The
year is 1927. In Mexico City, a priest named Miguel Pro is led by soldiers to
the place of his execution. For months Miguel
Pro had defied the virtual ban on Catholicism by the fiercely anti-Catholic
Mexican government. He has moved around Mexico City in disguise – often as a mechanic
- in order to celebrate Mass secretly in houses. At last the government has caught up with
him. Fr. Pro is led up against a wall to
face the firing squad. In the final moments
before his execution, he extends his arms in the forms of a cross- in one hand
clutching a rosary, in the other a crucifix - and cries out, “¡Viva Cristo Rey!”,
“Long Live Christ the King!” This dramatic story of Blessed Miguel Pro can help
us better understand the significance of the feast we celebrate today, Christ
the King.
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| Miguel Pro's execution on November 23, 1927 |
Nowadays
there is a tendency to make faith a merely private thing that has little
influence on society at large. It seems that faith is often barred a place in
the public sphere. Oddly enough, both those who are against religion and even
faithful Catholic can do this. There has
always been people who are against religion and do not want it to influence
public society. We see this dramatically in Mexico at the time of Miguel Pro.
The anti-Catholic government outlawed Catholic schools, prohibited worship outside
Churches, closed monasteries, and took away the right of priests to vote. Certainly in Canada we are blessed with the
freedom to practice our religion openly. Yet there can be a popular mentality that
says religion is a private affair, having little place in the public sphere. This is how many interpret America’s principle
of “separation between Church and State”. In this mentality, politicians and
private citizens are discouraged from allowing their faith to inform the
changes they would like to see in society. Surprisingly, a good number of
Catholics can think in a similar way but for very different reasons. Some argue
that the only important thing is getting souls to heaven. Sometimes they are
not too concerned too about trying to improve society and make it more just and
humane. Both non-religious and even
Christians themselves tend to isolate faith so that it is a merely private
affair which has little impact on the greater society.
The
great lesson of today’s feast is that our faith must have a transforming impact
on the public sphere because Christ is the King. Christianity was never
intended to be a merely private affair that had no influence on society. In the very beginning, our loving God created
the heavens and the earth to be His home. He shared the earth with man. The
plan from the beginning was that God would be King. The earth would operate according
to God’s laws of love and justice. However, God’s great project went off the
rails because of sin. Humanity rejected God as their King and the world became
ruled instead by greed, jealousy and hatred. Over the course of history, God
has tried to save the great project of creation by encouraging humanity to
follow Him and His rule. God’s ultimate act of salvation was to send His Son,
Jesus Christ into the world. In His life Jesus always announced that the
kingdom of God had arrived in His very person. Jesus is the King on several
levels. Interiorly, Jesus is our King as He should hold the most important
place in our heart – we are to love Him more than anything else. Jesus is also
our King because our interactions with our neighbour are to be governed by His
law and example. More than this though, that Jesus is King means that all of society
should be shaped by His values: national government, international relations
and the economic market. In fact, the Feast of Christ the King was instituted
in 1925 to emphasize this point in a sea of growing nationalism and secularism.
Christianity, far from being a merely private affair, is meant to transform all
aspects of human life.
Jesus,
however, is a King unlike any other. Jesus exercises His Kingship in a
completely new and unexpected way. For a
moment, try to picture in your mind a king. What comes to mind? Perhaps you
pictured someone sitting on an elegant throne, wearing rich garments and a golden
crown on their head. Keeping that picture in mind, how do you imagine the king
behaving? Don’t we imagine kings to be powerful, authoritative, dominating and
having others at their beck and call? Now, let’s take a look at the image of
Christ the King presented in our gospel today. When we look at the crucifix we
can see what kind of King Jesus is: His throne was the Cross, His crown was of
thorns and His royal garments were rags. Not only does Jesus look different
than any other King, His actions are unique as well. The power of Christ the
King is shown through His mercy, peace and self-sacrifice. This kind of power,
though unexpected, is ultimately stronger than the power of any earthly king. By
sacrificing His life, Jesus defeated sin and death. When we imitate the example
of Jesus we can experience this power in our own life. For example, at the time
of Miguel Pro, many were fighting the government through armed resistance.
Though these militias experienced some success, the actions of Miguel Pro and
other martyrs who followed the example of Christ and laid down their lives for
God and their countrymen was so much more powerful. Their witness and sacrifice
inspired many and brought lasting change. Their actions carried so much power
because they imitated how Jesus exercises Kingship.
Following
Christ the King takes incredible courage because it means nothing less than
committing ourselves to changing the world. As followers of Jesus, we are
called to strive to build a word that reflects the values of Jesus. There are
many people and forces in the world who claim that their ideas and way of doing
things should be king. Knowing which of these voices advocates the kind of
world that Jesus would want is not easy. Some voices we can agree with, other
voices we need to oppose. In his day, Miguel Pro had to oppose the voice of
those who tried to limit the Mexican people’s freedom to practice their
religion. We can take inspiration from his example. When we look at the
society, we should ask ourselves, is this the kind of world that Christ would
want? What would need to change? We often hear about the issue of defending
human life and marriage. This is very important, but there is more. Recent
Popes have drawn our attention to the great injustice that exists between the
rich and the poor. Many poor countries are so in debt that they spend most of
their funds paying interest to wealthy countries and cannot afford to build up
their own country. Is this the world Jesus would want? As another example, we
need to seriously consider the effects that our wasteful consumer culture is
having on the environment. What kind of world do we want to leave for future
generations? How would Jesus have us respond to these challenges? Solutions are
not easy to arrive at, yet we must work on them. Saying that Christ is our King
is a very demanding statement because we must commit ourselves to building a
world that Jesus would want.
Several
years ago I had the opportunity to visit the place in Mexico City where Miguel
Pro was martyred. The government has not allowed for a large monument
there. All you can find is a small plaque
attached to the wall. When I visited the site, however, I was surprised to see
that many flowers were left by the site. The witness of Miguel Pro continues to
inspire. I personally have found his life very encouraging. Today let us follow
his example by not falling for the lie that Christianity is merely a private
thing. As Catholics we are not meant to stay in some citadel looking out at the
world with detachment. We should be interested in creating a world more worthy
of what God has called us to be. We should be interested in politics,
economics, education and social structures. Today let us remind ourselves that
we are called to build the kingdom of Christ the King. This is our call. ¡Viva
Cristo Rey!
