What Lies Within…

[In contentious times, the first casualty is usually the truth. There is lots of misinformation and “fake good news” out there. Sadly this has found its way into the Church. Check out the video by clicking here.

Today, we enter the third part of Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain.” Here we are given three parables to contemplate. So what’s going on? Quite simply, Jesus is helping the disciples move from attitudes to action, from doctrine to discipleship. 

       Two of the parables have to do with logs and trees, so I figured some lumberjack stories were in order.

Did you hear about the lumberjack who worked overtime?

        He logged a lot of hours.

A lumberjack went into a magic forest to cut a tree

When he got there, he started to swing at a tree when it suddenly shouted, Wait! I’m a talking tree!

       The lumberjack laughed and said, And you will dialogue.

       When he finished the tree asked, “Why did you cut me down, lumberjack?”

       Lumberjack: Oh, you really don’t know why?

       Tree: Sorry, I’m stumped.

What do lumberjacks do when they’re about to finish work?

       They Log off.

Okay, back to the Gospel.

       The first parable is about the blind being unable to lead the blind. This is an indirect reference to the false teachings and hypocrisy that was so prevalent in his day. There is a lot of misinformation out there these days. Sometimes we call it “false news.” Sadly, this has also found its way into the Church. There are many false and “alternative magisteriums” out there. By this I mean well-meaning Catholics who make a habit of making bold pronouncements about how one should be living the faith. In truth, the only authentic magisterium in this Archdiocese is the Archbishop, who has been appointed by the Holy Father himself. Yet these self-appointed defenders of the faith make a habit out of criticizing him and others, and quite often they are quite wrong.     

       It is this critical nature lacking all charity that Jesus warns against when he tells the parable of pointing out the splinter your brother’s eye while ignoring the beam in your own. Note that Jesus does not rule out fraternal correction, but before we point one finger at another, we should remember that the other four are pointing at ourselves. The truth without compassion is the hammer that destroys.

       In the last parable about the good tree producing good fruit and the bad tree producing evil, Jesus helps us discern where we should look for guidance. What are the fruits that they produce? You can tell a lot about people simply by watching them. As Jesus points out, good produces good, evil produces evil. If a person, or group of people produce nothing but vitriol and criticism, you can be pretty sure their hearts are in the wrong place. If there is no joy, get out of there. Otherwise, you are just doom-spiraling.

       Archbishop Bellisario once said that we can get our energy from one of two places. Being negative and critical is powerful and seductive, but it always burns out quickly and leaves us frustrated, isolated.  By contrast, striving for virtue and charity is not always all that exciting, but does provide a steady source of positive grace that leads us to deeper communion with God and others.         We need to be careful where we get our information. We need to go to the authentic source first.  We need to strive for personal holiness of life before being critical of others. We need to be wary of those who produce bad fruit.

Matters of the Heart

   Hello, Church fans! The Beatitudes in Luke, along with their corresponding woes, can sound a little harsh to our ears. What’s Jesus getting at? It has to do with where your heart is. Once you figure that out, blessing is yours for the asking. You can check out the video here. Most of the text is below.


Blessings are good. Curses are bad.  Joy is good. Woe is bad. So why does Jesus make such a big deal about who gets cursed as well as who gets blessed? It sounds harsh to our ears, but he’s making a really good point.  To start, let’s look to the first reading from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah.

       “Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh…” (Jer 17:5), and

       “Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD.”  (Jer 17:7) 

       Now take a look at the Lucan Beatitudes and you will see a similar dynamic going on. It all hinges on what and in whom we place our trust. Where is your heart? Quite simply, our happiness in this life and our eternal joy in the next hangs on one decision—do we place our trust in God or in the world? Trust in God brings the blessing of peace. Trust in the things of this world brings the curse of bitterness and resentment. 

       Thomas Aquinas talks about this at length. As human beings we are born to seek the good. The greatest good, of course, is God. Anything short of that will leave us wanting. As St. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless, O Lord, until they rest in you.”

