Heart of the Homily

Episode 024 - Podcast | Power Fades, Mercy Reigns

• St Augustine Catholic Parish

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We trace why Christ the King was established, how secular ideologies crumble, and why a crucified king still reigns over history and the human heart. We challenge listeners to move from comfort to conversion with courage, surrender, and daily acts of witness.

• origins of Christ the King in Quas Primas
• contrast between worldly power and the cross
• Christ as center versus accessory in life
• symptoms of divided allegiance and anxiety
• practical discernment and examen habits
• holiness as quiet resistance in small acts
• courage at work, at home, and in public
• self-gift over individualism and ego
• the Good Thief and the gospel paradox
• end-of-year reflection and Advent readiness
• invitation to freedom through surrender


Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.saintaugustinechurch.org

Purpose And Opening Vision

SPEAKER_00

Hello and welcome everyone to Heart of the Homily Podcast. Um I'm one of your hosts, Michelle Lopez, and I'm here with Father Vigova. How's it going, Michelle? Doing so good. Happy to be back.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Another Monday.

SPEAKER_00

Another Monday. And we're celebrating amazing feasts recently. So I'm really excited for our conversation today.

SPEAKER_01

Can I cut you off? You were going to say something where you're going to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, I was just going to do our little, you know. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_01

I didn't mean to cut you off.

SPEAKER_00

So in case this is your first time, our purpose is really to allow the words of the homily and the Sunday gospel to not stay in the pew, but go into your week all week long through our podcast. So we're excited. It is. And you know, some homilies are really powerful and rich, and they're like, okay, and now back to the grind. And I think that's what we're trying to avoid.

SPEAKER_01

And I think that's the purpose of our podcasts is to continue to talk about it. And there's a lot of parishioners that want to keep talking about it. And so how do you like you said, take it to your week?

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

Take it to prayer to meditation. So definitely.

SPEAKER_00

And I also know that some parishioners want the inside scoop on like, how did you masterfully craft this one? You know? So Lord.

SPEAKER_01

I don't know about that.

Christ The King And Quas Primas

SPEAKER_00

But Holy Spirit, we know he has a lot to play in all this. But um, yeah. So our conversation today, we're actually focusing on Christ the King, which was the solemnity of the feast, which is the closing out of the liturgical year. Um, and this is an amazing feast day. So there's so much from your homily that opened up um its importance for our day and time.

SPEAKER_01

So Yeah, there's so many layers to this, right?

SPEAKER_00

There absolutely is. Um, but I'm gonna start off with our kind of sneak peek. This again, this isn't your words, Father, but it's pulling your homily into like a short and sweet summary to get our listeners excited. So this is what we're gonna be talking about. Kings rise and kings fall, emp empires roar and then crumble into dust. Yet on a hill outside Jerusalem, nailed to a wood, wearing a crown of thorns, stands the only king whose reign will never end and still stands today. Today we don't honor a memory, we proclaim a reality that Jesus Christ is king of the universe, of history, and of every human heart. The question is not whether he is king. The question is, is he yours?

SPEAKER_01

Powerful.

SPEAKER_00

So it is powerful.

SPEAKER_01

I like that little summary, I see that summary you did.

SPEAKER_00

Thanks. I give credit to some friends, you know. Some good help. But um, Father, actually, you begin your homily um with something that was very striking. Jesus Christ is king truly, eternally, unshakably.

SPEAKER_01

Unshakably.

SPEAKER_00

Why is this important for right now in the church and in the world? And you alluded to this feast day being proclaimed when it originally started. Um, it was a powerful moment in the history of the world.

Secular Ideologies Versus Christ’s Sovereignty

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's I think that that's the where I wanted to how that what that was a basis where I wanted to, the point of departure of if we really understand what was happening in the world when Pius XI declares or writes this encyclical and institutes uh this feast day because it comes from this encyclical of Quas Primas or Quas primas in Latin is first things or among first things. And he's reminding the bishops of the world that among the first duties that we have is to proclaim Christ's sovereignty. And it's in this very fragile uh world that is is playing out. Remember, it's Pius XI is uh from 1923 to 1939, and in that period of time, just think of the craziness and and what the world is going through, uh, it's a very scary time in the world. And and I think it what what Pius XI was teaching through this encyclical is how did we get here? Because as I mentioned in the homily, if Christ is not king, uh the world will replace it with something else. And that king will then govern and will cause chaos, like the world was in such chaos in 1925 when he writes this encyclical and institutes this feast day.

