Christus vincit! Christus regnat! Christus imperat!

This Sunday, October 30th, is the Feast of Christ the King on the traditional Catholic Calendar. I expect our contributors will have much to say as the great Feast approaches, so I thought I would commence the discussions now, to provide us all with time for reflection and prayer to prepare for it.

Why Celebrate this Feast So Early?

In today's calendar, the Feast of Christ the King has been moved to the last Sunday of the Christian Year -- the ultimate Feast of the Tempus per Annum^[*]. This, we are told, is to signify the eschatological nature of Christ's Kingship: He will reign at the end of time, in saecula saeculorum, all that. But note well that when this Feast was instituted by Pope Pius XI (whose visage, authoritative yet benign, is pictured in the sidebar) in 1925, by means of his great (yet not lengthy) encyclical, Quas Primas, this holy Pontiff did not have the age of ages in mind. His purpose was, rather, to call our attention to our Lord's kingship over us here and now. Hence, he commanded that the Feast be celebrated on the final Sunday of the month of October -- in the midst of the season following Pentecost, when we Christ's workers are in the field, very much under Christ's rule. The Social Reign of Christ the King in the here and now is what he was asking Catholics to recall, not some far off and hazy, future state of affairs.

A small selection of apposite quotations from Quas Primas is no doubt here in order.


18. ... [T]he empire of our Redeemer embraces all men. To use the words of Our immortal predecessor, Pope Leo XIII: "His empire includes not only Catholic nations, not only baptized persons who, though of right belonging to the Church, have been led astray by error, or have been cut off from her by schism, but also all those who are outside the Christian faith; so that truly the whole of mankind is subject to the power of Jesus Christ." Nor is there any difference in this matter between the individual and the family or the State; for all men, whether collectively or individually, are under the dominion of Christ. In him is the salvation of the individual, in him is the salvation of society. . . . If, therefore, the rulers of nations wish to preserve their authority, to promote and increase the prosperity of their countries, they will not neglect the public duty of reverence and obedience to the rule of Christ.

. . . "With God and Jesus Christ," we said, "excluded from political life, with authority derived not from God but from man, the very basis of that authority has been taken away, because the chief reason of the distinction between ruler and subject has been eliminated. The result is that human society is tottering to its fall, because it has no longer a secure and solid foundation.

19. When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony. Our Lord's regal office invests the human authority of princes and rulers with a religious significance; it ennobles the citizen's duty of obedience. It is for this reason that St. Paul, while bidding wives revere Christ in their husbands, and slaves respect Christ in their masters, warns them to give obedience to them not as men, but as the vicegerents of Christ; for it is not meet that men redeemed by Christ should serve their fellow-men. "You are bought with a price; be not made the bond-slaves of men." . . .

The pontiff goes on to explain how the Feast he is instituting should serve to educate men about the nature of Christ's Kingship. And it is precisely because the meaning of this Feast has been distorted by having been moved that moves me to draw such attention to it.

In practical terms, we can try to reclaim this Feast for what it is. I will be following this post with selected texts of great hymns to our Lord as King; sing them to remember Him! In your families, in your homes, in your private time with our Lord, I entreat you to read Quas Primas. Pray to Christ our King that His Lordship will be recognized by all men, and that the dream of a state separate from Christ's regal authority be forgotten and despised by Catholics. For while the expediency of political process admits a wide variety of prudential judgments regarding how Christ's Kingship on Earth be advanced, that same Kingship must remain our fixed and immovable aim. We cannot, we dare not, we have no authority to claim otherwise.

*Ambrosius refuses to use the horrendous English translation of this portion of the Church Year (its initials are OT, which is as far as I shall go in identifying this travesty of incompetent, wicked translation)

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