>>So, very powerful readings this last Sunday in ordinary time.  

I was talking to a woman one time, and this was months ago. And she asked me, was in a casual conversation, what my favorite passage in the entire Bible was. And I was like, “Gosh, I don’t know. I can’t choose maybe the resurrection.” And she said, “You know-“ and I said, “Well, what is yours?” And she said, “It’s the parable of the sheep and the goats. When Jesus says what you did to the least of these, you did to mine.” That was her favorite passage in the entire Bible. This was a pretty well read woman. So, it’s a powerful passage to meditate upon.  

You know, many of us who are striving for holiness, we want to do the will of God. We think, Jesus, what can I do to serve you? How can I love you? And so forth. And we sometimes come up with these great machinations or plans to serve God. And it’s actually just the little things right before us.  

What you did for the least of these you did for me, that that’s the way we can love God. The least caring for your sick child or being kind to your struggling employee, listening to an elderly person who has no one to talk to. That’s loving God and serving God.  

We don’t have to go off to some grand mission wherever and, you know, write some theology book or anything like that, or spend hours and hours and prayer and adoration. We could do those things, but often it’s right before us.  

So we when we pray, we can just ask the Lord, the King, to show us, Lord, who are the least in my life and how can I serve them and how can I love you? The notion of a king is one that doesn’t really, I don’t know, for Americans, it doesn’t do anything for us. I mean, we don’t have a king. We have a president, but not so much what it means. You know, you talk to someone from England, the United Kingdom, what a king means to them? And even they might not also truly respect or think highly of the notion of a king. 

In fact, the ancient Romans despise the term king. They call their leader Caesar, they called him princeps, the first citizen. Anything but king, they didn’t like that title. Because the king is sort of, can come across – or queen – is arrogant and like they’re entitled to worship and fealty and whatnot. But our King, Christ is different than all the other human kings. He doesn’t expect to be served, but to serve and give his life is a ransom for many. And the way he is served, if anything, like we were just talking about, is to serve other people.  

The sense of him being king, it’s really his coronation, if you will. There’s a couple of moments you could say it’s Calvary when he’s crucified, but it’s also Easter Sunday, the resurrection. When he comes out of that tomb, he’s conquered now the world.  

And it’s why Saint Paul is talking about this in Corinthians. Adam was conquered by the enemy. And creation was fallen. But our king now, with the resurrection, he’s restored creation and he’s made himself king. So we never need to be afraid. We’ll never be conquered by the enemy unless we choose to be. And we’ll never be overcome with fear or darkness or doubt or temptation, because God is in control. As long as we give him our hearts. That’s the final point.  

You know, Christ’s kingship of the world of heaven, and finally, like we’re saying at the beginning mass, of your heart, of your soul. So let him rule over you. Let him reign over you. He will give you, he’s the best king and he will give you genuine peace and love. And so we can say together, Hail Christ the king. Amen.