). The commemoration of Christ the King is the celebration of the embodiment of a sacred journey of self-sacrifice to a unique degree because it was made by God\u2019s Only Begotten Son here on earth, in obedience to the Will of his heavenly Father. The totality of this filial devotion demonstrates for us the incalculable love of our God for his creation.<\/p>\n

In our time, we are blessed in no small way that the Holy Spirit has called a Jesuit priest become bishop \u2018from the end of the world\u2019 to take on the mantle of the Vicar of Christ on Earth. Pope Francis is living his priestly vocation as he has always lived it; namely, walking alongside the poor and the outcasts. The world is coming to terms with the reality that, since the day of his election to the Papacy, Pope, Francis has changed nothing about his personal lifestyle, other than the colour of his soutane. What messages are being sent to us by Christ the Servant King through his Vicar on earth at this time?<\/p>\n

One effect of Original Sin is that human nature acquired a habit of exculpation. We try to off-load to others why we are selfish and self-indulgent; sadly we likely to not even recognise how secular our thinking has become and how skilled we are in compromise. No matter how cleverly Satan binds us in self-deception, the call of the Holy Spirit will reach the depth of our being if we choose to listen. Are we open for a challenging meditation on this Feast of Christ the King?<\/p>\n

It would involve you creating a mental picture \u2013 or perhaps one you could sketch – of Christ our King as he appeared, post Resurrection, to his disciples immediately prior to his Ascension. Once you had adjusted your eyes to the appalling wounds still visible on the Body of Christ, I suggest that your eyes would be drawn to his eyes. In them would you see his inexhaustible, infinite love for you despite your participation in his suffering? If you were to see such love, what features of your life would you want to change, tough and demanding though that would be?<\/p>\n

Would you imagine how the countless people with disabilities of a physical, mental, spiritual, emotional nature would empathise with their King? For them, their King would surely project a reflection of themselves \u2013 of their autism, of their sight or hearing or mobility impairment, of their Alzheimer condition? Imagine how those who were deprived of life in the womb would visualise their King. Could you imagine how the people beyond number whose life was terminated before God called them would see Christ as their King? The millions of truly disposed and persecuted would see in Christ the King one of themselves.<\/p>\n

This imagined picture of Christ the King is becoming all embracing for there is nobody on the face of the earth who will be unable to see themselves reflected save for those who chose not to put on \u2018the wedding garment\u2019 provided \u2013 see Matt 22: 11-13. For \u2018wedding garment\u2019 read \u2018the disposition of our will\u2019.
\n\u201cGod grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.\u201d
\nReinhold Niebuhr<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONARCHY REDEFINED Queen Elizabeth ll is now the longest reigning monarch in British history. Who knows what British monarchical continuity there may or may not be when the present Queen is called by the King of Kings? Our concept of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archdiocese-of-liverpool"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8185,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8184\/revisions\/8185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}