       Unfortunately, we humans are easily distracted by the things of this world. Thomas pointed out that the worldly person rather than trusting in God, erroneously seeks fulfillment in power, wealth, pleasure, or honor. None of these are evil in and of themselves, but if we seek them before or in place of God, we will always be frustrated.

Thomas was a smart guy. If you look at the Lucan Beatitudes, each of the blessings and curses correspond exactly to either wealth or poverty, hunger or pleasure, power or mournfulness, honor or denunciation.

       The poor by definition do not have wealth. The hungry are deprived of one of life’s basic pleasures. Those who weep seem the most powerless. And those who are hated, excluded and denounced, certainly do not have honor. They cannot look to these things instead of God simply because they do not have them. They are blessed in one sense, because they aren’t distracted.

       But by the same token, powerlessness by itself is not virtuous; neither is hunger, weeping or being hated. For example, the poor person’s desire for wealth can lead him away from God; so too the hungry person’s desire for pleasure, (not all hunger is for food).

       As I have said before, regardless of your circumstances, you can approach life either with a spirituality of abundance and gratitude, or of scarcity and resentment. If you choose abundance and gratitude, then you will never want for anything. If you choose scarcity and resentment, you will never have enough, no matter how much wealth, pleasure power or honor you may accumulate in this life.  

       Blessings are good.  Curses are bad.  Joy is good.  Woe is bad.  Which you will experience in this life all depends on the deepest desires of your heart. As Jeremiah says, the key to blessedness is to put our trust first in Almighty God, and everything else after that.

How Jesus Works

[Greetings, Church fans! I had a nice vacation in a much warmer climate. Nothing like a little golf to reinforce the virtue of humility. This week we look at how Jesus meets us where we are and invites us to where we are called to be. The text is below, the video can be seen by clicking here.]

An confused angler and decided to go ice fishing. He grabbed his gear, stepped out onto the ice, and started to cut a hole when he heard a booming voice shout:

“THERE ARE NO FISH UNDER THE ICE!”

The man jumped up and looked around, but he didn’t see anyone. He carried on cutting into the ice, and again, the voice boomed:

”THERE ARE NO FISH UNDER THE ICE!”

Still nobody. The man goes to a new spot and started drilling another hole when the voice shouted for a third time:

”THERE ARE NO FISH UNDER THE ICE!”

The man looked up into the blinding light and said ”Is that you, God?”

The voice answered, ”NO, IT’S THE MANAGER OF THE ICE RINK!”

       Our God can act very powerfully at times, but he never does anything violently.  Take the call of the first disciples in today’s gospel reading from Luke. While I am convinced that this is not the first time that these four disciples have encountered Jesus, nevertheless, the way he enters Simon Peter’s life shows us how God takes him and his companions where they are and invites them into what they are called to be.

       Jesus arrives on the scene while Peter, James, John and Andrew are just finishing up the night’s work. Fishermen in that part of the world would work at night, shining lanterns over the water near the boat to attract the fish and then casting a weighted net over the side. It was hard, repetitive work. No doubt the four were pretty tuckered out when Jesus arrived. They may or may not have been expecting Jesus to stop by.  But, like all in Israel in those days, they were looking for the coming of the Messiah.

       The first thing Jesus asks Simon Peter is simply to borrow his boat so he can have a better vantage point to teach the people. When we go to the Holy Land this Fall, you will see the very place. It is a little cove that forms a natural amphitheater. Several hundred people can assemble there quite comfortably. Someone speaking from a boat about 30 yards offshore can be heard quite well. Peter, Andrew and John have already spent a day with Jesus earlier, so it is an easy favor to grant. I often imagine what it would be like to be Peter sitting in the boat with Jesus, listening to him teach the crowds. He’s very much in his comfort zone.  No risk here.

       But Jesus has something greater in store for Simon Peter and the others. His command to set out into the deep seems futile. Simon knows his business. Fishing in daylight is futile in those waters. The fish simply aren’t there. I imagine he figured it couldn’t hurt anything to humor the carpenter turned rabbi. It’s nothing he hasn’t done before. The only difference this time is that Jesus is with him.

