34th and Last Sunday in Ordinary Time, C:
Solemnity of Christ the Universal King
II Samuel 5:1-3
Ps. 122
Colossians 1: 12-20
Luke 23: 35-45

When the Solemnity of Christ the Universal King was established by Pope Pius XI in1925, it was observed on the last Sunday in October (which, not coincidentally, is Reformation Sunday). At the calendar revisions of 1969, the solemnity was moved to the Last Sunday of the Church Year. So, in each cycle of the Lectionary, we see the concept of the Kingship of Christ through a different angle of the prism, as it were. The theme that connects the readings in Lectionary Cycle C is that of the Shepherd King. The First Reading has the ratification of David’s kingship by the assembled tribes of Israel, who remind David that God told him, “You shall shepherd my people Israel.” The Responsorial Psalm is mindful of that assembly of Israel, and sings “To [Jerusalem] the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord.” It also recalls the ingathering of the people on the Last Day. Jerusalem, for the later New Testament writers and for the Fathers of the Church, symbolizes heaven. In today’s Gospel, the kingship of Christ is seen through the angle of a charge written on an implement of death: “This is the King of the Jews,” false in the eyes of the magistrate, but truthful when read with the eyes of faith. The first act of this King in His kingdom is one of total grace—the pardon of the “good thief.” In the Second Reading, Jesus is presented as the “image of the invisible God, first-born of all creatures…” So we have the Messiah as King of the Jews, the personal Savior—and the Ruler of the Universe. In all three, we “have through Him redemption, the forgiveness of our sins,” which is granted to us “through the blood of His cross.”

This hymn is based on today’s Scriptures:
All Israel's tribes by Hebron gathered
And spoke to David words of trust:
"Here see your bone and flesh assembled
With you, who brought us back from dust.
Now as our shepherd you shall lead us;
We covenant this all our days."
Thus David, made the Lord's Anointed,
Governed his people in God's ways.

Jesus, King David's son, Messiah,
Throned in rejection on the cross,
Mocked by the crowd, by thief derided,
Gave comfort in His time of loss:
"This day in Paradise you'll see Me
And with the throngs of heav'n be one,
Where with the Father reunited,
I will be known as God's own Son."

Christians, all rescued from the darkness,
Know that our God is seen in Christ,
First-born from death, our Lord immortal,
Blood-bought, that ransom beyond price.
Through Him we have our full redemption,
Through Him, forgiveness of our sin.
In Christ is fullness of the Godhead,
In Him, our victory we win!

98.98.D
tune: Rendez a Dieu