SPEAKER_00

But that's when secularism was really like taking a huge effect on the world. Secularism, really, we don't need a God, we don't need communism, fascism.

King On A Cross, Not A Throne

SPEAKER_01

Uh if you think about Russia, Russia declares war on God. Uh 1925, 1920, early 1920s, uh Nazi, the Nazis were taking power in Germany and some deep roots there. And we see all what happens from the 1920s all the way till 1945 when World War II ends, uh, the destruction that that Nazi the Nazism does. And so does fascism and all these other uh ideologies that infect the world. And um, but the Pope, the leaders, the, the, the, the church uh bishops, they they're wanting to be able to give something that's pragmatic and not poetic, in the sense that they wanted to do a foundation, say, first of all, let's remind the world, okay, that Christ is king in a very fractured, fractured world. And that's I that's how I started my homily is just kind of a reminder of if we allow these ideologies, it will be destructive. And then again, on the other flip side, to remind them, well, all of that crumbled. None of those empires survived, none of those ideas survived, and Jesus Christ will survive and it remains, and the church remains.

SPEAKER_00

And that's such a powerful statement. Um, even recognizing like looking at the world history, like as you study history, uh, no one's like no one's no kingdom or empire is still around. And so we see like the Christians' um faith and religion has just um grown tremendously, like across the whole entire world. And so when we think about like the beauty of Christ being king, um, but also the boldness, because it's king of the universe, king of the world, it's not um king of the Christians. Right. And I I feel like this statement from the church is very um powerful, but also boldly stating the reality, which is like it's not like Christ is king of the Christians if you want to acknowledge him. It's like, no, we're we're proclaiming that Christ is king of the universe, the world, like the king of all kings.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And one of the things I I said in the homily was that every human, every human life, every human breath, every heart, every nation, every every community is under Christ's dominion. Right? It's all there. And um so it has a lot of implications. And it was it was Pius 11th that was almost with this emergency flare saying, wait a minute, wake up, look at what's happening. And I I wanted to research before we came on the podcast, and I just it's been a crazy day. I forgot. I think that Pius 11th institutes this a holy year because he calls pilgrims to Rome to pray specifically for world peace. And you could see how that makes total sense.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_01

Right?

SPEAKER_00

Interesting. Yeah, and that's kind of what we're in right now with the Jubilee and even with Pope Leo calling for peace in our world. So what a message that's very uh needed in our own culture and day today. Um, in your homily father, you painted like a very stark contrast of like the two powers, like the world that expects a king of the throne, but the gospel gives us a king on the cross. Um, so what does that reveal about Christ's kingdom? Because I think what you were also drawing out is um that Christ is the center, but then also like he's telling us a particular way to be in his kingdom and what that looks like.

SPEAKER_01

Right. It's Christ, a king is not some poetic, beautiful language. It claims about an ultimate authority. And when you apply that to your own life, how does that play out? Um, if Christ is king, then he cannot be an accessory to my life. Um, he has to be the very center. And I think that that's and it's beautiful how it's at the very end of our liturgical year because it's almost like, okay, let's wrap up all the teachings, all of what I'm learning, how what am I bringing to prayer? How am I living my life to to awaken me this desire to, okay, we have a new year. Almost like when uh there's a new year uh in January 1st and people make uh New Year's resolutions. It's almost like that. It's I like to think that people may are able to say, How have I been? What do I need to do? And this feast day of Christ the King says, is Christ the very center? Everything that you have, that comfortable life, the the titles, the achievements, um, the nice little goose egg of a savings that you may have, or or even your tie, whatever it is. And and you may think that you're very impressive. Um, and I like I said, it doesn't mean a hilla beans if Christ is not the center of your life, because all of that other stuff is going to fade. It's going to, you can't take it with you. The only thing that you can take with you is that which you have surrendered and have shared in love. Um, and so it's that that encounter that we're all going to have with Christ the King. And um, but it it was mostly to remind people all right, where have we been? What have we been doing? How have we been working in all of the different homilies, the different groups, the ministries, the Bible studies? All right, is it this conscience decision to say Christ is a sinner? All my decisions, the way I live my life, the way I speak, I way I react, the way that I interact with people, is it reflective of that I've changed? I've I've I've had a conversion. Because one of the things that I said was this feast is not supposed to comfort us, supposed to convert us, supposed to convict us to be more passionate about it being a disciple of Jesus. Because it's it's almost like it's it's scary in a sense that it's a real come to Jesus moment. Are you living this or not?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Jesus can't be a partial Jesus, can't be a partial king. It's either he's king of everything or he's a king of nothing.

