A Homily - The Thirty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A), The Solemnity of Christ the King

First Reading - Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 22(23):1-3a, 5-6 ©

Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Mark 11:10

The Gospel According to Matthew 25:31 - 46 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 Consider the words of the prophet, take them into your heart, for this is the divine injunction:

 Be forgiving.

 Be just.

 Be mindful.

 Be humble.

 Be watchful.

 Be caring.

 Look after the well-being of all who come your way; as you treat the stranger, so do you treat God, the creator of the universe.

 Know this!

 God looks out for everyone, the whole of the flock, all of humanity; we are all in God’s care, and God is determined not to lose a single one of us.

 God will seek out the lost, bring back the stray, heal the wounded and strengthen the weak.

 As the psalmist says:

 God is shepherd to us all.

 If we walk in the way of God, we ourselves will be a shepherd to our sisters and brothers.

 Do not dwell on the things you may lack, when our time in this world comes to an end it is not the end of all things. Life here is transitory. If we are hungry, we are hungry only for a time. If we thirst, it is but for a moment…there is a limit to our pain.

 Trust in God and find peace. In the end you will be fulfilled.

 It is not only because God loves you that God guides you; it is for God’s own sake that God blesses you. We are the body and when there is pain in the member there is pain in the whole.

 Know this:

 The powers of sin and death  are temporary, it is only God that endures forever, and we are children of the divine, we are one with God whose spirit dwells within us.

 Be mindful of the apostle’s words; he has a deep feeling for circular arguments.

 The reading for today begins in circularity, with Paul insisting that Christ must be raised from the dead or his faith, and the faith of Christians everywhere is in vain, because the faith of Christians everywhere is not in vain, he says that we must believe that there is a resurrection, and the risen Christ is the proof of it.

 This is not a reasonable argument or a rational basis for the faith...set it aside; it has no bearing on the main point of this passage, which is this:

 Sin and death enter the world from a single point in time, and it is another singular point in time that brings sin and death to an end.

 According to Paul, Adam causes the fall and Christ restores creation to its proper place.

 The scope of their work, negative and positive, is equal in that the scope includes the totality of all living beings: past, present and future.

 Listen to the apostle who understood our relationship to the divine:

 We are created all-together as one.

We are one creation in God.

In our failures and our faith we are one. 

 Remember this!

 God is not a king, a prince or a lord. The Church, following the way Jesus taught, can never be the extension of a royal dynasty, and should not be seen as one.

 Consider the gospel reading for today, it contains much of what is true, and much that is false.

 Let us begin with this:

 The glory of Christ is expressed in mercy, you will not find Christ seated on a throne, commanding armies of angels, with the nations assembled before him. It is the duty of all Christians to reject such images; they are a trap and they lead to fallacious thinking.

 What is true is this:

 Our love and fidelity to God and Christ is expressed in how we treat one another; rich or poor, weak or strong, right or wrong.

 Among the ancient Hebrews, both the sheep and the goats were integral to their community, the Hebrews tended and cared for flocks of each. Both the sheep and the goats belonged to the same community.

 We are one human family, we are not sheep and goats, we are never divided by God, we are only divided by each other, and we must reject all such efforts to divide us.

 In our human family there is good and bad, there are right and wrong; we all have both within us. We are called on to foster the good and forgive the bad; we are called by Jesus to forgive even those who do us harm.

 

First Reading - Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17 ©

The Lord Will Judge Between Sheep and Sheep

The Lord says this: I am going to look after my flock myself and keep all of it in view. As a shepherd keeps all his flock in view when he stands up in the middle of his scattered sheep, so shall I keep my sheep in view. I shall rescue them from wherever they have been scattered during the mist and darkness. I myself will pasture my sheep, I myself will show them where to rest – it is the Lord who speaks. I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the wounded and make the weak strong. I shall watch over the fat and healthy. I shall be a true shepherd to them.

As for you, my sheep, the Lord says this: I will judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and he-goats.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 22(23):1-3a, 5-6 ©

The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

The Lord is my shepherd;

  there is nothing I shall want.

Fresh and green are the pastures

  where he gives me repose.

The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

Near restful waters he leads me,

  to revive my drooping spirit.

He guides me along the right path;

  he is true to his name.

The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

You have prepared a banquet for me

  in the sight of my foes.

My head you have anointed with oil;

  my cup is overflowing.

The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me

  all the days of my life.

In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell

  for ever and ever.

The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

 

Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28 ©

Christ Will Hand Over the Kingdom to God the Father; So that God May Be All in All

Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep. Death came through one man and in the same way the resurrection of the dead has come through one man. Just as all men die in Adam, so all men will be brought to life in Christ; but all of them in their proper order: Christ as the first-fruits and then, after the coming of Christ, those who belong to him. After that will come the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, having done away with every sovereignty, authority and power. For he must be king until he has put all his enemies under his feet and the last of the enemies to be destroyed is death, for everything is to be put under his feet. And when everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subject in his turn to the One who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Mark 11:10

Alleluia, alleluia!

Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessings on the coming kingdom of our father David!

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Matthew 25:31 - 46 ©

I Was Naked and You Clothed Me; Sick, and You Visited Me

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.

‘Then the King will say to those on his right hand, “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?” And the King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.”

‘Next he will say to those on his left hand, “Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me.” Then it will be their turn to ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?” Then he will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me.”

‘And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.’

 

The Thirty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A), The Solemnity of Christ the King