On the Kingship and Rule of Jesus Christ

Good food for thought as we approach the Solemnity of Christ the King:



The Eucharist and the Rule of Christ | Fr. James T O'Connor | From The Hidden Manna: A Theology of the Eucharist (2nd edition) | Ignatius Insight

God the Father has put everything under Christ's dominion, and he shall rule until all powers opposed to him have been subdued, the last of them being death itself (cf. 1 Cor. 15:25-26). This present stage of Christ's rule is something we often profess in the liturgy (especially in the Feast of Christ the King) and in private devotion.

The meaning of the Lord's subjection of all reality in its present stage is, however, something upon which most of us do not often reflect. It means that, in some mysterious but real way, the risen Jesus influences, shapes, and directs all things so that out of all persons and things he is shaping the future visage of creation as that creation moves toward his glorious return. Even the sinner—whose very sin is at least implicitly an attempt to thwart the sovereignty and dominion of Christ—operates now within the overall plan of the Lord for the establishment of his Kingdom.

The ways in which Jesus exercises this dominion vary. Over creatures to whom he has given intelligence and free will, his action is such that it respects his natural gifts. Nonetheless, his power to move us by attraction, the arranging of circumstances, the example of others, the holy inspiration that comes from the reading of Scripture, interior grace that conveys the delectatio spoken of by Augustine— these and many other ways are some of the means by which he reigns efficaciously over intelligent creatures. As Vatican Council II said:

Constituted Lord by his Resurrection. Christ, to whom all power in heaven and on earth has been given, already works in the hearts of men by virtue of his Holy Spirit, not only stirring up a desire for the age to come but by that very fact also animating, purifying, and strengthening the noble intentions by which the human family strives to make its life more human and to subject all the earth to that goal. [16]

Over the lesser beings of creation his power sometimes is not necessarily more powerful (for his attractiveness and inspirations are powerful indeed) but more direct and immediate. And such is the case with the elements of bread and wine, simultaneously products of his creation and of ours, "fruit of the earth and work of human hands". At the Consecration of the liturgy, the heavenly King touches these elements directly by and through the power of his Spirit. He touches them so mightily that—if we may put it this way—he extracts from them their very reality, dominating it and attracting it (forcefully pulling it even) toward himself, so subjecting it to himself that its own true being is lost to it as it becomes the very Lord who has mastered it.

The mystery of transubstantiation is a totally marvelous change but not one wherein the Lord descends from heavenly glory to "enter" under the appearances of bread and wine. Rather it is one in which he, not coming down, lifts the creaturely realities to himself, drawing them up to where he is now with the Father. He draws them to himself in such a fashion that he subjugates them and so transforms their own being that it becomes identical with his. The very being of bread and wine is lifted out of itself in a mighty spiral of ascent, is subsumed by and converted into the reality of Jesus seated in glory. By drawing the reality of all the elements scattered throughout the world unto and into himself, Jesus maintains his own bodily unity. The elements are changed into him, not he into them. If he did to the appearances, the species, what he does to the very reality of the bread and wine, then, once the Consecration of the Mass was finished, the priest would be left with nothing before him on the paten or in the cup, and Christ would appear in glory. For then not only the being but the very appearances that manifest that being to the world would have been subsumed into the exalted Lord, and human history on earth would have reached its conclusion.

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Comments

[Todd Newbold]

I get confused by people who say ""Why cant we see God?" i.e. Doubting Thomas
Well he is right in front of your eyes.
I am no scholar, but ever since the Reformation - Mystery is difficult for a lot of people and proof proof proof is always their answer. Again, how arrogant.

[Reginaldus]

Todd,
We cannot see Christ in the Eucharist... St. Thomas teaches this very clearly: ST III, q.76, a.7. Likewise the Catechism in 1380/1.
Doubting Thomas had great faith...he saw a man, but believed more than what he saw, for he professed Christ to be God, "My Lord and my God."
Likewise in the Eucharist, we see what appears to be bread and wine, but we believe more than what we see, we believe it to be the Flesh and Blood of Christ.

Thus, in believing in the Eucharist, we make a twofold act of faith: We believe that what looks like bread and wine is the Flesh and the Blood of Christ. Then, we believe that he who appears to be merely a man is in fact also fully God.

[Miss Victoria A. Howard, Anchoress]

Yes, I do agree with your wonderful point that when the Body of Christ enters the Host, we are lifted, he does not descend. But I feel that we do not become God entirely; I feel that it is only when we do not sin that we can show our true personalities and distinctiveness as individuals. It is when we sin that we take on Satan's personality, rather than our own, and become all the same. We are revealed as the kings and priests we are when we choose the good. Each of us has a distinct and unique personality and something special to bring as an offering to the Lord.