unknown

Right?

Signs You Haven’t Surrendered

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, which that's a great challenge to be able to look at one's life and and um, you know, a lot of people are comfortable with Jesus being like a part of their life, but like throne of the heart, like the one who is in authority and gives direction to everything. And like that kind of deeper conversion and deeper acceptance of Christ being like king over your life, over your finances, over like all decisions being guided by the king. Like that's um, I think a real challenge and also like a checkpoint for people to be able to step back and look at their life and say, like, okay, what area am I really not allowing Christ to have like rule over and before?

SPEAKER_01

And are we doing that? Are we doing the homework to do that? Like you just said, are we doing that checklist? Are we doing that uh examination of conscience? Because like, as I like to tell people all the time, is that you may think you're really busy and that your calendar is overwhelming, but it it takes a feast day like this and say, I I have to be more intentional. I'm not I'm not more important than Jesus Christ, the King of the universe, right? And and that's what he's wanting. That's what he's calling you. Say, I I don't, I don't care about your achievements, your accomplishments, your title, uh, whatever you think is important, I come first. And that for a lot of people is hard. It's it's almost like I fit you in where I can. It's you're you're important, yes, and I love you, and I like coming to mass on Sundays, but you're one thing among the many things that I have to do. I have to be a dad, I have to be a mom, I have to go to work, I have to provide for my family, and there's a lot of deals that are going on. There's a lot of balls in the air, and you're trying to juggle everything, but it's do you include that in in everything that you do is is brought to the Lord and He is first. Right.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and it seems like some of the like the symptoms I've been like what would be some of the symptoms of someone not kind of placing Christ as king is kind of that um half-heartedness, half-heartedness or being torn or like feeling that tension within oneself of um yeah, of surrender, like not surrendering everything, kind of giving in parts.

The Gospel Paradox And The Good Thief

SPEAKER_01

Well, I've seen it a lot in people who are very anxious, people who are overwhelmed, people who live with this uneasiness. And it's it's it's not completely surrendering to the Lord in trust and and and being joyful. There, you could go through a lot of difficulties, a lot of problems, uh diagnosis of whatever it is. But if you're really grounded in prayer, if you're saying your rose, or you have that connection with the Lord, you're doing your walk, whatever it is, it's gonna be a lot easier if you're not. Because if you're not, then the anxiety and the and the feelings of being overwhelmed is gonna be far greater. And those are the symptoms. You could see that in someone. You're not practicing the faith, I can tell right away.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and what Jesus offers us in allowing him to be king is um for us to like relax. I think that's the craziest thing is like allowing Jesus to be king of our heart is really an invitation to like let go of control, but also just to like relax and let the king take care of business, you know, like that you do your part, yeah. Yeah, um, doing your part and everything, but really that like deep surrender of knowing that like ultimately Christ is in control and I can I can relax and play my role. And my role is not the most important, like Jesus is the most important role, and to kind of like have that humble disposition of um, yeah, entrusting our our life to the Lord and also entrusting the things that happen or don't happen like to the king and that he's the one that's kind of running the show.

