Christ the King and Civil Authority
- Deacon Edward Schaefer
- Oct 30, 2016
- 8 min read
Sermon given on 30 October 2016, the Feast of Christ the King
The Feast of Christ the King was established in 1925 by Pope Pius XI to fight the rise of secularism, especially as it was expressed in Communism. Communism might not be the overt threat today that it was in 1925, but secularism certainly is, and so it continues to be an important feast for us – reminding us that our happiness both here in the earthly kingdom and in the eternal kingdom are intimately bound to our faithfulness to our King, Jesus Christ.
It is appropriate, then, to use the occasion of this great feast to frame the way we look at our responsibilities as members of both the heavenly kingdom and the earthly kingdom with a particular look at the way we as Catholics, subjects of Christ the King, approach our duty of electing our earthly officials.
And no, Jesus Christ is not running for president. If He were that would make things a lot easier, wouldn’t it! But He can and must be in the White House, and it is our responsibility to put Him there.
Let us begin, then, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
In the Gospel today, we have part of Pilate’s interrogation of Christ before His crucifixion. At one point Christ tells Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36)
We are Christ’s subjects. He is our King. Our kingdom, then, is not of this world. We live in this world, but ultimately our home/our kingdom is not of this world. Everything we do, then, must be directed toward the goal of living happily with Christ forever in the heavenly kingdom – even if – even when – it means suffering in this earthly world.
A little later in the same interrogation, Pilate also says to Christ, “Do you not know that I have the power to release you and the power to crucify you?” Christ responds to Pilate, who was a non-believer, “You would have no power over me had it not been given to you from above.” (John 19:10-11)
Everyone in position of authority – parents, employers, deacons, priests, and those holding elected civic authority – has that authority only by the grace of God. And everyone with authority has the responsibility to obey the laws of the One who has given that authority to him. This is as true for non-Catholics as it is for Catholics. Even non-Catholic leaders have the responsibility to obey the laws of the One Who has given that authority to them.
If we look at the very first sentence of the Declaration of Independence, the founding document of this country, we hear these words: “When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them ….
The fathers of this country, who by and large were not Christians, recognized that our “rights,” our path to happiness, leads to nowhere unless it is a path that is subject to the “laws of nature and nature’s God,” whom we know to be Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.
And our primary responsibility as voters is to hold our elected officials accountable to the laws of the God Who has granted them the positions of authority they hold.
At Fatima Our Lady asked the three little shepherds to pray and offer sacrifices for the end of the war. In this way she was showing the children – showing us – that the state of the world and nations depends on our obedience to God. (Thank you, Rorate Coeli.)
To be sure we have many problems in society, but Our Lady, as she echoes Scripture, makes it clear that the solution to all the grave economic, social, political, even military problems in the world is the return to God, the return to Jesus Christ. In the end, everything is subject to the moral, spiritual authority of Christ the King.
With this as the framework, let me share with you how I approach an election.
First of all, I acknowledge that there are many issues in any election. This one is no exception. Some of those issues include such things as
The economy
Fiscal responsibility on the part of the government
Abortion
Healthcare, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other government entitlement programs
The minimum wage
The rights and responsibilities of parents as the primary educators of their children
International trade agreements
National security
Healthcare mandates that force Catholic institutions to provide morally objectionable coverage
The plight of refugees from the Middle East
The ability of an elected official to assume the expected decorum of the office (Can he or she be presidential?)
The forcing of various LGBT mandates on religious institutions that have moral objections
Immigration
The appointment of Supreme Court justices
The proper role of the United States in foreign affairs.
The elimination of poverty
The environment
And so on.
How do I sift through all these and make an intelligent decision? No one person is going to score “100%” on every issue. But that cannot divert me from my primary responsibility of holding candidates accountable to the One Who will grant them whatever authority they will gain from the election. Everything else is secondary. So, how do I do that? How do I stay focused on what is primary? How do I sift through all these and make an intelligent – and morally right - decision?
I use the framework of Christ the King, and the reminder of Our Blessed Mother that the solution to all of our problems is ultimately a return to God, a return Christ, the King of the Universe
From this perspective, I examine this list, and it becomes clear to me that there are different types of issues.