       There is a lesson for all of us here. So often when we are trying to discern the will of God, we expect him to act powerfully from the outset. We want the huge, the outrageous, the bombastic—a sign in the heavens. Christ is much gentler than that. He takes us where we are and invites us into what we are called to be. He prepares us to recognize him acting in little ways, so that we will not be overwhelmed when he acts in profound ways. There is no part of our life that is separated from God.  May our hearts be open to him in the mundane so that we may recognize and follow him in the profound.

Of Kings, Wise Men and Magi

This week we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord. Most notably, we celebrate the adoration of the child Jesus by the Magi.  These magi are interesting characters? Who are they, what do they represent, and what did that mean for folks in Jesus’s day and for us? 

Check out the video here. You can watch the whole Mass on our Facebook page here.

Magi – Who are they?

       Well, they are not kings, per se. They did not become so in our culture until John Henry Hopkins Jr., Rector of Christ Episcopal, wrote the carol we all know for a Christmas pageant in New York City in 1857.  It was the first widely popular Christmas carol written in America.

(Now, here is an idea. Why don’t we write some carols for our own Christmas pageant next year?  Wouldn’t that be something!)

Hopkins based his designation on earlier Christian tradition, which I’ll speak to a bit later. 

No, they are Magi,

        The word comes to us from Latin, which borrowed it from the Greek, which got it from the Persians. 

       The term refers to the Persian priestly caste of Zoroastrianism. As part of their religion, these priests paid particular attention to the stars and gained an international reputation for astrology, which was at that time highly regarded as a science.

       Interestingly enough, there was a celestial event at that time that would have caught their attention. Apparently, about the time of the birth of Christ, Jupiter, the celestial body associated with kings, moved into the constellation Aries, which was associated with Israel. While probably unnoticed by most of the population, those who were paying attention to such things, such as the Magi, would have interpreted this phenomenon to mean that a king had been born in Israel.  Pretty cool. 

What do they represent?

       For Matthew and certainly for the early Church fathers, the magi represent to the fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah 60:6ff, who we heard this morning, and other prophecies. Most notably:

       Psalm 72:10: “The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall pay tribute, and the kings of Arabia and Saba offer gifts

       Psalm 72:15: “…and may there be given to him gold from Arabia“,

       Given these references, it is not long before early Christians began to see them as kings, even giving them names:  Balthasar is often represented as a king of Arabia or sometimes Ethiopia, Melchior as a king of Persia, and Gaspar as a king of India. By the 6th century all Christian commentators, both east and west referred to them as kings. This did not change until the movement of modern biblical scholarship in the first half of the 20th century.  So, we can give Hopkins some slack.  Besides, it’s a fun song.  (Although I still don’t know where the rubber cigar came from in the version we sang in 3rd grade…)

What does it mean?

       For the magi, it meant that a new king was born in Israel. I still can’t figure out why they felt compelled to make the journey and give him the gifts.  Perhaps it was because they recognized that there was something going on in Israel that would have universal impact. Perhaps it was simply to fulfill the prophecies.

       For Herod, it was a direct threat to his reign. Herod the Great was an incredible builder and administrator, but he was also a ruthless despot. Propped up by the Roman occupiers and insecure in on his throne, he held onto power with an iron fist and a sophisticated network of spies. This is a man who, days before his own death, had his two eldest sons executed because he suspected they were trying to usurp his throne.  He was a bad dude.  On Tuesday, we celebrated the Feast of the Holy Innocents, commemorating all the boys in Bethlehem under two years of age, whom he had killed in hopes of eliminating the threat that Jesus posed to his reign.

       He need not have worried, however. Jesus came preaching a very different kingdom that the one that Herod clung to.