Holiness As Quiet Resistance

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, because think about um think about what this what Christ's kingdom says to us says pick up your cross and pick up your cross daily. Who wants to do that? That's hard. The greatest among you are those who serve. The first will uh the the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Um you have to forgive and and and love those who are unlovable. And a lot of these very difficult teachings that you're this kingdom, that's those are hard things to do. But when we really understand the the gospel paradox, where Christ's throne is the cross, his crown of glory is our thorns, and and the the royal decree is forgiveness. I love that that it's so moving where he's being mocked, he's being taunted. Uh even the two criminals, the one criminal is saying to him, he's like, Hey, aren't you the Christ? You're a joke. You should save us, right? Why don't you save yourself? All this talk, all this funny business. You're don't you can't even save us. You're you're a humiliation. And so, and then the the other criminal saying, Leave him alone. We deserve what we got because we are criminals. He's not a criminal. He is, he is, you know. And um then with shaking faith, this this criminal says to G, Jesus, please, I want to be with you uh when you go into your kingdom. And Jesus says, Today, you will be with me in paradise. Those are the most beautiful words that anyone would want to hear that, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

The first saint.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. Wow. And the first one that even in his the language that he used acknowledged that he was king. You know, like the kingdom.

SPEAKER_01

I want to go into your kingdom. Because even the sign that they put above the cross, here is the king of the Jews, or the king of the Jews, that yeah, it's a true twisted as an insult, almost like saying, look at that, look at that sign, that that pathetic sight, that's your king. Right. And so it's this this gospel paradox. But what I like to say is that every single age since Christ, there have been Christians who have been bold, who have been courageous, who have lived lives of holiness. And and that holiness is a quiet resistance against all of the ideologies and all of uh of those factions that want to tear down Christianity, right? All of those, all of those um things that are of the world that want to separate us from Christ. It is holiness that's our quiet resistance. That's why we don't need any more people who are quiet with the faith, who just blend in or even it just by by the slightest um pushing or resist, they they compromise on their faith. We don't need that. Be bold, be courageous.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And I think that's the witness that our world needs too is um to see holiness at work, that it's not some like weird thing for just like the quiet people that have no personality or like, you know, I don't know, people have like weird images of what holiness actually looks like, but holiness is to be fully alive, like in who God's created you you to be. And so to be a member of this kingdom is to live um as Christ is king, but like in a way that make like sets you free. What I was saying before, like sets you free to be at ease, to live um in this great joy of knowing that like God is in control and that you're loved and that um Christ is like up to a good work in your life through the highs and lows, what do you experience?

SPEAKER_01

Right. Um, but that's and I think the human person is hardwired to give ultimate meaning to something. Right. So it's career, it's pleasure, it's money, it's politics, uh, image, comfort. So if we don't enthrone Christ as king, we will enthrone a substitution. Right. And and all of the destruction that comes from not placing Christ on his rightful throne, that that Christ is not reigning supreme in our lives. Right.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and I think even what you're just saying, like we're made to worship. We're you know, we're we're made to worship.

SPEAKER_01

That's how we're hardwired.

SPEAKER_00

It's part of our humanity. And so if we're not worshiping God, we're not worshiping Christ, we're worshiping something. And a lot of times it's ourself.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, exactly. Exactly right. Christ confronts the ego. Christ the king confronts the ego. The ego wants what? Control. And then the gospel invites us to surrender. Again, there's that paradox.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and the paradox invites us to um, yeah, to begin to allow Christ to be king and then also to um learn again like what it means to be human. Because I think that's the beautiful thing that our faith offers is Christ is king of the universe, but he's king of the human person. Like he shows us what it means to truly be a human person. Yeah. And that in following him and allowing him to be king of our hearts and our life, we experience the joy of what it means to be human. Um, but it goes through the paradoxes of the gospel, help us um let go of things that are less human or sin or selfishness, and kind of like uh gives gives us an invitation to allow like grace to transform and restore like what's been lost by sin and selfishness.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, because Christ asks of us the one thing that culture fears. You know what that is? Self-gift. Culture fears that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's all about you.

SPEAKER_01

And the culture Because the culture celebrates and loves individualism. Worry about you, look out for number one. And and that's the type of society that that is destructive.

