Last week, The Alliance Review…
carried the story of a “tolerance march”
organized by students of Mount Union College.
The students and professors gathered and marched
in order to peacefully display their disappointment at perceived intolerance
both at the college and in our society.
One student’s poster…
pictured on the font page of The Review…
speaks volumes about popular opinion in our society today.
It was a handmade poster depicting cartoon images
of two men…and two women…holding hands…
and it carried the theme “love everyone.”
Such an ill-informed and indecorous public display
is all the more disturbing when it takes place on a college campus…
a place intended for intellectual pursuit of the truth…
and…in this case…an institution founded on Christian values.
The presumption behind this student’s poster…
and indeed the whole affair…
is the message of a secularized world gone astray from God.
This mantra of society is that:
love means accepting not just “people” for “who they are” but also their sins
truth is the particular construct of each individual
peace is the absence of all conflict and uncomfortable distinction
justice is giving people what makes them content right now
life is disposable and within our power to bestow and take away and control.
In such a warped mindset…
where all is relative and self-centered…
anyone’s definition of love…of life…marriage…even of God…
is just as good as any other.
Anyone’s creative view of sexuality and love must be accepted and tolerated…
the world tells us…
and the new modern ideas are forced upon everyone.
There is a striking irony in the intolerance of people who fight for tolerance…
for in the end they will not rest…
until you have accepted what they believe!
Pope Benedict cracked the proverbial nail on the center of its head…
when he wrote that our society is under the grip of
“a dictatorship of relativism.”
Truly one could apply the adjectives tyrannical and dictatorial…
to our modern insistence upon “letting anything go.”
In the modern world’s way of understanding reality…
Catholic Christianity is simply another among many religions…
and every conceivable exploration into sexuality
and the manipulation of human life…
is viewed an acceptable “loving” lifestyle.
[PAUSE]
In stark contrast to the modern empire of relativism
stands the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Christ achieved His victory not with warfare and politics
but on a Cross…on Calvary’s hill.
He did not conquer with battle cries…
but in crying out:
“Father, forgive them… Why have you abandoned me?
Into your hands I commend my spirit.”
In His death on the Cross, Christ conquered not a worldly enemy but death itself…
and won for us the bright promise of eternal life.
The kingdom of Jesus Christ is a kingdom of eternal life…
of real, lasting peace…of authentic, unchanging truth…
and of abiding, unconditional love.
The kingship of Christ is not simply our religious belief.
It is the truth…and the fundamental reality that is meant to shape our lives.
On this feast we have no hesitation about proclaiming Christ in His fullness:
Jesus Christ is king!
His Word…in Scripture and the Tradition of the Church…is truth!
(And that doesn’t depend on anyone’s definition of what “is” is!)
[PAUSE]
While Christ reigns even now from His heavenly throne…
and while His kingdom is present even now in His Church…
His kingdom will only be fulfilled
when He comes again in glory at the end of the world.
As we await the fulfillment of Christ's kingdom…
it is the great calling of all the baptized
to make the kingship of Christ present in the hearts of all people.
In our work…our relationships…in raising children…indeed in our whole lives…
we have a mission from Christ to proclaim the truth of His kingdom…
not the false values of worldly empires
to love people enough to tell them the whole truth…
rather than “tolerating” their sins
and to help others to find peace not in and eliminating differences…
but by living in Christ.
It is no simple task to which we are called.
It is in fact a life-long labor of faith and love.
We give thanks with grateful hearts
that Christ our King nourishes us with holy food for our spiritual journey.
Indeed His very Body and Blood are our strength.
Today’s Gospel recounts the final moments of Jesus’ earthly life…
and the story of the repentant thief.
Notice that when the thief begs…
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus does not respond “I will remember you.”
but “…today you will be with me in Paradise.”
In this Mass… as we “remember” Christ's Last Supper and Passion…
we share in the sacrifice He made on Calvary
and in the victory He won on the Cross.
What is more, Jesus is with us and we are with Him!
More than remembering us…Christ our King is truly present with us.
He desires to be the king of our lives and our hearts…
and calls us all to be heralds of His kingship with every breath we take.
May Christ be our king forever…
and may our lives find fulfillment at His holy table in His heavenly kingdom!
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