       For us, the Visit of the Magi is the confirmation of what St. Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians, “that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body,

and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

       I don’t know about you, but for me, this is good news. When all these things were going on, my ancestors, the Danes and the Celts, were still painting themselves blue and worshiping thunder and trees and whatnot.  But in the providence of God and the kindness of history, the gospel reached those hallowed shores, and through the work of missionaries, especially he Jesuits, it moved from there to here.  Christianity also went out from the east with Orthodox missionaries and worked its way across Asia, and eventually across the Bering Streit. 

       We live in a very privileged place in Christian geography. It was here in Alaska, probably in the lower Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta that the gospel circled the globe.  Now the whole world is wrapped in the arms of the good news of Jesus Christ.

       It also means that we have work to do. The legacy that we have received is no small heritage.  The mission continues, not so much geographically, but certainly  demographically, and sociologically.

       First, in our families, such as they are.

       Then in our parish family of St. Patrick.

       Then beyond these walls into our neighborhoods, our schools, our workplaces, our state, our country, our world.

The Magi followed the star, carried gifts, and found Christ,

       We have found Christ, we follow Him, and carry the joy of the Gospel as our gift to the world.

Leaping for Joy

Hey there, Church fans! There are two important times in scripture where someone dances. One of them is in today’s gospel. Check out the video here.

10 Quick Christmas jokes:

  1. Why does Santa Claus go down the chimney on Christmas Eve? Because it soots him.
  2. What did the English teacher call Santa’s helpers? Subordinate Clauses.
  3. What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus? Claustrophobic.
  4. What do you call a chicken at the North Pole? Lost.
  5. What is it called when a snowman has a temper tantrum? A meltdown.
  6. What would you get if you ate all the Christmas tree decorations? Tinselitis.
  7. What kind of linens to gingerbread people put on their beds? Cookie sheets.
  8. What did Santa say to Mrs. Claus when he saw their Christmas tree? It looks okay, but you could Spruce it up a bit.
  9. What do you call an elf that runs away from Santa’s Workshop? A rebel without a Claus!
  10. Why was the candy cane so expensive? It was in mint condition!

     This Fourth Sunday of Advent, we shift gears a bit. For the first three weeks we have been preparing practically and spiritually for the Lord’s second coming in glory and majesty. We just wrapped up the Advent Triduum, “In Praise of Mary—Woman of Faith, Hope and Charity.”  Most folks have commented rightly that this one was more about prayer, penance, and quiet expectation than our Lenten Missions tend to be. This was done on purpose.

       Now, in this Fourth Week of Advent, we shift our focus to preparing to celebrate his first coming in poverty and humility. It is time for unmitigated joy.

       To help us, the Church invites us to contemplate the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth.

       There are two times that scripture emphasizes dancing.  The first is found in 2 Samuel 6:14 where David dances before the Lord as the Ark of the Covenant is brought up to Jerusalem.  The second is in today’s gospel, (Lk 1:39-45) where John the Baptist leaps for joy before the Lord in the womb of Elizabeth. 

       In the first, David dances with abandon that the Lord is in the midst of his people. In the understanding of the day, wherever the Ark was, there was God’s dwelling.  John the Baptist leaps in the womb for the same reason. Only this time, he dances before the new Ark of the Lord in anticipation of the new covenant of grace.

       The Ark of the old covenant had been lost when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem around 586 B.C. It’s whereabouts are now known only to God.

       But here, in the womb of Mary, God dwells among his people once again. Mary is rightly called the Ark of the New Covenant of Grace. The holy child in her womb is called Emmanuel, a name which means “God is with us.” Even in the womb of Elizabeth, John leaps for joy in the presence of the Lord. 

Now, I’m going to digress here a little bit.

       When the pastoral council met earlier this month, I asked them what the mood of the parish was.

       The confirmed much of what I had observed.  Here are some bullet points from the minutes of that discernment:

  • People are emotionally tired.
  • Parishioners need a pep talk, and tough love;
  • we’re all in this together;
  • we should be patient with each other, demonstrating our faith combined with “I understand” at the same time
  • “Get it done.” 

Clinically, it’s been a tough time; everyone is weary.