SPEAKER_00

Well, it goes against how we're created, you know, like true happiness comes from making a gift of of oneself, and like we're wired for that. It's even in our design, like looking at our body, like our body on our on its own doesn't make sense. It's only in light of the the other that we see uh this call to love, this call to fullness of what it means to be human. And I think um it's very contrary to our culture who says, just worry about you, like it's all about your needs and um like you're gonna be satisfied when you allow like your own life, like you have to create your own life. You have to create your own story.

Discernment, Conscience, And Daily Decisions

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, because I think that if Christ is not the center, then yourself, your being becomes fragmented. And that's where you see a lot of people struggle. They're just all over the place. Yeah, they're nowhere and they they're somewhere and nowhere. And so it's this fragmentation of the being of who I am, and not really understanding first my identity and in God and who I am, and then this this just this craziness of of wanting to be why again, because it's this desire to to do something important. That's how we were hardwired. Well, yeah, but you don't understand that that that important something is life in Christ.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, to be part of this universal kingdom, you know, like the this call of greatness to that Christ is king of the universe, like that we're part of this great story of salvation and like our desire to be important, like there's a a desire there that's good because we are invited to be part of the greatest story of all time and not just make up our own thing.

SPEAKER_01

That's the invitation.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So, Father, kind of looking at um, yeah, Christ is king and some of these um, the ways that the world is pulling us to live for ourselves. What would be like concrete ways to um to release control? Like for those that might be listening, like how do we release control and really like let Christ start having that place of um of the number one in our heart?

SPEAKER_01

Something that I was speaking to someone recently is this idea that we need to, the decisions that we make, the way that we live our lives, can't come from fear, from impulses, from ego, or even from convenience. It has to be Christ-centered and it has to be something that we bring to prayer, that we struggle with in bringing to the Lord. And when we know that we have peace, then we know that that decision is the right one. It's the one that we should act on. Um, and again, that you can go through Ignatius spirituality or some of the exercises that we've done at the parish and some of the retreats where how do I discern properly? Um, and I think we spoke about this uh a couple weeks ago is how do we help people in the different ministries and different programs that we have to have that great self-awareness? How how do I uh become disciplined in the way that I um make decisions, live my life, respond, interact with people? It's it goes right back to a good examination of conscience, discernment of spirits, knowing the faith and and having Christ at the very center. This is my priority. This is my first. Um, and then everything else falls into place. Right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, those are beautiful invitations of taking some steps to um really put into practice our faith and and live uh a more like a life of greater um integrity, that we really like put Christ at the center and let everything else uh fall under his reign. Um, what also comes to mind is Saint Ignatius of Layola has like um with the the two kingdoms, like the two standards. And I think about with um this feast day of Christ the king, like the two standards that St. Ignatius of Leola talk about is um one, like being under the banner and like the flagship of Christ. Yeah. And then like the world is being under the flagship of the enemy of Satan and his demons.

SPEAKER_01

It's a good way to think about it. So good, it's so easy to visualize that.

Courage, Small Acts, Public Witness

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and I think in you know, some of the ignition exercises, it's kind of like asking us to consider like which one do we want to be part of? And I think that's the craziest beautiful thing of God and Jesus is like they respect our freedom. It's a it's our choice. It's like who do you want to serve? And like what kingdom do you want to be a part of? And like the choice of is ours.