Some of these issues are fundamentally moral ones, that is, they are issues that directly affect my membership in Christ’s kingdom. They are issues around which I either obey my king – I hold the candidates responsible to obey their King – or I disavow Him – I permit the candidates to disavow Him.
Some issues have aspects about them that are moral, but they are not directly or intrinsically moral in and of themselves. These are a little more complicated, and I’ll explain them in a minute.
Then they are issues that have little or nothing to do with morals.
Let me give you a couple of examples. Abortion, the rights and responsibilities of parents as the primary educators of their children, healthcare and LGBT mandates that affect the right of the Catholic Church to practice the faith without oppression are – fundamentally – moral issues. (They can have economic impacts, such as declining birth rates pulling world economies into recession, but fundamentally, they are moral issues.) On these issues I must insist that my elected officials obey the laws of God. That is my primary responsibility as a citizen and as a subject in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. If I don’t do that, I disavow my king. I abdicate my membership in Christ’s kingdom. I give up my soul.
Are these the only issues for me? Absolutely not! They are just the first ones. I have to address these before I can address any others, because the ultimate solution to all the earthly problems is a moral solution: a return to God.
What about the other issues? Some of the other issues are complicated. They have moral aspects, but they can be argued in various directions. You and I can both be loyal members of the kingdom of Christ and have differing points of view of them.
For example, let’s look at just one: the plight of refugees in the Middle East and its relationship to national security. There are two Catholic teachings that relate to this matter. One says that people should have a right to live safely in their own countries. They shouldn’t be forced out of their own homes, their own countries for safety sake. Another teaching would look at these people as war refugees – indeed, they are – and say that we have a responsibility to clothe, feed and shelter them.
Looking at the matter from two other perspectives, our nation’s leaders have a responsibility to protect our own safety – to enable us to live safely in our own homes, our own country. If refugees cannot be documented, this protection becomes difficult if not impossible. On the other hand, as a country that has been given much, we have a responsibility to share our blessings with those in need.
I am not trying to argue this issue here and now. I use it simply to demonstrate that we as, good practicing Catholics, can have differing points of view on this matter. And, quite frankly, we can have differing points of view on many of the issues in this election, just not the fundamentally moral ones. And these other issues cannot divert us from the most important issues.
Then, finally, there are some issues that have really little or nothing to do with morals at all. For example, the ability of a person to be “presidential.” Whether we agree or disagree on a matter like this just doesn’t really matter. It might be important, but whether or not we agree about it is not important.
So for me, the hierarchy is clear. I cannot budge on fundamentally moral issues. It is the moral issues that are my responsibility as a member of the kingdom of Christ, and it is the moral issues that are at the heart of our nation’s problems.
The other issues I can be persuaded by good arguments in a number of directions. And, in the end – I mean at the end of time – they don’t really matter.
Let me leave you with a final thought. To bolster your confidence in the admonition of the Blessed Mother, consider this. There are almost 70 million Catholics in the United States – over 22% of the population. 25% of the voting population is Catholic.
If every Catholic in the United States voted Catholic, there would never have been Roe vs. Wade – a million children who never see the light of day every year would have a chance at life; there would have been no Obergefell vs. Hodges – we wouldn’t have Christian bakeries being put out of business because they refuse to bake gay wedding cakes; Obamacare would never have attempted to attack the right of the Catholic Church to practice our religion without interference by the government; our government leaders would not be emboldened to dare to say that Catholic beliefs, “infringe upon civil rights, and they must be changed.” In general, we would not be facing the spiraling moral decline of society that we face today…
…because politicians, in spite of their rhetoric, develop positions on issues largely based on what they believe will get them elected. The next president of the United States will not be elected by the African American vote or the Hispanic vote, regardless of what the networks might say. As the last president was, the next president of the United States will be elected by the Catholic vote.
If every Catholic in the country took seriously his/her membership in the kingdom of Christ the King, the country would change almost overnight. If we would return to God, the country would return to God.
At some point, the kingdom of Christ will reign supreme. The armies of Christ will prevent His kingdom from being overtaken. I don’t know when that will happen, but I do know that when it does, I want to be able to kneel in front of my King and hear Him say to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” And I pray that every one of you will be kneeling there next to me.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
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