I get it. It just doesn’t seem to end. It seems we just get done with one surge or variant and then are told that another one might be on the horizon.

       It’s not unlike that meme that’s going around:

“Mary, exhausted and just having gotten baby Jesus to bed is approached by a young man who thinks to himself, “What this lady needs is a drum solo!”

And yet, when I start to feel like that, I think back on what was going on at the very time that Mary made haste and went to Elizabeth. As I mentioned, times were tough.  There was a 30% chance that the children in their womb would survive their first year. The Jewish homeland was under the occupation of a distant, foreign Empire.  Corruption was rampant in politics. A weak governor ruled the land with a collaborating tyrant in the local puppet government. Tax collectors took more than what was required. Thieves roamed the highways.

And yet, the baby in her womb leaped for joy!

       He knew that “God is with us.”

Our own day feels a similar socio-political malaise. 

       There is a lack of trust of public institutions

       Many urban centers are in chaos.

              Or just simply filthy places of rot and decay.

       An uncharitable polemic pervades public discourse   People are not treasured, but labeled.

              Conservative – liberal

              Social drone – anti-vaxer

              Right wing – left wing

              Urban – Rural…

              ENOUGH!

This is a time faith

        This is a time for hope. 

              This is a for charity.

                      This is a time for the joy of the gospel.

                             This is a time for saints.

It starts here.  It starts now.

       The time for excuses is over.

              The time for blame is past.

We are not special.

We are no different than any other time human history.

       We Christians are the heirs to a great heritage.

It is our prayers that will change human hearts.

       It is our actions that will improve our society.

              It is our witness that will transform the world.

And if not the whole world, then at least that little part of the world with which we come into contact.

For like Mary, we bring Christ to the world.

       Through his Church and her sacraments,

              Our God is with us.

Who shall make him known…? 

       Who shall proclaim him to the world…?   

              if not you and me?

The world in silence waits.

The time for excuses is past.

       Now is the time for saints.

              Now is the time for the joy of the gospel to transform the world.

       Our God is with us.

              Now is the time for joy.

Quare Gaudete?

[It’s Gaudete Sunday! The word means “rejoice!” But why? What do we have to rejoice about? View the video of the homily here. As always, it’s a little more involved than the text.


It’s been a tough week here in the Walsh family,

       My uncle works at an Advent calendar factory, but he got fired. All he did was take a few days off?

       It was not unexpected, whenever you work with Advent calendars your days are numbered.

So anyway, if any of you were looking for a biblical mandate to participate in the warm clothing drive, I refer you to today’s gospel wherein John the Baptist tells the people: “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none.” 

       The Third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete Sunday for a reason. The word means “Rejoice!”  And sure enough, the word joy or rejoice or something similar appears no less than thirteen times in the readings for this week. Okay, so what are we to rejoice about?

       The prophet Zephaniah exhorts us to rejoice for several reasons, namely that a) the Lord has removed the judgment against us and our sins are forgiven, b) he as turned away our enemies, c) the Lord is in our midst, and d) we have no more misfortune to fear.

       Paul also tells to rejoice because “the Lord is near.” 

       Finally, in Luke, we see that all the people were filled with expectation for the coming of the messiah.  

         We tend to forget that life was a lot tougher in ancient times. About a quarter to a third of all babies in the Roman Empire did not survive their first year. If you made it through your first year, you could expect to live another 34-41 years. Death was much more a part of life. This gave an urgency to all manner of things.

       Advent also has a certain urgency to it.  It is a time of penitential preparation and expectation. We can also rejoice that the Lord is near.

       We look forward to Christ’s coming in glory at the end of the age, but we are also aware that through Church, and especially in the sacraments, the Lord is truly and substantially in our midst in several ways. 

       Advent helps us to become aware that Christ comes to us in little ways, like our small groups that pray together, in our daily devotions, in our personal reading of scripture and so on.

       He also comes to us in sacramental ways, especially in the sacrament of Reconciliation and in the holy sacrifice of the Mass and in adoration.

