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Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Solemnity - Last Sunday of the Liturgical Year
ie the Sunday before Advent begins

Pope Francis' words in: 2020, 2019 (in Nagasaki), 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 & 2013
Papa Benedict XVI's words in: 2012, 2011 (in Benin), 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 & 2005
St John Paul II's words in: 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 (with the canonization of Joseph Marello, Paula Montal Fornés de San José de Calasanz, Leonie Frances de Sales Aviat & Maria Crescenzia Höss), 2000 (Jubilee celebration of apostolate of the laity), 1999 (with the canonization of
Cirilo Bertrán & 8 companions, Inocencio de la Inmaculada, Benedict Menni & Thomas of Cori), 1998 (with the special assembly for Oceania of the Synod of Bishops), 1997, 1996 (with the beatification of Otto Neururer, Jakob Gapp & Catherine Jarrige), 1995 (with the opening of the special assembley of the Synod of Bishops for Lebanon), 1994 (with the beatification of Hyacinthe-Marie Cormier, Marie Poussepin, Agnès de Jésus Galand de Langeac, Eugénie Joubert & Claudio Granzotto), 1993, 1992 (with the beatification of 22 Priests, 3 Lay people & María de Jesús Sacramentado Venegas), 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987 (with the beatification of 85 martyrs from the UK), 1986 (in New Zealand), 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979 & 1978 (with Catholic laity of Rome).
St John XXIII's words in: 1962.
Pope Pius XI wrote an encyclical in 1925 on the Feast of Christ the King: Quas Primas

3 2us by Father Wilfred Pais OCD      
"Christ's kingdom is an eternal and universal kingdom, a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace. We must therefore be a people of truth, a people who protect life in all of its forms. We must be a people liberated from the seductive lures of this world and who live fully trusting in God's love and his gifts to us. We must be a people of justice, who love others without self-interest, and who work for peace. Let's be conscious that it is easy to say these lovely words but hard to truly live them! For we know that on our own it is impossible to live out these ideals. But with God, with Christ as our King, all things are possible. The Spirit of the Risen Lord is with us! With Him, we might one day reveal His kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven."

Sunday Evangelium by Fr Andrew Pinsent      
"Neither the Bible or the Church has ever taught that we earn our salvation through good works; salvation is an unmerited grace. This grace is however like a divine seed that should generate the fruits of divine love, these fruits being actions in which we love in union with God. Without such things we have merely a dead faith. St Thomas Aquinas, for example, describes benignity, a fruit of the Holy Spirit, as being like a holy fire by which a person melts to relieve the needs of others."

Sunday Evangelium with Fr Andrew Pinsent    
".. Christ on the Cross is at the centre of all Christian mysteries, making the crucifix the supreme Christian symbol. First, the crucifix witnesses that God was made man, not an inhuman super-hero, not a man of steel, but a man of flesh and blood that bled and suffered as one of us. Second, it is the ultimate sign of our redemption, "for God so loved the world that He gave his only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life". The very contemplation of Christ crucified can enlarge and melt even the most hardened hearts of stone, a power that nothing else on earth can do."

3 2us by Père Martin Sabathé CSJ      
"Jesus is King in serving us for our good and the good of all His Church… Jesus is King by washing the feet of his disciples, in this very humble service by which he says to his disciples "Do you accept that I wash your feet."

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