Our Lord Jesus Christ is king by both His nature as God and also by His free decision to become one of us, to lead us out of sin to salvation. Out of devotion to Our Lord’s right to rule, we have the feast of Christ the King. And in this feast we not only honor Him, but reaffirm the sacrifice on Calvary, the great gift Christ has bestowed upon us through this sacrificial act, and accept the love He freely offers.

When we honor the feast of Christ the King, we follow Jesus’s directive to confess Him before men. Christ is like any other king, for He chose to reign over us out of love from the Cross, conquered sin, and redeemed us. And so we must ask ourselves how can we promote Christ’s kingship in our everyday lives, starting with giving up our own wills, taking up our crosses, and humbly submitting ourselves to Our Lord.

It is God’s will that our very first moment of existence is one of darkness, where we dwell in our mother’s womb until we come out into the light. From the moment of our birth, we begin to perceive the world around us, first very poorly and then progressively clearer. At the same time, by God’s design, our first contact with reality is with our mothers; we depend on her. This natural order that Our Lord designed reflects the design of the supernatural order, where from the moment of our baptism we come into true contact with our divine mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and must remain dependent upon her.

The parable of the wedding feast made by the king for his son shows in a concrete way the mystery of the Incarnation where God the Father has united the Son to the Catholic Church. There are further layers to this mystery found in how the Son of God serves as not only the Church’s bridegroom, but her caretaker and defender as well. Moreover, the parable provides sobering words on the myriad of excuses we often make for not accepting the Father’s invitation to the feast to our own peril.

Why do we have faith and confidence in the great sacrament of confession? We know that our sins can only be forgiven by the power of God for our sins are an offense to Him. Moreover, Our Lord has extended this power to the Church he established out of His goodness and mercy.

Prayer is a conversation with God. Yet we often allow our own struggles and complications to interfere with it. What we must understand is how simple it should be, so long as we make a focused effort daily to give our time and attention directly to Our Lord.

On every Marian feast, we should feel a special joy. For they are a reminder of the great love Our Blessed Mother has for us. One of the most visible signs of her love for us is the great gift of the Rosary, a devotion which has antecedents stretching back to the earliest centuries of the Church. Through it, we are promised many graces, not just for ourselves, but for those we hold in our hearts as part of our intentions.

In the midst of the crisis in society and the Church, we look for clarity and stability. This is especially true when there is a crisis of authority in the Church. But we know that all authority comes from God, which He handed onto the Apostles as the first bishops who then passed it down in succession to this very day. This is why we must pray that they, like us, hold fast to the Faith of the Church, even if there we many temptations today to deviate from it.

St. Therese is always full of surprises for the faithful. When it comes to happiness, for example, she expressed happiness at seeing herself as imperfect and in need of God’s mercy at the time of death. By the world’s standards, this is a twisted sentiment, but for those seeking eternity in heaven with Our Lord, it is precisely the right feeling to hold.