       Finally, we are filled with expectation that the coming of the Lord in glory at the end of the age is near. For the Christian this is cause for rejoicing as we anticipate the fulfillment of our ultimate hope.

       Advent is a time for rejoicing in expectation of the coming of the Lord in ways both big and small.  May he find us watchful and ready when he comes.  

Advent – A time for vigilance, holiness and hope.

[The text is only the bare bones of the whole homily. You can see the full video by clicking here. ]

     Wow! Did Advent sneak up on you like it snuck up on me? Seems just a few days ago we were wondering if it would get cold enough to have snow! Tell me God does not have a sense of humor!

       Nevertheless, here we are. I like being Catholic because literally, I don’t have to buy into the “holiday season.” Instead, we get Advent, a penitential time of renewal, reconciliation and preparation. Oh, it’s it fun to do “The Holiday Season” with its concerts, parties, flash mobs and whatnot. But for the Christian, our focus is elsewhere. With our feet firmly planted on the earth, we raise our eyes to the heavens. We await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. For the first three weeks of Advent, we are invited to contemplate the coming of the Lord Jesus in power and might at the end of the Age. In the last week, we shift gears and concentrate on his first coming in poverty and humility.

       The readings for this First Sunday of Advent remind us very strongly that it is a time for vigilance, holiness and hope.

       There is a great difference between waiting with great boredom and irritation and being vigilant. Vigilance is something active. Much like waiting for a family member or a loved one come out of the shoot at the airport, so too we should be prayerfully attentive for the coming of the Lord. Interestingly enough, if we are watchful for him to be manifest in a big way, we can recognize him when he manifests himself in little ways—in the poor, the hungry, those who mourn, or need shelter. The Advent wreath in our homes reminds us that Christ the Light of the World comes to us in increasingly more intense experiences. 

       As Paul reminds us in his letter to the Thessalonians, Advent is also a time to be renewed in holiness. It is a time to hunker down and get back to “no excuses Catholicism.” We need to make time and physical space in our lives and our homes for prayer. I especially invite all to come to our Advent Mission:  In Praise of Mary, with Msgr. Dennis Mikulanis, December 14-16. We are called to holiness and the Blessed Virgin Mary shows us how to follow her Son. The Advent wreath again reminds us that the more often we approach in prayer, the brighter he shines in our lives.

       Finally, Advent is a time of hope. If there is anything the world needs now more than ever it is hope. But not just hope in little ways, but Hope in the ultimate way. Hope that because Christ has forgiven our sins on the Cross and risen to new life, we too will transcend the vagaries of this world. The Advent wreath reminds us that despite the darkness of this world of sin, we shall shine like the stars as we dwell with Him in unapproachable light. 

       Advent is a time for vigilance, holiness and hope. I pray that it may be time of renewal, reconciliation, preparation so that we may celebrate the true Christmas season with lasting joy.     

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Thanksgiving is perhaps our last national religious holiday. Its origins are heralded in the celebration of the remaining settlers of the Plymouth Colony who had survived the previous winter of 1620-21. They had good reason to do so. 0f the 102 colonists that landed at Plymouth, 45 perished that first winter from lack of shelter, scurvy, and general conditions on board the ship where most of them still lived.

The survivors paused to thank God for their mere survival.  We pause today to thank God for our abundance. How you do that is up to you, but it will say much about who you.

Christians and others who believe in a benevolent, saving God pause to offer prayers of thanks, perhaps attending Mass or some other service this morning before gathering with friends and loved ones this afternoon to share the traditional meal. 

You may be surprised to know that there will likely be more people in church this morning than will attend every NFL, MLB, and NBA game during each of their respective seasons for the entire year. 

Like love, gratitude must be have a concrete expression in one’s actions if it is to have any impact.  Appropriately, many congregations engaged in acts of charity earlier this week so that others may also join in giving thanks. I am so very proud of Dave Patterson and the folks who gathered at St. Patrick’s Parish in Muldoon on Monday to help the food bank distribute 1333 Thanksgiving meals to needy families in our area. 