SPEAKER_01

And that's where I I kind of broke it down where courage needs to stand out. Courage needs to stand out. The world does not need Christians who blend in. And that's you're standing at the water cooler cooler and uh there someone's trashing one of your co-workers. Just don't be part of that. Or defend someone. Hey, can we not talk about her? She's not here, or whatever it is, or or even the situations that you have in the conversations with your children or with your grandchildren or with your spouse. It's how do I make that courageous act of faith where I stand up? I just stand up and I say, I'm not, I don't want to be part of that. I don't want to fall into sin. I don't want to engage in that kind of language or that kind of gossiping or whatever it is. And then the the other thing that I would say is holiness and small things. Sometimes we have to we think that we have to do such great accomplish greatness in order to stand out or for God to see us. No, it's in it's in those very small moments. Christ becomes king in your heart in the hidden decisions that you make, right? The forgiveness that no one sees, um, the sacrifice that we do when there's no one there to applaud what you're doing, the fidelity no one can measure but God. It's in those hidden moments. And and how, if I am doing something for God, or if I'm doing something for someone else, what's my intentions? I really want to help this person, but there's really this side of me, this ego side of me that, well, I hope that they applaud me, or I hope that someone finds out that look, I was able to do this for you, or whatever it is. But the point that I'm trying to make is that it's holiness in the small things. And then witness in a secular world. We talked about this, I think, last uh Monday, where you're in a restaurant and you make the sign of the cross. Or you are at a party or you're at a gathering, a social, hey, someone's going through a difficult moment. And I saw this the other day, actually. That's why I'm saying it. But say, Oh, a lady, a young lady, she said, Can we pray over you right now? And she was just sharing a difficulty she's going to. And I was like, That didn't come from me, the priest in the room. But this young girl, she was, she said, Can we pray over you right now? She's like, please.

SPEAKER_00

That's so powerful because those are such small gestures, but they make a statement about like who it is that's who's important in your life.

Surrender That Leads To Freedom

SPEAKER_01

How do you live your life? That girl that stood up and said, Can we pray for you right now? What what's a statement without wanting to say out in the world, hey, because it was from a genuine place. I saw her really listening intently to this problem that this girl was talking about. She stood up, she goes, Can we pray over you right now? So it was this amazing witness to what she's living on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and her belief that that gift is greater than anything she could have offered at that moment.

SPEAKER_01

And knowing that prayers are not empty words.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Right?

SPEAKER_00

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01

And then the last thing I would say is uh surrender opens freedom. The paradox of Christian life is that we move, the more we surrender to Christ, the freer we become.

SPEAKER_00

That is such a paradox. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And it's such a but it's it's so true. It's the more we surrender, the freer we become.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And some of that deep surrendering happens, I know for like my own journey, has been it has been in prayer, making space to pray and really like give God permission, give God control, and invite him to be like king of my life, king of my heart, especially in the areas that I struggle most with.

SPEAKER_01

Because when you're not praying, you're not following Christ, or you're not practicing the faith, it's hard to surrender. First, you don't know what that looks like, right? And it's very scary. Like, no way, I don't want to do that. It's too scary. I don't, I don't know. But then when you you make that leap of faith, wow.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and it's hitting on something that you um mentioned your homily align that I thought that was that stood out to me. You said many want Christ the savior, not Christ the king. So kind of moving from admiring Jesus to like surrendering to him.

SPEAKER_01

Right. And one of and what I was thinking about too there is that many people love that idea of the fuzzy bear Jesus. So cause cuddly.

SPEAKER_00

I've never heard of fuzzy bear Jesus, and I don't want to think about that.

SPEAKER_01

Well, what I mean is that it's it's so it's that comfort Jesus that just wants to hug you and love on you, which is true.

unknown

Yeah.

Savior Or King, Comfort Or Conversion

SPEAKER_01

But he's also going to convict your heart, say he's gonna put a mirror up to you and say, listen, you're falling short, you're disappointing me. And um, those vices that you're into and that behavior that you continue to do, and all of all of that, that ugliness needs to go away. Why? Because you're offending me. But people don't want the part people don't want that Christ.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Right? They want Christ the comforter.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, to kind of tell me that I'm great. But but I think we're we don't know what like tough love is, which is like, you know, Jesus allows those things to be revealed because we are created for so much more. Like we're created for a greatness that we would even not even dare to dream of. And so sin and selfishness and all the like living according to the world just it makes us boring and it makes us, you know, less who we are.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And really, and following Christ is when we blossom into the fullness of who we've been created to be. Like he knows what it means that we're fully alive. And like he does not want sin and vice to lessen our experience of even joy, love, and our life, but he wants us to to live up um to live how we've been designed, which is um yeah, to live on this this place of great peace and trust and abandonment to God.

