Elementary & Junior High Religious Education

This Sunday we celebrate the solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. From the beginning of the readings for the solemnity, Our Lord tells us what it means that he is “King of the Universe.” The Lord begins by speaking through Ezekiel, saying, “I myself will look after and tend my sheep … I myself will pasture my sheep … I myself will give them rest … The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal …” Jesus is not a king like the kings of this world. He is king by virtue of his humility and love, out of which he seeks us to serve and heal us. But the world does not recognize such service is truly the stuff of royal kingship. Indeed, the world grew jealous of the Lord, and enthroned Christ upon a cross.  Even there, though, Christ revealed his reign over the universe. As Pope Benedict XVI, once wrote: “On the Cross, at that moment, he is shown to be King; and how is he King? By suffering with us and for us, by loving to the end, and in this way governing and creating truth, love and justice” (General Audience, Aug. 22, 2012). It is in accord with this kind of royal kingship — which rules by serving, because the rule is one of love — that Christ asks us to become part of his Kingdom. We, too, are to tend the sheep, pasture them and give them rest. Christ tells us as much in Matthew’s Gospel this Sunday: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.” Works of mercy In these verses, Christ delineates the actualization of his kingdom: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, caring for the sick, clothing the naked, and visiting the imprisoned. In short: the works of mercy. We carry these works out for Christ in his Body, for all those to whom he has given himself. “Amen,” Christ says to us, “Whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.” Indeed, Christ says the works of mercy actualize the kingdom of God. Perhaps, though, we have forgotten the true wonder that this is. We often talk about the works of mercy , and about love for our neighbor as distinctively Christian, as activities that characterize a Christian life. And so it is worth remembering that this communion in love has a deeply mystical character. In his encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, Pope Benedict XVI reminded us that, “Love of God and love of neighbor are now truly united,” in God’s kingdom. “God incarnate draws us all to himself” (No. 14). Christ’s greatest work of mercy — the Incarnation — that by which he himself tended his sheep, is now carried out in us. Joined to Christ, we incarnate God’s love for the “ least of our brothers .” But, the mystical element is even greater than this. Thus, I leave you to meditate on the words of Pope Benedict XVI, again taken from Deus Caritas Est, where he describes the mystical character of the kingdom constituted by the King of the Universe: “I cannot possess Christ just for myself; I can belong to him only in union with all those who have become, or who will become, his own. Communion draws me out of myself towards him, and thus also towards unity with all Christians. We become ‘one body,’ completely joined in a single existence. Love of God and love of neighbor are now truly united” (No. 14). November 26 – The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe Ez 34:11-12, 15-17 Ps 23:1-2, 2-3, 5-6 1 Cor 15:20-26, 28 Mt 25:31-46 This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

(OSV News) — Grace Stecker of the Diocese of Helena, Mont., pulled out her cell phone and called her dad, right in the middle of a talk during the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC). In fact, teens all around her were talking on their phones, even as the speaker stood on the stage. But they had his permission. “I want you right now, in one minute, to just make a call to somebody in your life whom you love, who’s pretty special, whom you appreciate,” Scripture scholar and astrophysicist Father John Kartje asked of the more than 12,000 NCYC participants. The request came as part of his talk on the oneness of God and the universe — faith and science — that served as the topic of the opening session of NCYC in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Nov. 16. He began the talk echoing words spoken by Archbishop Charles C. Thompson just moments before. “The line that really struck me amongst everything he said is this,” Father Kartje noted: “You’re not a problem to be solved, but you are a mystery to be encountered.” ‘What it means to be fully alive’ Archbishop Thompson spoke to the teens about this year’s NCYC theme “Fully Alive” in a prayer service at the beginning of the opening session — after the teens had settled down from a rousing concert by Christian rock band for KING + COUNTRY. He quoted his “favorite line” from Pope Francis’ encyclical, “ Laudato Si‘ “: “Rather than a problem to be solved, the world is a joyful mystery to be contemplated with gladness and praise.” “We heard that beautiful reading about creation from the Book of Genesis,” Archbishop Thompson said of the beginning of the prayer service. “But the ultimate part of that creation is when God created humanity, when God created us. We are part of that creation that’s been given life by the Spirit breathing into us, by the Word taking root in us, claiming us as his own. “And so no one here is a problem to be solved, but is to be contemplated as a joyful mystery with gladness and praise. “Whatever pains in our lives, whatever is going on, whatever hurts, whatever guilt, whatever fears, whatever anxieties, whatever it is — that does not define us.” Identity in Christ, in the Eucharist Rather, he said, we are defined by our identity in Christ, whose body, blood, soul and divinity is present in the Eucharist. “The Eucharist has been given to us through the passion, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ so that we have life, that we have what is necessary to be witnesses to the good news, what it means to be fully alive,” Archbishop Thompson said. “We are most fully alive when we live our lives not with ourselves at the center, but keeping Christ at the center. We are fully alive when we live for the glory of God and in service to others. “We gather tonight remembering that we belong to something greater than ourselves as children of God, created in the image of God. We have a dignity, a dignity no power on earth can take away. “That’s why we can claim to be fully alive.” ‘The one through whom astronomy is possible’ Father Kartje picked up where Archbishop Thompson left off — speaking about the NCYC theme. “If you talk about being fully alive, I can’t think of a better way to get at what that actually looks like in our world today than to look at this interaction between faith and science,” he said. With doctorates in Scripture and astrophysics, the current rector and president of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Ill., is an expert on both topics. He quoted John 1:3: “All things came into being through him. Without him, not one thing came to being.” “A hundred billion galaxies exist,” Father Kartje said. “That very same God of creation is the God alive in our own bodies. The very same God that gives you the galaxies … gives us the very life in our hearts.” Science and faith are both a way of looking at the world, he explained — one through the lens of a telescope, the other through the glass of a monstrance. “The Eucharist you see through the glass of the monstrance gives us the ability to see the body and the blood of Christ in a way that doesn’t look like the body and blood of Christ,” Father Kartje said. Gaze at the universe, gaze at Christ Meanwhile, through the new Webb Telescope “you can see the world that goes all the way back to Genesis,” he said. “It’s the world that goes back to the life that is in us. That is a monstrance all its own, these beautiful images from the Webb Telescope, to look at them for who Jesus is precisely because he is the one through whom all of that glorious astronomy is possible.” To gaze upon the universe or to gaze upon Christ in the Eucharist, said Father Kartje, “is literally to let yourself be gazed upon by the one who delights in your very existence.”  As for his request for the more than 12,000 youths to call someone they love, Father Kartje explained the connection to faith and science. “The person you called is probably feeling loved right now,” he said. “The reason something special happened at that connection is because of what you see in the monstrance. That’s why Christ came into the world–the one who does all of this is love.” This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Lk 21:5-11 Jesus parallels the fall of the temple with the end of the world. The disciple’s questions rise out of fear and the fear makes them vulnerable to dishonest messengers. He tells them that though the destruction is inevitable, they must not waste time trying to determine when it will happen. I cannot help but think about people who are diagnosed with a debilitating and/or terminal illness. They know the “what” but not exactly when and yet they live every moment to the fullest. I believe this is what you ask of us, in a time when the world is spinning out of control. This content comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.