To fail in gratitude is perhaps the gravest failure of any modern society. To consider oneself entitled to anything is the cancer that eats away at the heart of the nation.

Each of us must decide whether we will approach life with a spirituality of gratitude or of entitlement.   I will simply say that in my experience of 27 years of ministry, I have found that the grateful heart never experiences the lack of anything. This is especially true in regard to love and friendship.

The colonists at Plymouth paused to give thanks for their mere survival.  We pause today to give thanks for our abundance.

May the gratitude we express today find its expression in the way we treat those around us throughout the rest of the year. 

To see the video, click here.

Christ the King – What is a king anyway?!

Greetings, Church fans! I’ve been asked to add the joke to the text, for those who don’t go to the video. Fair enough. As always, the video of the homily can be seen by clicking here. If you want the whole Mass, click here! Enjoy.


Christ the King, B, – What is a King?

       The end of the Church calendar always ends with the Solemnity of Christ the King. For us Americans, it’s a bit more difficult to grasp the magnitude of such a celebration. We got rid of our king 245 years ago. For most of us, the only monarchy we have ever paid attention to is the British royal family, and only then with curiosity or morbid fascination.


    It’s not unlike like when King and Queen Spud met with their three daughters after they all returned from the university.  The first daughter approached King and Queen Spud with great excitement.

       “Father and Mother, I have wonderful news!  I am engaged to be married!” 

       “That is wonderful news,” King Spud replied. “And who is the fortunate young man?”

       “His name is Joe Idaho,” she exlclaimed.

       “Ah yes,” the King replied, “the Idahoes are a fine and noble potato family. You have my blessing.”

       The second daughter approached as excited as the first, “Father, I also have great news, for I too am engaged to be married!”

       King Spud replied, “We are twice blessed this day!  And tell me, who is the fortunate young man?”

       “His name is Bill Russet!” she exclaimed. 

       “Ah,” King Spud replied, “The Russets are a fine and noble potato family.  You too have my blessing.”

       The third daughter approached, and she too could not contain herself for joy. “Father, I too am engaged to me married!” 

       King and Queen Spud beamed with joy, “A triple blessing!  And tell us, who is the fortunate young man?”

       “His name is Lester Holt!” she exclaimed.

       At this the face and countenance of King Spud fell.  An awkward silence descended like a fog upon the chamber. King and Queen Spud looked at each other perplexed. Finally, Queen Spud said to her daughter,

       “My dear, this cannot come to pass…for he is but a common tater.” 


       What is a king anyway? What’s his job? What does he do all day? Interestingly enough, much like the priesthood, it’s more about identity than function.  It’s not so much what a king does, but who he is that sets him apart. In the ancient world right up to the end of the, 18th century, the King was seen as chosen by God and literally anointed as he took office. In this sense, Kings were also “messiahs” in the strict sense of the term which means, “anointed one.”  In essence, they were the personification, the incarnation of the entire country. 

       So what was he anointed for? In short, the King had dominion.  He had ultimate authority over the land and everything and everyone on it. But he just couldn’t do whatever he wanted. That would make him a tyrant. Instead, he was the ultimate steward. All things were given to his care and he would be judged by God at the end of his life based on how well he ruled. It was a vocation with a lot of perks, but it came with a heavy price tag.

       Looking at it this way, it begins to make sense how Jesus can rightfully be called King of the Universe. He was being modest when he said to Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world. In fact, it is so far beyond this world as to be laughable. Being Divine and united with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the perfect communion that is the Holy Trinity, he is the Word that God spoke when the universe and everything and everyone in it was created. He has the ultimate dominion, who, for the good of his subjects (you and me), became incarnate of the Virgin Mary and transformed all creation by his passion, death and resurrection, indeed, by his very presence. Still, he is not Lord because of what he does; rather, what he does has meaning because of who he is.

       By celebrating Christ the King, we affirm that he has dominion over our lives, confident that we shall share his glory both now and at the end of the age.