SPEAKER_01

And that's the beauty of mercy. And that is the gift of ultimate freedom.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Where you can just live free. Right.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And Father, as we kind of wrap up, I I did want to ask, so I also think this uh feast day, Christ the King, is um is a great way also to call like men to rise because I feel like you were talking about Teddy Bear Jesus, especially I think for for men. Like a lot of people, a lot of men aren't interested in Christianity anymore because they think it's teddy bear Jesus. We're like that's and I know for um some of the especially the baptism prep classes that you know I'm I'm I talk about this. I talk about like especially for men hearing this title of Christ the king like you know for a lot of guys that kind of it challenges them to like rise to like this is the guy that you want to follow into battle. Like this is the king that you would follow into war. And I think sometimes we have to allow Christ to like reintroduce who he really is. And I think this feast day is just like a good you know call to even especially for men to like rise to renew their understanding of who Christ is as king.

Calling Men To Rise Under The Banner

SPEAKER_01

Yeah and I'm gonna I'm doing actually doing a little research now because I'm gonna write an article the archbishop gave a talk the other day at the prospiral council and he was talking about um he read an article in first things about reenchantment and how there's a study now where young men are coming into the faith that and they and it calls it calls it a kairos moment. And I was giving a talk to at the parish and a lady was kind of insulted not insulted but challenging me saying well women are are also coming to the faith and women are also needing what you're talking about and I said absolutely but I think that in recent times men are the ones that have uh been more absent than women and it's almost this reclaiming of male masculinity and how do we teach that and um and so I want to talk about what this article is uh is saying about reenchantment how do we capture that how do we uh in in a beautiful liturgy or in a a a great talk or uh a formation how do we do that so young people understand the beauty of our faith that this reenchantment of the mystery of who God is and I and I think you're right I think that a lot of young men um see this feast day of Christ the king of I can relate to that I can get behind that I can understand Christ as king and how there are forces in the world that are trying to drive me away from being a man of faith of being of Saint Joseph in my family. And so you're absolutely right there's something very a Kairos moment very attractive about this feast day that can teach our young people about being courageous in the faith.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah and the invitation to be on like the victory team too like Christ is king like it's this invitation to celebrate the victory that has been won over any darkness in the world any sin. And he's like Christ has won and like this invitation to celebrate and know that um we want him to be king of our hearts not to rule over us but actually to set us free and to give us a new life.

Allegiance, Identity, And Final Challenge

SPEAKER_01

Exactly if you think about it the cross of Jesus Christ is the only throne that has uh defeated every empire. Every empire and so holiness is not perfection it is allegiance to this kingdom. It is that striving for more and and and desire to love him and and fight for him and to not offend him again Christ has to be the very center of our lives he has to be the king of our universe king of our world because the greatest question of your life is not what did you accomplish and and when we get to the end of our life it's not that it's who is your king who did you place on that throne because if you're the whole you spend your whole life chasing a career chasing the money chasing whatever material possessions you think are going to make you happy and Jesus yeah I I had a relationship with Jesus but it's it's one thing among the many well you're replacing the king of kings with another king. And that's scary.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah so as we kind of wrap up our session I think um as we close out this liturgical year this week and prepare for Advent next week um an invitation for us and our listeners I think to it's it's a good time to reflect on like how has this year been, you know, with our growing in our spiritual life and then looking at like what are places I think of our heart that we need to ask Christ to be to be the number one, to be king of our heart so that we can be more free to follow, to be courageous and to really allow him to do a new work in us this next year.

SPEAKER_01

Amen.

SPEAKER_00

So well thank you all for joining us. Thank you, Father.

SPEAKER_01

Well you have some good news we are we're gonna be doing our podcast from Rome next week.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah so get excited get ready it's in Italian right now.

Wrap Up And Pilgrimage To Rome

SPEAKER_01

No um we are leading a pilgrimage with the parish uh to the holy uh for the Jubilee year to the holy sites uh the holy doors the four major basilicas and so Michelle and her husband myself we're gonna lead a group about 50 about 50 people that are going to be joining us from the parish and so we're very excited so the next podcast will be from Rome itself.

SPEAKER_00

So from Rome look forward to that which is so fitting because Christ the King and all of what we've been talking about like from Rome we see like we see the beauty where it all started. Yeah it all started so tune in next week thanks Father thanks Michelle